Toward eco-justice for all - Environmental Harm: An Eco-justice Perspective - page 164

upon prejudice and ignorance. Others are grounded in deeply held
ideological and philosophical views that generate fierce emotional
responses on all sides. Some of the conflict is contested at the level of
the abstract and conjecture; in other cases the conflict emerges out of
immediate practical contradictions that demand answers in the here
and now.
Among other things, this chapter has also briefly attempted to situate
these tensions and conflicts within the wider social context of global
political economy. That is, exploitation of humans, eco-systems and
animals is problematic for the Earth generally - but it occurs because
of systemic practices and economic imperatives. This is a central point
and contribution of the social harm approach. Who is to blame for
environmental harm, therefore, is not reducible to simple answers or
fixable by simply coming up with the right slogans. There are powerful
groups and sectional interests that manipulate, lie and coerce to maintain
the socio-economic status quo, and specific groups of people, specific
eco-systems and specific animals benefit or lose depending upon
struggles around environmental harm issues.
In navigating through the minefields and fissures of ethical decision-
making in relation to environmental harm, it can be anticipated that the
complexities of doing justice will not get any easier. Perennial questions
remain over how best to deal with specific aspects of eco-justice:
• Rights (conlicts over)
intrinsic versus instrumental rights; human interests, ecological
sustainability and animal rights
for example , defining the limits to the right to life
• Harm (degrees and dimensions of)
extent of damage or destruction; greater good; species survival
for example, determining when to intervene and why
• Value (measuring harm)
worth, what counts as evidence; thresholds and hierarchies of
harm
for example , establishing criteria for measuring what is harmful
and to what extent
• Power (decision-making processes)
voices, inequalities, differential victimisation
for example , incorporating diverse interests, perspectives and types
of participation.
Observations about the complexities surrounding environmental harm
and the introduction of specific propositions about justice are intended