The Meaning of Social-Environmental Sustainability - Economics and Ecology: United for a Sustainable World - page 124

finally, from an isolated personal self to self in community. We now turn to
that social, or community, element.
Social Equity
The pillar of community, or social justice, is the most difficult to define and
thus the most easily ignored of the triple bottom-line. Economics and envi-
ronment are more easily grasped, and analysis about them can be external-
ized. “They” must do something about that. “Technology” must find a way
to deal with an economic situation, an environmental problem, or even the
connection between the two. Nurturing a sense of community or assessing
issues involving justice and fairness, however, demands consideration of
personal values and introspection, which is much less comfortable for most
economically oriented people.
We are, today, far removed from social justice. A wonderful example of
perceived inequality among humans took place in a small Oregon town a
number of years ago. It involved people living in the city versus those liv-
ing in the country. An article in the local newspaper said a farmer had been
arrested and fined for throwing garbage on somebody's lawn in town. As I
(CM) remember reading the article, the story went something like this:
Joe City, who lived in town, took his garbage out to the country and
dumped it on Bill Rural's property near Bill's house. Although Bill did
not see Joe dump his garbage, he found an invoice in the garbage with
Joe's name and address on it. So Bill picked up all of Joe's garbage and
drove into town, where he dumped it onto Joe's front lawn. Joe went to
the police and complained.
Even though Bill said the townspeople were continually dumping
their unwanted garbage on his land and that in this case he was sure
it was Joe's garbage, Joe had legal standing and Bill did not. Bill was
arrested and fined, but nothing happened to Joe.
This sent a clear message of inequality to Joe, to Bill, and to everyone else.
The message was that it is okay for city folks to dump their garbage with legal
impunity on the property of rural folks, but not vice versa. It was apparent
that, despite the Constitution of the United States, some people are a lot more
equal than others.
Looked at another way, this example allows us to uncover some profound
and universally applicable conclusions. Rural people who value clean air and
good-quality water have a right to enjoy these amenities, especially when they
purposefully live out “in the middle of nowhere.” But bureaucrats, hundreds
of miles away, give cities and industries the right to pollute air and water
because of economic and political power. They do this despite the fact that
such pollution fouls the air and contaminates the water that rural people use.
It could be said that because Joe lived in a city, his community sup-
ported him and his personal rights more definitively than they supported