Environmental justice discourse forms a shared toolbox, not one universal definition.

Evidence

I am not trying to argue that all of those groups that use environmental justice as an organizing discourse address all of these notions of justice, and have ultimately developed a broad and harmonious definition. Rather, the argument here is that the public discourse of environmental justice is broad and varied, with groups tapping into different understandings and approaches to the concept of environmental depending on issue, situation, and tactics. The metaphor might be overused, but we can see these groups reaching into the same justice toolbox, using, and articulating, the same tools from place to place, and case to case. Rather than a broad, universal, and unitary notion of environmental justice, what there is in practice is a set of important discourses which are repeatedly raised—equity, recognition, participation, capabilities, and functioning; these concepts are consistently discussed at both the individual and community level, and they are most often discussed in relation to one another. At most, from an examination of the definition of environmental justice through global movements, we get an understanding of a broad and unified notion of the term, though not a singular, universal, and unitary definition. — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice, 339

Categorization

• DEFINE: The ‘justice toolbox’ metaphor is the operational frame: groups select among equity, recognition, participation, capabilities per issue rather than applying one fixed definition.
• XREF: Directly echoes the reader’s stated need for a portable typology usable across the Legal Systems, Eco-Justice, and Soundscape courses. — connects to: Justice dimensions are inseparable and mutually reinforcing, not competing alternatives. — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice:…, 340; A shared justice vocabulary can unify environmental and ecological justice movements — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice:…, 41; Environmental justice movements are inherently plural and network-based, not singular in principle or structure — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice:…, 617

Broader Connections

• A shared justice vocabulary can unify environmental and ecological justice movements #expands (0.80) — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice, 41
• Environmental justice movements are inherently plural and network-based, not singular in principle or structure #expands (0.80) — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice, 617