Agyeman: Chapter 3 "Just Sustainability in Theory"

I chose to read chapter three in order to gain more background into sustainability policy and methodology. Agyeman lays out the statement that his intent for this chapter is to locate the overlap between the JSP (just sustainability paradigm) and the NEP (new environmental paradigm) in conjunction with the EJP (environmental justice paradigm). Although i must say for me this connection was an interesting one but not the message or issue that i most took away with me.

The concept that struck me the hardest was that of the "civil rights" divide that occurs among those most involved in sustainability efforts. He says that "the majority of current sustainability action is generally seen as being through local action involving multistakeholder partnerships." I believe that i do agree with this very rarely is sustainability a whole-community action it is general action taken by those motivated few. He uses the term multistakeholders to describe these people and i believe that i would agree with him however i am not exactly clear as to what it refers to in terms of the community.

He continues by making the very the blunt statement that "traditional environmentalists, and the organizations that hire them, are predominantly middle and upper-middle class, male, and white." He continues by saying that "environmentalists not working in the EJ (environmental justice) movement tend to have a college or postgraduate degree, work in a proffessional job, and own a home." I know that this topic of "segregation" or "civil rights" does not have a lot in direct relation with environmental policy but it struck me pretty hard. I do not fully agree that we can make the full generalization about middle class, white, male environmentalists but i do believe that there is a definite cultural split in the world of environmental action, and i do not know why. I would say that my best guess is that of education it appears that the more educated become more environmentally aware, but if we are all taking advantage of teh same resources shouldn't we all be aware. I do not believe that it is socio-economic status because it definitely does not take an abundance of money or donations to be environmentally aware. His second point about the EJ is something that i do not agree with i would say that the more educated would be more inclined to be a part of the EJ whicle he is defending the conrary.

As mentioned earlier i know that this is not a huge portion of the chapter but i believe that the people and demographic involved in environmental issues is an important one and i think that understanding where and why the split occurs could really help in allieviating the social environemental divide. He says that in his opinion a menthod of helping more people become aware and involved is to focus on the procedures or the processes by which groups achieve their mandated aims thsi will help to create a more diverse base of support. I believe that self evaluation is always important but i believe that this statement is very broad and generalized it gives no specific reference as to how an examination of proccesses will ultimitely help diversity. Diversity is extremely important and to me one of the keys of sustainability in the community, but it is a very difficult goal to achieve and we must really examine why diversity occurs and then how individual proccesses are further facilitating the diverse trends.