The Nature of Injustice

What burden do marginalized communities bear when it comes to environmental injustices?
The discrimination faced by poor, marginalized, or racialized communities is often discussed in terms of employment or housing. But what about the burden these communities bear when it comes to environmental injustices? While the exploitation of nature has always gone hand in hand with the exploitation of human beings, the texts collected in this book explore the disproportionate impacts of climate change and pollution on these communities.
Examples, both past and present, abound. Concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are 2 to 11 times higher among Inuit than among people living in southern Canada. Dumping sites have been established near Black communities in Nova Scotia. Quebec is dotted with more than 275,000 mining titles covering an area larger than Greece and 127 other countries, thus encroaching on the constitutional rights of Indigenous peoples. "Travellers" in France are forced to live in reception areas located near factories and major highways. All of this economic and racial discrimination is not a coincidence; it stems from political and legal systems founded on capitalism and colonialism.
Environmental justice is an undertaking that concerns all countries and all generations. Will we finally be able to reconnect with the sacred rule of indigenous peoples that "one must not take too much" from the Earth? It is a question of intergenerational equity and responsibility for the future.
With texts by Severn Cullis-Suzuki, Sabaa Khan and Catherine Hallmich, David Suzuki, Katsi'tsakwas Ellen Gabriel, Lisa Koperqualuk, Ingrid Waldron, Yvan Pouliot, Jérôme Dupras, May Chiu and Shi Tao Zhang, Breanne Lavallée-Heckert and Jennifer Gobby, Shannon Chief, Rodrigue Turgeon, Naolo Charles, Thibaut Schepman, Noémi Tousignant and Nick Bernards, William Acker, Robert Moyer and Veronica Eady.
Cover illustration: Jordan Stranger