The Message of Justice
By: Mohammed Ahmed Al-Feelabi
(Environmental Specialist)
Every day you hear complaints, and you may see with your own eyes many blatant attacks on humans, natural resources, and the creatures that share life with us on the planet. But you do not find anyone who speaks to you frankly about environmental ethics, because the term is not widely used, and the same applies to environmental injustice and environmental racism.
The talk does not go beyond the framework of stories and complaints, and you may find someone who speaks without sufficient knowledge of environmental justice in its general concept, but experts and those who know the inside of things realize the importance of environmental justice, and the experiences of environmental oppressors in the Third World may speak to you more deeply, which makes you reconsider what is around you.
It is agreed that environmental justice has three principles:
* Distributive justice, which means the fair distribution of environmental risks and benefits.
* Procedural justice, which refers to fair and purposeful participation in decision-making.
* Recognition justice, which means recognition of oppression and differences in societies.
The manifestations of environmental racism are countless, but African-American civil rights leader Benjamin Chavez points out that it is “the deliberate selection of waste facilities in communities that are predominantly populated by people of color, low-income workers, and immigrant workers, and racial discrimination in environmental policymaking and enforcement.”
You may see these manifestations without stopping to consider them, you may read about them anywhere, you may be fully aware of them, but you will come across thick walls surrounding the question:
When will environmental justice be achieved on Earth?
Some try to put the weight on one side when they say that the law protects us if it is properly written and implemented, but is legislative frameworks alone enough to achieve environmental justice?
We do not raise such difficult questions except to acknowledge to future generations that we have bequeathed to them a corrupted and polluted planet, and poor models of justice, and that we have been silent for a long time about forms of environmental discrimination and environmental racism, out of ignorance or neglect, and we have been accustomed to turning a blind eye to the manifestations of environmental degradation until they have worsened.
Among us are those who sing the praises of lame development without realizing that it will lead us to this level of conflicts, struggles and wars, to the point of fear for our planet.
As for our message to future generations, it is about the inevitability of contributing to change. Yes, you can, because all you have to do is know, care, and share the idea of collective contribution to change.
Do not wait for someone to come to you from another planet to get you out of what you are in, but try, then try, and repeat the attempts, and you will inevitably find that you, and the people around you, are capable of change and achieving environmental justice.