LAW 731 - Environmental Justice Law

Unit(s): 3

Environmental Justice (EJ) is the movement to remedy the unequal distribution of environmental burdens and benefits, including facilitating more meaningful participation in public decisionmaking on environmental issues from historically disadvantaged groups. This course will introduce students to the concept of EJ, including the history and politics of the movement, how social scientists observe and document injustices, the lived experience of historically disadvantaged groups, and how environmental health and contamination intersect with issues of race, ethnicity, gender, class, national origin, age, and other aspects of identity. The course will then introduce students to the laws and policies that have led to environmental inequality as well as those that offer potential paths to a more equitable distribution of environmental harm. Specifically, the course will focus on the role of the legal system and lawyers in the EJ movement. As the course progresses, students will learn about EJ in a variety of law and policy contexts, including civil rights legislation, local land use and gentrification, tort and property law, pollution control regulation, climate change mitigation and adaptation, immigration and refugees, indigenous populations, and access to healthy housing and living spaces, green space, education, healthcare, and environmental risk information.

Restriction: College restricted to School of Law
School of Law