Sociology

Purpose: The purpose of this short essay is to provide you an opportunity to analyze a local environmental justice organization’s (Beyond Toxics) report of air pollution and health in West Eugene’s Industrial Corridor. This essay will require the use of sociological concepts in general and content about the meaning of environmental justice and the causes of environmental inequality in particular. It will help you develop and sharpen your skills of analysis, assessment, and succinct writing, which are useful for classroom success and a variety of professional work settings.

Task: First, read Beyond Toxics’s report, Environmental Justice in West Eugene: Families, Health, and Air Pollution. Then, in a logically organized and thoughtful response of 3-4 pages, approximately 750-1000 words, answer the two parts of the prompt below. Read the prompt carefully and respond to each part of the prompt.

Prompt

In the first part of your response, explain how the report details an environmental justice issue in West Eugene. Use these guiding questions to write this part of your response:

How is this an example of environmental injustice?  What are the causes of this instance of environmental inequality? How is Beyond Toxics and Centro Latino Americano trying achieve environmental justice?
Briefly explain the case of environmental justice occurring in West Eugene’s Industrial Corridor, as outlined in the report.
Analyze the case of West Eugene using 2 of 3 explanations of environmental inequality (the figures on pages 13-29 will be useful here, cite them if they are helpful)
Explain how Beyond Toxics and Centro Latino Americano are trying to achieve distributive, procedural, and recognition justice for residents in West Eugene (the project outcomes and environmental justice section will be useful, pages 6-10 and page 33).
In the second part of your response, explain the differences between contested illnesses and environmental justice. Use this guiding question to write this part of your response:

How is the Industrial Corridor in West Eugene an instance of environmental justice and not contested illness? To justify your answer, please detail the different emphases of environmental justice and contested illnesses.
How does the report align with the focus of environmental justice and not contested illnesses?
List of sources to draw from to support your responses, apply course concepts, and analyze the report by Beyond Toxics:

Cole and Foster 2001Preview the document
Mohai, Pellow, and Roberts 2009Preview the document
Pellow 2000Preview the document
Bullard 2014.pdf
Bullard et al. 2007 Toxic Wastes and Race at 20 (Chpt. 4).pdf
Cable, Shriver, and Mix 2008.pdf
Please cite at least 2 of the above articles. Citations for the Reference list are provided on their respective lecture video pages.

Criteria for Success: You will be successful if you answer all parts of the prompt in a clear, organized, and concise way, with accurately referenced and applied evidence from course texts. Please proofread your paper for spelling and grammar.