The Politics of Socio-Economic Class and the Environment
by Robin Claremont and Angela Park
In conversations about diversity in the environmental field, socio-economic class often is the elephant in the room. While rarely discussed, there are significant socio-economic conflicts linked to environmental issues and, without careful attention, environmental policies can exacerbate class disparities. To broaden understanding of diversity in the environmental field, it is important to include a closer look at how environmentalism relates to economic class.
In conjunction with discussions of environmental politics at the ELP Fellowship's summer retreat, three ELP Fellows led a panel on socio-economic class and the environmental field. Matt Klingle, professor of history and environmental studies at Bowdoin College, Swati Prakash, environmental health director at West Harlem Environmental Action, and Jim Spencer, professor of urban studies and planning at the University of Hawaii, presented their thoughts on the role of socio-economic class in environmental work. The panelists offered insight into a question they believe should be asked more in the mainstream environmental community: how can environmentalists integrate a better understanding of socio-economic class into their work?
(L-R) Elp Fellows Matt Klingle, Jim Spencer, and Swati Prakash present
on an ELP retreat panel about socio-economic class in the environmental field |
What is "class"? According to Jim Spencer, "class" is often simply defined by one's income, but one more relevant way to define it is to include a wider range of assets that enable one to have choices in society. Differentiation in levels of money, assets, and access to public goods provide a more complete picture of opportunities and economic privilege. As Spencer noted during the panel, "Assets are the things we pass on to our kids. They have historical as well as monetary value." While two individuals may have the same annual salary, the difference in their assets - the value of what they own in cars, homes, furniture, and stock portfolios, for example - can make a world of difference in their economic class.
Although many people working in the environmental field may not know it, the origins of modern environmentalism are steeped in class conflict. "The historical conservation movement that sought to preserve wilderness and natural resources was built, in part, on the desires of the upper-class to keep nature as its playground. The wealthy feared that poor and native communities would destroy wilderness, so they wanted instead to set it aside for their own enjoyment," said historian Matt Klingle. This elitist desire prompted the conservation movement to set aside significant tracts of land from economic uses. While these efforts protected natural areas, they also reduced the ability of rural communities to earn a living off the land.
In cities as well, environmental improvements historically have had a distinctive impact on lower income workers. One example is the development of new urban planning approaches, such as environmentally preferable methods of human waste disposal. Historically, poor city dwellers were often paid by the wealthy to compost night soil (human waste) from their homes. According to Klingle, when modern plumbing systems were installed in wealthy neighborhoods, a source of income for many in the lower classes was eliminated.
The history and rhetoric of class conflict around environmental issues is still being repeated today in situations such as the spotted owl debate in the Pacific Northwest. In the case of the spotted owl, conservation groups wanted to preserve habitat for an endangered species, but many loggers wanted to use the land to sustain local jobs. Though the situation was clouded by separate trends endangering the logging economy, the debate was viewed by many as a struggle between disadvantaged communities wanting to survive economically and outside environmental groups wanting to preserve the land regardless of the local impact. This classic tension can be traced back to the origins of the conservation movement, according to Klingle. "Humanity's dominion over nature is often a case of humans' dominion over other humans, with nature as a vehicle," he said in his panel presentation.
In communities that are both economically and environmentally degraded, one can see history and class differentiations playing themselves out. Swati Prakash encounters these struggles everyday in her work in Harlem, New York. She pointed to a strong but unspoken tension in the environmental field between those who choose to get into environmental work and those who must be advocates for their own health and community. Stemming from class divisions, this difference "can create a conflicting sense of priorities between environmental professionals and community activists who are fighting for their own survival," Prakash said.
Prakash described how there can be a layering of racism and classism in situations where pollution is concentrated in low-income people of color communities. As a result, these communities are faced with the health risks associated with air, water, and soil contamination, as well as lower economic potential and fewer opportunities.
While environmental racism and classism often coincide, Prakash argued, the two should not be confused. In some cases, what is called classism is in reality racially motivated. "The environmental legacy of historical patterns of residential segregations is not easy for communities of color to escape, regardless of their class," she said. As an example, Prakash described how toxic facilities are frequently located in multi-class people of color neighborhoods. Such patterns of environmental degradation mean that multi-class communities of color, as well as poor communities, receive the brunt of environmental problems.
This focus on "place" is critical. Access to local public goods - everything from educational systems to transportation networks - is determined by where one lives. "Public goods, such as high quality public schools, are a key factor in defining class. That's why residential segregation is a huge environmental issue - because our ability to change our class status or fight for environmental justice depends in part on our access to public goods," Spencer said.
The ELP panelists agreed that environmental challenges can be used as a way for certain socioeconomic groups to maintain control over other groups, such as people of color and the poor. Prakash commented, "Class may become the lens of the environmental movement: it's really about who has access to wealth and power."
Robin Claremont is program associate and Angela Park is an associate director at the Environmental Leadership Program
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