In the final chapter of Environmental Justice, Shrader-Frechette culminates the ample arguments in favor of environmental justice advocacy made in this book by presenting a rally-cry of sorts for citizens and professionals to join the movement. She sums up the primary problem with our society that we’ve seen reflected in so many case studies, what she calls a “tilted playing field.” In essence, institutions with interests in profit (government, industry and even academia) hold all the power and tend to circumvent public and environmental interests. These circumstances are contradictory to the principles of democracy, which we, as citizens, are obligated to uphold. Shrader-Frechette insists that we must be agents of democracy and justice if we wish to uphold the principles of democracy and justice. This is the sort of rhetoric that I missed from this book.
The author also makes a very good point about citizen neutrality toward environmental justice. She writes that “it is not objective to be neutral in the face of systematic discrimination against minorities,” which is absolutely true, and that neutrality from citizens of developed nations is morally negligent, and I agree. Shrader-Frechette brings up the obvious example neutrality toward the Nazis, which led to the incomprehensible acts of the Holocaust. We, like the silent citizens of Europe at the time of the Holocaust, have grown up in a culture in which we’re encouraged not to care or question about how our life choices adversely affect the lives of others. Consumer culture is designed this way, right down to the colors of the packaging to the catchy song on the commercial, all these elements are designed to help us ignore the origins of our products so that we feel good and buy more. The average American meal travels 1500 miles from farm to plate, and most of the time we have no idea where any of it comes from or what the honest, hardworking, indigenous people of Where-Ever had to go through to get it to us. This is not democracy. It’s a sheet that’s been pulled over our eyes.
I’m not sure I agree with Shrader-Frechette that “most people want to remain neutral” about environmental justice; I think that most people are just ignorant or apathetic to the plight of other, less fortunate people. In fact, I’d venture that the two most common perspectives of most people who become aware of environmental injustices are the opposite of neutral: people either become outraged and explore the issue further until becoming advocates or “blame the victim” and insist that minorities and third world citizens just pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
When I started this book, it was with spit and fire due to the first chapter’s admonishment of what the author called “misanthropic ecofascists.” Predictably, Shrader-Frechette does not discuss this issue again until the last chapter, and she does so weakly, which suggests to me that the topic was just a rhetorical tool used to get readers interested in what ends up being a pretty long book. In any case, she brings up William Frankena’s “criterion for discrimination,” that is, factors which, in an ethically questionable situation, may justify discrimination. Discrimination must, over the long term, lead to greater overall equality for everyone. She uses EarthFirst!’s actions to exemplify how one might justify violence against civilians for the sake of defending an otherwise indefensible entity (in this case, the environment). Shrader-Frechette concludes that “strong advocacy of a particular ethical and policy position, amounting to coercion or even violence, nevertheless is more justifiable theoretically to the degree that it is necessary to prevent some greater evil.” Frankly, I’m not sure that I agree. I’ve had this debate with a number of my friends who are members of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), and more and more I’m beginning to think of myself as a pacifist in principle. Violence begets violence, and blowing up a university science lab and maybe killing people for testing cancer vaccines on animals is probably one of the more unjustifiable things I can think of. I’m surprised that Shrader-Frechette went this route and I’d like to read more on the issue.
Overall, I enjoyed this book more than From the Ground Up and most other books I’ve read on the subject of environmental justice. Shrader-Frechette presents strong arguments backed up by careful ethical analysis of the problems at work in issues of environmental justice. She doesn’t rely on case studies to reveal the complicated market dynamics driving ethically questionable corporate decision-making. Throughout the book, she carefully dismantles opposing arguments to environmental justice, identifying ethically unsound areas and offering more sensible guidelines. This book definitely enhanced my understanding of environmental justice, particularly from the philosophical perspective. I look forward to reading Shrader-Frechette’s book, Taking Action, Saving Lives.
