Nicole-Marie Cotton | University of California, Berkeley (original) (raw)

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Papers by Nicole-Marie Cotton

arXiv (Cornell University), Mar 14, 2023

In this paper, we explore how environmental justice activists’ reliance on state regulation has i... more In this paper, we explore how environmental justice activists’ reliance on state regulation has inhibited their ability to achieve their goals – an important topic whose oversight we do not believe is accidental. Despite over 30 years of activism and over 20 years since President Clinton signed Executive Order 12898 (The United States Commission on Civil Rights 2003), poor communities and communities of color are still overexposed to environmental harms. While the term environmental justice (EJ) is usually associated with empowerment, struggle, and community, there is a small but growing empirical literature that examines the effectiveness of EJ initiatives to improve vulnerable communities’ environments in the U.S.A. While the EJ movement has achieved great strides, which should not be discounted, we argue that, with the exception of blocking new projects and preventing the expansion of existing projects, the movement has not improved the environmental quality of vulnerable populations. Moreover, given the diversity of who and what constitutes EJ activism, there are not necessarily clear definitions of what constitutes success and failure. Researchers invariably blame the state for such problems and offer measured policy recommendations (Konisky 2015). However, as radical scholars, we know that such failings cannot be addressed solely by tinkering with policies, and are, in fact, linked to a larger political context. Given that EJ is a form of class and racial struggle, the (in)ability to achieve EJ must be seen in explicitly political terms (Faber 2008).

arXiv (Cornell University), Mar 14, 2023

In this paper, we explore how environmental justice activists’ reliance on state regulation has i... more In this paper, we explore how environmental justice activists’ reliance on state regulation has inhibited their ability to achieve their goals – an important topic whose oversight we do not believe is accidental. Despite over 30 years of activism and over 20 years since President Clinton signed Executive Order 12898 (The United States Commission on Civil Rights 2003), poor communities and communities of color are still overexposed to environmental harms. While the term environmental justice (EJ) is usually associated with empowerment, struggle, and community, there is a small but growing empirical literature that examines the effectiveness of EJ initiatives to improve vulnerable communities’ environments in the U.S.A. While the EJ movement has achieved great strides, which should not be discounted, we argue that, with the exception of blocking new projects and preventing the expansion of existing projects, the movement has not improved the environmental quality of vulnerable populations. Moreover, given the diversity of who and what constitutes EJ activism, there are not necessarily clear definitions of what constitutes success and failure. Researchers invariably blame the state for such problems and offer measured policy recommendations (Konisky 2015). However, as radical scholars, we know that such failings cannot be addressed solely by tinkering with policies, and are, in fact, linked to a larger political context. Given that EJ is a form of class and racial struggle, the (in)ability to achieve EJ must be seen in explicitly political terms (Faber 2008).