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Brulle, Robert J., and David N. Pellow. “ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: Human Health and Environmental Inequalities.” //Annual Review of Public Health// 27.1 (2006): 103–124. //CrossRef//. Web. 6 Oct. 2013.


 * 1. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text?**

“Research on this topic reveals that, in many communities, it is people of color and the poor who tend to live near environmentally hazardous facilities, and who bear a larger share of the health burden from exposure to toxins.”

“Although the vast majority of studies of environmental inequality conclude that racism is the major driving factor, there has veen considerable debate in some corners about the degree to which this phenomenon is a function of racial inequalities or class-bred market dynamics.”

“Driven by the need to maximize profits, corporations in turn continue to develop new technologies that produce unforeseen risks for the entire society. This process breaks down the ability of society to ensure the safetry of its citizens from the production of industrial hazards, creating a “risk society” in which the politics of the distribution of the fruits of economic production is overlaid with the politics of the distribution of environmental pollution, producing environmental injustice. Beck notes that “what is denied collects itself into geographical areas, into ‘loser regions’ which have to pay with their economic existence for the damage and its unaccountability” (Beck p. 23). This trend creates differential “risk positions” (Beck, p.23) corresponding to variation in the levels of exposure to environmental degradation. The resulting stratification follows the social distribution of power in which “like wealth, risks adhere to the class pattern, onley inversely; wealth accumulates at the top, risks at the bottom” (Beck p.35). “


 * 2. What is the main argument of the text?**

Through a review of the existing literature on environmental justice, the text concludes that more research is needed in order to better understand the link between health and environmental inequalities. Existing research has focused largely on either the nature of health disparities or the nature of environmental inequality; seldom have the two been studied together. The text also highlights racism and socioeconomic status (though seems to see the two as almost interchangeable) as primary factors in environmental inequality.


 * 3. Describe at least three ways that the main argument is supported**

The text first provides an idea of the distribution and scope of environmental inequality. It then goes on to discuss the existing literature on the production of environmental inequality. This provides the reader with an idea of what research has been done, and what previous studies have identified as factors contributing to environmental inequality (primarily race and socioeconomic status). The authors then provide a brief history of the environmental justice movement and address how it has impacted regulation and policy making.


 * 4. Describe the main literatures that the text draws on and contributes to.**

The text draws on the existing environmental justice literature, as well the existing environmental health literature. It ties the two together and contributes the result to both.


 * 5. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports, challenges, or otherwise relates to the argument or narrative that you imagine developing.**

The text touches on the relationship between socioeconomic status and environmental inequality. However, it seems that most of the existing research also highlights race as a central factor in creating this disparity. There seems to be a lack of research on white, rural populations being impacted by environmental inequality. My research could potentially help fill this gap in the existing knowledge.


 * 6. List at least three details or examples from the text that you can use to support the argument or narrative that you are developing.**

• The text provides a definition of environmental justice: “all people and communities are entitled to equal production of environmental and public health laws and regulations.” (Bullard RD. 1996. Symposium: the legacyof American apartheid and environmental racism. St. John’s J. Leg. Comment.9:445–74)

• The text identifies the difference between EJ and environmental inequality, by defining environmental inequality as a phenomena “which refers to a situation in which a specific social group is disproportionately affected by environmental hazards” (104)

• The article identifies the “treadmill of production” as a central factor to the production of environmental injustice: “. The logic of the treadmill of production is an ever-growing need for capital investment to generate goods for sale in the marketplace. From an ecological perspective this process requires continuous and growing inputs of energy and material. The expansion of the economy drives two fundamental dynamics of a market economy: ﬁrst, the creation of economic wealth, and second, the creation of the negative byproducts of the production process. Thus the treadmill operates to maintain a positive rate of return on investments and externalizes the environmental costs of its activities.”