Unwanted environmental risk exposure constitutes a denial of recognition

Evidence

‘Because they reflect the distribution of power in society, they cannot be expected to produce an equitable distribution of goods’ (Hamilton 1993: 69). The simple point here is that there is a crucial link between a lack of recognition and the inequitable distribution of environmental bads; it is a general lack of value of the poor and people of color that leads to this distributional inequity. We can use Honneth, on the theoretical level, to examine this link. One of the central notions of respect and recognition for Honneth is physical integrity. ‘The forms of practical maltreatment in which a person is forcibly deprived of any opportunity freely to dispose over his or her own body represent the most fundamental sort of personal degradation’ (Honneth 1995: 132). While Honneth refers to how acts such as physical injury, torture, and rape deny recognition, we can certainly add unwanted exposure to environmental risks as an example of seizing control of a person’s body against their will. Exposure to risk is a type of physical abuse, especially given the direct health effects shown to be produced by, for example, exposure to lead in urban housing or uranium mine tailings on Native American reservations. Again, there is a direct relationship between a lack of recognition and environmental degradation. These events are not independent, nor should they be considered as such. — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice, 223

Categorization

• DEFINE: Extends Honneth’s physical-integrity recognition concept to include involuntary environmental risk exposure — a genuinely reusable definitional move.
• XREF: Feeds the Soundscape reading: noise imposed on a community is likewise an involuntary seizure of bodily integrity and thus a misrecognition, not merely a distributive harm. — connects to: Environmental justice movement misrecognition operates at both personal and community levels. — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice:…, 227; Environmental review documents omit or erase the communities they harm — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up: Environmental…, 1071; Misrecognition of identities drives environmental justice groups to demand recognition. — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice:…, 226 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Misrecognition of identities drives environmental justice groups to demand recognition. #expands (0.82) — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice, 226
• Environmental injustice includes both disproportionate risk and exclusion from decisions #expands (0.78) — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice, 200