The perceived locus of environmental care shifts with social and geographical position.

Evidence

If, for example, the environmental crisis cannot be solved without social justice, then ecological educators and critical pedagogues must build an educational framework that interrogates the intersection between urbanization, racism, classism, sexism, environmentalism, global economics, and other political themes. What makes this so difficult is that diverse social experiences produce diverse and sometimes divergent perspectives toward cultural and ecological politics. Geographical location, race, gender, class—permutations of these and other cultural locations mean social and ecological problems are often perceived and prioritized differently by different groups. For example, around Earth Day in 1970, while White middle-class radicals were denouncing resource depletion and waste and while environmentalism was being promoted as a “non-class issue,” urban African-American families were focused instead on “lack of jobs, poor housing, racial discrimination, crumbling cities, [and claimed that] their main environmental problem was Richard Nixon” (Harvey, 1996, p. 117). This does not mean to suggest that African Americans are not concerned with resource depletion and waste but to demonstrate that the locus of environmental care may shift depending on one’s social and geographical position. — David A. Gruenewald, The Best of Both Worlds, 59

Categorization

• XREF: Reinforces the polyad theme that environmental priorities differ by class/race/place — echoes the environmental racism thread. — connects to: How fully urban residents claim space depends on role and group support — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 725
• CANDY: The 1970 Earth Day anecdote — ‘their main environmental problem was Richard Nixon’ — is a striking, quotable example of position-dependent environmental concern.

Related

• Place-based and critical pedagogies split along rural-ecological versus urban-social lines. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• How fully urban residents claim space depends on role and group support #qualifies (0.75) — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 725