Pursuing Environmental and Climate Justice
This week at the Norman Foster Institute, in Madrid, Sheila Foster, Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Urban Law and Policy and Professor of Public Policy, Georgetown University, Washignton D.C., U.S., gave a seminar in which she explored the topic of environmental and climate justice, focusing on how climate change and pollution affect different communities.
In 2023, unprecedented levels of extreme heat, flooding and severe air pollution brought the world to a clearer understanding of the degree to which climate disruption threatens public health, safety, social cohesion and natural systems today, not at some time in the future. Such threats are especially problematic in vulnerable and marginalized communities, most of whom live in cities. There are persistent inequities in the effects of extreme heat, precipitation, drought, wildfire, housing-loss, sea level rise, and displacement. These inequities are often the result of the lasting effects of historical and systemic injustices and lack of access to adequate housing, infrastructure, and adaptation resources. Many of these communities are often dealing with long-standing environmental injustices tied to the disproportionate presence of pollution and toxins in their soil, water, and homes. Climate change heightens such risks and exposures, essentially becoming a “threat multiplier.”
In this lecture, Foster explained some of the historical, social, and economic processes that contribute to uneven environmental and climate vulnerability and shape adaptive capacity for many communities. She explored the domains in which progress is being made to achieve environmental and climate justice. Much of this progress is occurring at the local government level, as cities are on the front line of many climate impacts. Cities are forced to adapt their infrastructure and populations to stave off the worst consequences of climate change. In doing so, cities increasingly incorporate “justice” into their climate action and adaptation plans. Cities do so by utilizing social science and data, including use of social vulnerability indexes and equity screening tools, as well as leverage relationships and partnerships with the civic, private, and knowledge sectors.
Discover more about the Norman Foster Institute visiting www.normanfosterinstitute.org