| Promoting Environmental Justice has been a goal of many local, state and federal initiatives meant to protect vulnerable populations such a, communities of low income or of color. These efforts have been limited in their ability to ensure that environmental benefits and burdens are equitably distributed between all communities. This has resulted in controversy and conflict surrounding public policy decisions directed at promoting environmental justice.; The goal of this study is to analyze the environmental justice movement's discursive frame (the taken for granted reality in which the movement exists) in a manner that emphasizes the creation and maintenance of the common beliefs.; This dissertation presents research using Q methodology to study how individuals engaged within the environmental justice discourse understand the term environmental justice. Within this context, this research poses three questions: (a) How is the term environmental justice understood by individuals engaged in the environmental justice movements broader discourse? (b) Are the claims made within the environmental justice discourse unified, or can varying aspects of environmental justice discourse be identified? (c) What implications might these findings have for efforts to promote environmental justice in public policy?; Three perspectives about how best to promote environmental justice in public policy emerged. Metaphorically-speaking they represent a braided discourse. Each forwards a distinct position with respect to what environmental justice means and how best to promote it in public policy, however, there are areas where each discourse complements another. This is evidenced by that fact that all perspectives acknowledge the existence of environmental inequities, while offering different explanations as to why this was the case. Each explanation was coincident with differing notions of what environmental justice means. Findings of this study also demonstrate why researchers have viewed the environmental justice movement as being structurally and ideologically unable to generate a focused policy agenda and reveal fundamental differences in how ideas about injustice are framed as well as explaining why people in environmental justice conflicts often talk past one another. Finally, recommendations are made to highlight direction for researchers and decision-makers working to promote environmental justice in public policy. |
