Shell in Nigeria: Polluted communities ‘can sue in English courts’. (2021, February 12). Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56041189 

This article is about the recent ruling by the UK Supreme Court, which overturned a court of appeals ruling that says that people within a community in Nigeria can now sue Shell because of the oil pollution that they have caused in the area.  Shell, as a corporation, is responsible for 50% of the oil pollution in the waterways, which affects many families and fishermen who rely on this waterway for food and their livelihoods. This landmark ruling is significant, ShellAs because it shows that the UK is now taking the fight for Environmental Justice a little more seriously when it comes down to issues with corporations. Nigerians’ money made from this lawsuit could be enough to clean the pollution within their waterways. Despite this, many community members in this area have stated that the money will not bring back what they have lost, which is clean waterways, fish, and their community. This lawsuit is one of many that has recently been launched against Shell as a corporation that has been responsible for a lot of the oil spills and pollution in Nigeria as a country.

This article is really indicative of what’s going on in the world with environmental justice because it represents the intersection between companies who believe that they are right and who are disregarding the environment in these small communities. These communities are being put at a disadvantage because of things that are outside of their control and are not getting taken completely seriously. In this regard, this article makes me happy because companies are being held accountable for what they’ve done for so many years which I think is really important and there needs to be justice on that end. At the same time, it does seem apparent that there needs to be more done and there are a number of stories like this one and those also need to be solved.  This story is a step in the right direction for environmental justice, but it points to there being a lot of steps that still need to be taken. 

‘What’s at stake is the life of every being’: Saving the Brazilian Cerrado. (2021, February 15). Retrieved from https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/whats-at-stake-is-the-life-of-every-being-saving-the-brazilian-cerrado/ 

This article covers recent news about the Cerrado in Brazil: a biosphere home to many indigenous people and indigenous species of plants and animals. The area is currently in the news because Brazil’s new president (who is incredibly anti-pro-environmental policy) has hailed this area as an arid unfertile space that requires development. This designation invalidates the homes of the many people who live there, and the risk of development causes further strain on the environment.  52% of the Cerrado has been victim to deforestation in the past years for agricultural use. The Cerrado is currently the second-largest biosphere in Brazil outside of the Amazon. The improper designation that this environment needs to be altered or changed is incredibly false and pushes a harmful narrative. There have been many protests happening recently in the Cerrado led by indigenous people protecting their communities and improper land use.

 This article shows how much further the fight for environmental justice is within our world. In pieces like these, it becomes evident that most people are attempting to save for the environment is naive and not everyone has the environment’s best interests at heart.  This situation is also frustrating because the indigenous people who have lived in the Cerrado,  are people who truly care for the environment and are the people who are best at taking care of their environment. The idea that development is needed to save these environments or to use this land that might not be fertile is false. Not only has this environment been inaccurately labeled, but the government is also practically feeding lies to Brazilians to promote development that will not be sustainable and can cause a lot of harm to the environment. This issue is an essential environmental justice one because if citizens are unable to understand what is truly at stake they’re going to be less likely to care about issues of environmental justice themselves. 

Yasir, S. (2021, February 15). Climate Activist Jailed in India as Government Clamps Down on Dissent. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/15/world/asia/climate-activist-jailed-india.html 

This article covered the current Farmers protests in India by the Shik people and the arrest by the Indian government of 21-year-old girl Disha Ravi. Ravi is being accused of distributing a tool kit of resources for the protests. This tool kit is a Google doc that was created by Greta Thunberg,  Ravi is claiming that there she did not distribute this tool kit, and at most edited two lines of it. The article gives some background on the farmer’s protest in India and how the government is trying to silence people who are protesting legislation set to remove protection from farmer’s trading to the free market. Overall most of these protests have been peaceful but there has been one that got slightly violent. The arrest of Disha Ravi is being hailed as a Crackdown on free speech by the Indian government and a protest of environmental justice.

 While this issue is not an environmental justice issue in the traditional sense it is the convergence between Justice and Environmental action. Disha Ravi is a climate activist who has put a lot of her life into trying to bring more action towards the issues of environmental justice and getting young people involved in the race against climate change.  Her arrest speaks to larger societal issues within India and how the government is not all working to combat climate change.  This article saddened me because in most places news of environmental justice is typically good, while this environmental justice issue is the antithesis of progress and it shows how we are still needing to convince people that environmental justice is a larger issue that needs to be taken seriously.  Personally, it seems evident that other nations should stop in at this moment to help Disha Ravi. This treatment of individuals who are simply protesting for what is just in the world is completely ridiculous and needs to be incorporated into larger issues of environmental justice. 

Porter, J. (2021, February 11). Perspective | The problem of environmental racism in Mexico today is rooted in history. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/02/11/problem-environmental-racism-mexico-today-is-rooted-history/ 

This article discusses the similarities between the environmental racism that is faced in the United States on the environmental racism that exists in Mexico and discusses how the Black and Afro-Indigenous communities on the Costa Chica, east of Acapulco, and Guerrero are more susceptible to environmental harm such as bad air quality, water pollution and lack of natural resources because of the systemic racism that exists in Mexico.  The article gives background on the history of enslavement in Mexico and tells the story of the African slaves that were brought over to Mexico to be enslaved and work on plantations and how they freed themselves and formed small communities to be able to support themselves.  Unfortunately, these communities lack funds, and adequate resources to pull themselves out of poverty, and systemic environmental racism is more prevalent there.  The article concludes with the idea that systemic racism needs to be fixed in Mexico in order to save the environment or at least remove the disproportionate harm from the predominantly black communities.

 I was a little shocked by this article mainly because I did not realize how prevalent systemic racism is in Mexico, as the diversity in the US always seemed to be much greater than in Mexico. I thought as Mexico is a more homogeneous country and forgot that the same histories of racial discrimination and slavery still exist in the United States are also a problem in Mexico. This article is fascinating mostly because I had no idea of the history of systemic racism in Mexico and not knowing there were predominantly black communities in Mexico.  I believe that stories like this need to be told and that for environmental justice to occur in many locations it is a necessity to not only listen to the voices of these people who are demanding justice but learn why they are demanding justice

UN Environment Assembly set to galvanize global action for nature. (2021, February 10). Retrieved from https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/un-environment-assembly-set-galvanize-global-action-nature 

This article was an interview with the president of the United Nations Environment assembly about the changing goals for this year and the progress that was made. Within the article, Mr. Sveinung Rotevatn who is the president of the UNEA-5 says that while we are not on track to meet our goal to keep global warming under two-degree, that does not mean there has not been progress. Rotevatn covered how carbon capture has become incredibly popular in Norway, and how there is a link between environmental justice and the expansion of these policies. He talked about environmental justice as a global issue, because of the discrepancies of where the majority of environmental damage has taken effect. The article also covered how environmental justice must include a focus on human rights and gender inclusion. 

It was interesting to read an interview with the current president of the United Nations Environment Assembly. I agreed with what he said within his interview and believe that there does need to be a push for gender inequality to become a larger part of the fight for Environmental Justice. Rotevatn seemed knowledgeable about the issues he was speaking to and it is incredibly important that he does understand the importance of environmental justice. I wish he spoke more about the long-term discrepancies in who will face the most environmental justice, as there was an opportunity for him to shed additional light on these issues that he missed. I also wish that this body had put out a plan on how they feel tackling environmental justice would be best handled. The article itself was interesting because it pointed out the shift between different environmental policies and how much further we have to go to save our climate.

Court allows Exide to abandon a toxic site in Vernon. Taxpayers will fund the cleanup. (2020, October 16). Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-10-16/exide-bankrtuptcy-decision-vernon-cleanup?utm_campaign=CELPU&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_L1ZWsWsfFmLyY0_TbyX1xB2V4wF5yvpYh4psHWXmGw8WW1hd6iUqTmiUl2J1YoTp-HMCZ

This article talks about a specific plant in southern Los Angeles that sits in a predominantly Hispanic low-income community. For years this plant has been a symbol of environmental justice in the community because of its pollutants that are affecting the neighborhood and community’s children. It has ruined playgrounds, made the air harder to breathe and is full of contaminants, and has generally made the neighborhood less safe. This plant has recently been in the news because the company that owns it and who has been polluting the community for years has filed for bankruptcy releasing all responsibility for the plant and its contaminants upon the state of California. California has already spent $270 cleaning up similar situations Throughout the state and efforts to keep its Community safer. the state of California fought back against the company’s decision to do this and file for bankruptcy releasing all responsibility upon the state. However, it was in a court of law that a Circuit Judge ruled that the state of California had two weeks to take over the property. Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the decision saying that this plant has continually ruined neighborhoods and that this is not what California stands for. The community is also outraged. This decision saying that it is unfair that the company is getting off scot-free for their years of harm to the community and the ambassadors are still being reinforced as part of the money that they had. While people have realized that it would probably be impossible to change the decision in this case it seems evident that the state of California is not doing enough to prevent the same predicament in the future.

This article honestly quite frustrates me because I think environmental justice in the state of California seems to be taking one step back for every two steps forward we make. Corporations need to be held accountable for the damage that they are doing to our communities and just because they are not in a typically High socioeconomic neighborhood does not mean that these communities have any less value to our state. we need to be able to protect all children across the state of California from contaminants and not allow companies to just be able to file for bankruptcy to get out of cleaning up the messes that they created. The community and taxpayers should not be held responsible for the mistakes and the continual aversion to correcting their mistakes that the company made. The ruling on the part of the judge was completely wrong and should be overturned. The state of California needs to make changes to ensure that this does not happen again.

Environmental Justice Becomes Part of California City Planning. (2020, August 7). Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/environmental-justice-becomes-part-of-california-city-planning

The Article talks about the new California law that forces any County or town to update their General plan to include an environmental justice section if they update more than 2 sections, since 2018. This is an entirely new idea and California is the first state to pass a bill like this. It will serve to force all counties in California to look at the issues of environmental justice and how they have impacted their communities. However, there is no punishment for failure to comply with this bill so it is not entirely a bulletproof plan. Before this bill was passed there were only two counties in California that have environmental justice sections in their General Plans. This marks the Beginning of California beginning to reform its long history of creating equal environmental conditions for marginalized communities. overall the bill is going to be a welcome addition to the California state legislature.
I am quite excited by the implications of this bill. It truly makes me quite proud to be a California because of our newfound interest in environmental justice. However, I was a little frightened to know that only two counties before this bill was passed had sections about environmental justice, as I understand all the counties in California have had issues with environmental justice in their communities. It seems to be quite important right now at this age of change understanding inequality that we take extreme focus on both protecting our environment and the people who live in it. I do not think that this bill is in any way going to fix all of the issues in California, however, it does seem to be a good starting point and it being passed in our state legislature makes me confident that there will be more bills similar down the line.

Sparling, N. (2020, November 12). California Is Making Progress On Safe Water For All, But Work Remains. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://www.capradio.org/articles/2020/11/12/california-is-making-progress-on-safe-water-for-all-but-work-remains/
This article talks about the lack of access to clean drinking water that currently exists for 1 million Californians. California began to make strides to combat this problem by passing a state bill to allocate 130 million in funds to secure clean drinking water for all Californians. There is currently a huge problem with environmental justice and its correlation to environmental justice. Smaller communities and low-socioeconomic communities have much higher contraptions of toxins in their water and have less of a chance of getting access to clean drinking water in their communities. Currently, only 17 counties have access to clean drinking water that meets state-imposed standards. While this new funding significantly improves the living conditions, there is a lack of direction with how it should be handled.

As a Californian, I was frightened but the idea that over 1 million Californians do not have access to clean drinking water in their homes. Clean water is a basic human right and people need to have access to it. In addition, this is an important step in the direction of environmental justice because smaller communities are going to be helped and now more people are going to have access to clean water. All of the California counties should have equal access to drinking water.

Iannelli, J., Willis, J., O’Connor, M., Higgins, E., & Smith, A. (2020, October 29). This California Teacher Wants Environmental Justice. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://theappeal.org/california-iqbal-zubair/
Fatima Iqbal-Zubair has run for a portion in the state senate in California in order to get environmental justice for her community. She is running for a seat in South Central Los Angeles, after spending years as a teacher at Jordan High School. The high school is a historically low-income neighborhood, and it was the foundational reason for why she wanted to run for state senate. Iqbal-Zubair remembers the dirty water in the school drinking fountains and times when their sports teams couldn’t practice because the playing field was contaminated by lead and arsenic. This inspired Iqbal-Zubair to read about the environmental conditions facing her city, and she came to the realization that 25% of the state’s oil refineries are in her district. The oil refineries were contaminating the air and only exacerbating the hardships of living in her district. When she looked at her current state senator she realized that he was taking large amounts of money from oil companies and other fossil fuel corporations. Iqbal-Zubair ran as a democratic socialist and had endorsements from Bernie Sanders.

I find Iqbal-Zubair to be quite inspiring, she saw an issue in her community and decided to attempt to get into a position where she could make a difference. It is quite frightening that 25% of our state’s oil refineries are in one district that is populated by many people. However, this is why environmental justice programs are so necessary because as a nation we have targeted people who have the least amount of resources to resist environmental pollution. However, her loss conveys that we have not placed the value upon these issues that need to exist.

Curry, M. (2020, October 29). California Agencies Begin to Grapple With Racial Equity and
Environmental Justice. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://cal.streetsblog.org/2020/10/29/california-agencies-begin-to-grapple-with-racial-equity-and-environmental-justice/
California state organizations such as the CalSTA, Caltrans, California Transportation Commission (CTC), and the California Air Resources Board have all recently begun to listen to feedback about the necessity of bettering their policies on racial equity and environmental justice. Caltrans and the CTC are both in the middle of creating internal organizations to target the issues of racial inequality and environmental justice within their organizations. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) also issued a task force to target these issues within the organization. However, not everyone was happy about the formation of the task force as the resolution they drafted to target environmental justice and racial inequity was done without the advice of the community. A statement was drafted from Black CARB employees exposing the company for its marginalization of its employees. The current sentiment is that it will be hard for CARB to do better when it is currently unsuccessful at admitting its faults.

I think that these organizations attempting to change their policies is definitely a step in the right direction. However, I think specifically in the case of CARB it seems to me that environmental and racial justice is not actually at the heart of what they are trying to do and instead they are just trying to make it seem like they care without anything to actually help. While any step in the direction of environmental justice is important, the most important part is to listen to the communities and people who have actually been affected by injustice.