International Environmental Justice

The two chapters, 7 and 8 were really interesting because they each were connected to the other. The study about colonias was rather interesting because people were still living in such an area where there is no proper waste disposal systems, water or paved roads but some of them earned pretty good incomes.

From what I read in the chapter, I can think of another reason as to why people of color tend to be at the receiving end of environmental injustice; probably because of their communal type of living. These people chose to live in the are because other people of the same ethnicity live in the same area and share the same culture. It is more comforting if one is able to have some sort of connection with people of the same background if one is living in the foreign country and may have been discriminated against.

Another interesting thing I found in this study was something that has been mentioned over and over again but is much more prominent now after I read an actual study. That is that concern regarding environmental justice and environmentalism increases with education and that women tend to care more about such things. So of all the ideas that we've been discussing in class, I would say that one of the most effective ways to get people to care and act is to educate them and it does not necessarily mean educating them specifically about environmental issues.

Chapter 8 talked about EJ in Neoliberal free-trade agreements and how in some sense, they're not really free trade after all. The argument most used in such arguments is that the deterioration of the environment is necessary in developing countries before they are able to improve environmental conditions. This is because once the per capita income of the country reaches a certain level, people have most of their physical needs met and would then be more concerned about caring for their environment.

However, in order for developing countries to grow economically, they need to trade with developed countries or have develop countries build industries in their countries as operating costs are cheaper. But when this is done, developing countries oftentimes lose the "privilege" of demanding for better work conditions or ethics at their workplace. They have inadverdently "sold their soul" to large multinational corporations.

This results in such corporations taking advantage of trade agreements or poor government enforcement of regulations in order to maximize profit. What this will eventually lead to is increased pollution and sweat shop-like conditions for workers. When the locals rally and protest against such practices(like what happened in Guadalcazar), they might get their way but not without costs associated with such actions. If the riot or protest is large enough to generate international media interest, it might be a bad move for the local economy as other corporations might close down their current facilities or choose to locate them elsewhere.

This will leave such developed countries no better off than they were before. So it seems that there is a problem with such "free trade agreements". It will be difficult...maybe seemingly impossible to have regulated trade that provided fair compensation in exchange for labor or services because the argument then would be that everything would be restricted and the economy will be artificially manipulated. But current trade conditions are no better for developing countries. How then will we come up with a solution to provide fair compensation for services while at the same time, maintain an economic marketplace that is not overtly controlled (or regulated)?