Description

An Environmental Victimology

A few decades ago this emergent U.S. movement challenged the white middle- class perception that environmental problems only concerned the natural world. Activists, especially from minority groups, suffering the effects of environmentally mediated poisoning reminded the world that saving humans is as important as saving whales. The impact of the movement has been effective, but it, too, has its limitations. As Christopher Williams argues, it is time for complementary thinking that moves us from an exclusively activist stance framed in the light of U.S. experience, to a broader and more objective framework that has global relevance. Not least is the need for a definition of “environmental victim” and “environmental causation” that does not lead to the dismissal of subsequent arguments as merely concerning a peripheral quality-of-life debate.

environmental illness, environmental justice movement, environmental law, environmental movement, victimization

Citation: Social Justice Vol. 23, No. 4 (1996): 16-40