Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
community's and an individual's true place in the world, and the effects of unequal
relations of power and wealth on lives and livelihoods. For McIntosh, heritage is
not a commodity to be bought, sold and consumed, but is a living thing, and land
rights are important to people across the world. On Eigg, the islanders campaigned
to reclaim their heritage, raising £1.5 million to buy the island from its laird. McIntosh
notes that, at 7,400 acres, Eigg represented just 1 per cent of the Scottish Highlands
under private ownership. Instead of private landlordism, McIntosh advocates the
establishment of community land trusts, like the Eigg Trust, where rents support
community self-management and where, as in the crofting community, tenancies
may be inherited, thereby allowing for both individual enterprise and communal
supervision. So, like the islanders of Eigg, community members in many areas of
the world may need, in order to control their futures, to re-vision, reorganize, and
work to re-empower themselves and reassert their rights.
Environmental justice and social action
In London, the Mayor's Commission on the Environment noted early on in the life
of the new Greater London Authority that social disadvantage and poor environmental
quality should play a key role in the city's sustainable development policies and that
sustainability should be central to many of London's key strategies. The capital city
has over 7 million residents, over 300 languages are spoken, and although there is
great wealth, there is also considerable poverty, with a disproportionate percentage
of black and other minority ethnic groups experiencing the latter (Adebowale
et al
.,
2004). Poor air quality, limited access to green space, noise pollution, poor housing,
fuel poverty and respiratory problems are significant issues affecting many individuals
and neighbourhoods. To combat such problems, the London Sustainability Exchange
(LSX), a partnership body led by the charity Forum for the Future and including
Groundwork, the Mayor of London, Business in the Community and many
London Councils, has called for more effective leadership, more detailed mapping
of inequalities and injustices, and better water and resource management, and has
worked with many local neighbourhood communities to lobby for change. They
have made significant improvements themselves. In the Marks Gate community in
the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, and the Pepys Estate community
in the London Borough of Lewisham, LSX is working with local residents to develop
a local area map, using GIS to highlight 'trouble-spots', create an action plan to
resolve environmental poverty issues, and empower 'community ambassadors' or
local leaders to influence local decision-making and social behaviour. This capacity-
building exercise develops experiences of earlier projects aiming to foster green
lifestyles that have worked with members of the Bangladeshi and Somali Muslim
community in Tower Hamlets, and with Hindu communities aiming to improve
water conservation. In both areas, a cultural and particularly religious resonance
was established through referencing Quranic or Hindu teachings, and offering talks
and workshops in mosques and temples on the sacred nature of the environment
and the need to value and conserve natural resources.
In the US, Bullard and Johnson (2000), Lerner (2005) and Bullard (2005) show
how toxic pollution, health, liveable neighbourhoods, racism, and land and human
rights combine in many environmental justice campaigns involving African Americans,
