A New Year for Environmental Justice

 Happy 2022!  I admit it's been a while, but I thought it high time to get back to the Environmental Justice Junky (EJJ) to report out on some high points, low points, and blind spots I've been thinking about as we embark upon a new year, and new opportunities to carry the EJ message forward.  Looking back, I realize that I never really defined Environmental Justice as I see it, so that might be the starting point if I intend for a bit of clarity here.  The United States Federal government defines it as:

"the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies."

That's all well and good, but the Feds' definition seems a little 'sapien-centric' if you ask me.  It seems that we have to consider the other life forms on Earth if we want to talk about EJ.  Maybe, just to start with, we could conceivably work towards livable conditions for the estimated 8.7 million species of animals out there, not to mention plants and other forms of life on this big blue ball.  Even if you don't believe in the sentience of animal life or our evolutionary connection to our fellow life forms, there must be some acknowledgement that we're gonna need the other species to continue to eat, breathe, pollinate crops, aerate our soils, metabolize our waste, etc., and if we make life hard for all those other inhabitants on Earth, we're gonna feel the burn. So, if we could all agree, for the sake of this little snippet of commentary, that EJ is:

"the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all species of life, regardless of ecological hierarchy, economic utility, or human association, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental mores, written doctrine, and human enforcement."

For the purposes of this blog, let's go with that.  I know it's much more broad, and a little harder to nail down, but I'd appreciate it if we could embrace this meaning for environmental justice on this platform.  

Returning to our opener, it's a new year, and with it comes new opportunities for embracing Environmental Justice.  The COVID pandemic has changed the way we look at things, and has dramatically affected the amount of biological data gathered over the past two years.  With so much less international travel, field crews of biologists and statisticians keeping track of the ecological decline have been few, and preliminary reports suggest that just the absence of this tourism and scientific pressure to reduce harmful poaching and deforestation have wreaked havoc on the world's natural systems.  Presumably due to loss of jobs during the pandemic and associated affects of shutdowns have led to a significant rise in poaching in Africa and in parts of South America.  While animal species suffer increasingly due to direct over-hunting, habitat loss is on the rise as well.  Governments crippled by loss of tax revenue and increased demands have resorted, in many cases, to further decimating their limited old-growth forests for valuable hardwood resources.  Things look a little bleak.  At a time when CO2 emissions are lower due to decreased traffic, the CO2 released in 2020 through deforestation was twice the amount that is released by global traffic annually.  

But hold up!  There are a few reasons to have hope in trying times.  For one thing, just the concept of Environmental Justice is getting traction, with much more interest than ever before.  Governments around the world are developing plans and appropriating resources and personnel to attack these challenges.  While deforestation increased in parts of the world, there was a significant decrease of these destructive activities in Malaysia, Indonesia, and other areas.  Game cams in Honduras, in areas usually frequented by tourists and researchers, have started capturing images of Ocelots, Margays, and other rare cats, emboldened by less human traffic.  

Here in the United States, we have an administration in charge of the government who is working diligently to do good work.  In his first year in office, President Biden signed into effect 7 Executive Orders that get the ball a little farther for Environmental Justice.  The United States now has a President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and we have a Climate Change Support Office that has the ear of the largest government in the world.  Over the past 50 years, an estimated 2/3 of the world's wildlife has been wiped from existence, but we have more, capable minds working to preserve the species that remain than ever before.  

Are things going to be perfect in 2022?  Of course not, but, as Voltaire said, "Perfection is always the enemy of the good."  We mustn't lose sight of what has been accomplished, how hard people are working to right historical wrongs for the cause of Environmental Justice, and most importantly, how much we have to lose if we succumb to apathy.