Intro to Environmental Justice

Learning Objectives

Operationalizing the Safe and Just Space

Overarching Learning Goals

These represent the high-level, broad understandings that learners will retain long after completing the material.

1. Systems Thinking: Understand the dynamic, integrated relationship between global biophysical thresholds (the environmental ceiling) and universal human rights (the social foundation).

2. Methodological Integration: Grasp how global Earth system boundaries are scaled down and operationalized using micro-level accounting tools (such as life-cycle assessment and absolute environmental sustainability assessment) and dynamic, global-scale simulation models.

3. The Primacy of Justice: Recognize that environmental and social justice are not secondary ethical considerations, but functional prerequisites for biophysical safety and the long-term workability of ecological solutions.

4. Beyond Efficiency: Conceptualize the difference between narrow technological efficiency and deep structural redesign (regenerative and distributive models) required for absolute sustainability.

Resources

Slides

Slides: Life Cycle Assessment and Planetary Boundaries as Frameworks for Environmental Evaluation 

Reminder from previous class

• Intro to Life Cycle Assessments

Required Reading

• Looking beyond justice as universal basic needs is essential to progress towards ‘safe and just operating spaces’ 

Optional Readings

• Planetary Boundaries guide humanity’s future on Earth

• Operationalizing Planetary Boundaries

• Video:  Doughnut Economics: How to Think Like a 21st Century Economist

• A safe and just space for humanity:  CAN WE LIVE WITHIN THE DOUGHNUT?

Optional AI Generated Resources:

Brief Synthesis Report

Podcast - can be a little cringey at times but is good to listen to 3 or 4 times

Summary of climate scenarios (SRES, RCP, SSP)

• SRES: Special Report on Emissions Scenarios

• RCP: Representative Concentration Pathways

• SSP: Shared Socioeconomic Pathways