LW226

Our society places systematic and disproportionate environmental burdens on marginalized communities and vulnerable individuals (including children, poor people, immigrants, and Native American, Latinx and African American communities). These injustices have given rise to the environmental justice movement. Although environmental justice was once a niche topic in environmental law, it has become the driving force in environmental and natural resources policy. This course will examine several aspects of environmental justice from both historical and current events perspectives, including issues such as the failure to protect children and Native Americans in setting standards, siting polluting facilities in poor and African American communities, the climate justice issues of market-based air pollution regulation, and the failure to take appropriate enforcement action to protect these communities. There is no final, but students will develop and present a project on a particular environmental justice issue on their final day in class.

All Years

Spring Semester