Edited by Joanna Burger, Michael Greenberg and Karen Lowrie
Rutgers University

Our aim with this virtual issue is to provide a compendium of papers that examine some of the risks and disadvantages that people and communities experience as a result of environmental injustices. Environmental injustice is one form of social injustice that normally refers to the disproportionate exposure of some individuals and groups to environmental hazards such as pollutants, industrial sites, and hazardous waste sites, without receiving the benefits deriving from the hazards that accrue to the polluters or industries. The recent Covid-19 pandemic, the rise in police violence, and the recognition of a largely unknown history of racial discrimination and violence, highlight the importance of addressing not only environmental justice, but the inequities of our societal norms.

Papers were selected from the late 1980s to the present, divided into three themes of environmental justice thinking and research. We also suggest additional papers on each topic for completeness. The three topic areas are:

1. Recognition of the diversity of environmental justice exposures and effects
2. Ethics, laws, tools and approaches to remedy environmental justice
3. Recognition of the connection between environmental justice, disasters, and the social justice movement

Read full virtual issue text here