Abstract
Conceptions of justice and the built environment now go hand in hand amidst escalating discussions of climate adaptation. This study articulates one expression of this urban tensions through a discussion of environmental justice discourses. The environmental justice (EJ) frame is a key feature of successful grassroots mobilization against the uneven distribution of environmental problems. But what happens when this discursive framework is questioned – when basic features of its established definition are made to serve, rather than contest, industry? The paper examines this dynamic through an ethnography of a high-volume desalination (potable ocean water) proposal - an object understand as an additional blight amidst a coastal wasteland. Findings indicate community groups and non-governmental organizations make normative EJ arguments about the high costs of desalination, community disruption, and industrial burden. Organized labor and public sector actors align with the private sector to promote desalination, using a competing series of arguments about high costs of alternatives, local independence, regional responsibility, and employment. Disentangling these discourses, the author argues that claims in favor of desalination are part of a cooptation process, conceived within the financial framework of “project finance” that ultimately facilitates community cleavage in favor of a class bias for a luxury commodity – purified ocean water. Linking environmental sociology and political economy, this research contributes to sociological and policy discussions about industrial infrastructure, calling scholars, activists, and decision-makers to attend to how environmental (in)justice politics adopts surprising meanings based upon social context amidst the expansion of financial capitalism.
Presenters
Brian O'NeillPostdoctoral Fellow, College of Global Futures, Arizona State University, Arizona, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Environmental Justice; Built Environment; Water Policy; Climate Change; Sociology; Publics
