SHAPING ENVIRONMENTAL “JUSTICES” Chih-Tung Huang Ph.D., Science and Technology Studies University of Edinburgh 2010 DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY OF SUBMITTED WORK In conformance to University regulations, I hereby declare that: 1. this thesis has been composed solely by me; 2. this thesis is entirely my own work; and 3. this thesis has not been submitted in part or whole for any other degree or professional qualification. Signed…………………………………………………………………………. Date……………………………………………………………………………. ii NOTICE OF PUBLICATION With permission from my supervisors, parts of the thesis have been peer-reviewed and published as the following: In English : Huang, C. T. and R. -C. Hwang (2009a). "“Environmental Justices”: What we have learned from the Taiwanese environmental justice controversy." Environmental Justice 2(3): 101-108. The Lanyu case in chapter 6 especially draws on this article. However, this thesis provides more comprehensive analysis on this issue. In Chinese : My original research proposal attempted to trace the idea of EJ and investigated its origins, its shaping/reshaping process, and its expansion to other countries and to the globe. It covered a broader scope than this thesis, including five cases: the US case, the Taiwanese case, the UK case, the international waste trading case, and the climate justice case. Considering limited space, this thesis only deals with the US and the Taiwanese cases. Some initial comments regarding these five cases scattered in the following Chinese articles. Huang, C.-T. and R.-C. Hwang (forthcoming). "The adoption of environmental justice: Are Americans and Taiwanese talking about the same environmental justice? ." National Development 9(1): Not yet known. Huang, C.-T. and R.-C. Hwang (2009). "The economic perspective of environmental justice: Can we solve EJ problems without abandoning economic thinking?" State and Society (6): 51-102. Huang, C.-T. and R.-C. Hwang (2009). "The indigenization of environmental justice: Some analytical and theoretical issues." Applied Ethics (46): 17-50. Huang, C.-T. (2008). Environmental justice and social constructionism. Sociology . R.-C. Hwang ed,. Taipei, Tunghua. Huang, C.-T. (2008). STS and climate change. Sociology . R.-C. Hwang ed,. Taipei, Tunghua. Hwang, R. -C. and C.-T. Huang (2007). “Seeking fair change: What is the role of justice in research into climate change.” Journal of Social Theory 10(2):417-444. Hwang, R. -C. and C.-T. Huang (2007). "The three problems of environmental justice theory." Taiwan Foundation for Democracy 4(2): 113-140. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank all my supervisors who have been involved in this project. I am extremely appreciative of the support provided by Steve Yearley. On the first day I met him, I knew that I found a “dream supervisor”. From Steve, I have learnt much more than how to be an intellectual. Also, I thank Stewart Russell for his steady guidance in thesis production. Thanks also to all the members of Science Studies Unit. I can still vividly remember the very day I came to SSU. David Bloor and Carole Tansley welcomed me with tea and biscuits. I however mistakenly said that my religion is “computer”. For me, SSU is not only an office; it is also my lovely “home” in Edinburgh. Thanks are due, in particular, to Richard Ruey-Chyi Hwang for his enthusiasm and geniality for helping me with data collection. Richard is the very person who encouraged me to come to the UK. Looking back on it now, I have realised how insightful he is. I am grateful to Iain and Jeff who, literally, rescue my poor English. Without their help, this thesis will be less intelligible. Iain deserves my special gratitude. Like it or not, your free hair cut re-inform how people “evaluate” me. You definitely deserve a big thank you! Thanks also to my parents and my sister. Without their support, it will be impossible for me to finish this thesis. Last but not least, I want to thank my beloved Josefine for her love and patience. Without her “super-supervision”, I may still believe that justice is everything. I now understand justice is just a research topic, rather than life itself. My final acknowledgement goes to the Taiwanese government and Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for their scholarships. Their generous support makes this thesis possible. ii ABSTRACT This thesis investigates the concept of environmental justice (EJ) by tracing its origins, the process of its shaping and reshaping, and its adoption in Taiwan. EJ addresses the phenomenon of disproportionate distribution of environmental risks among social groups. As no one can actually “see” how risks are distributed, one has no choice but to rely on scientific (or other) techniques to visualise and then conceptualise these risks. After so doing, EJ has been turned into specific indicators to gauge EJ/injustice and the technical methods to measure it, even though the scope of these concerns is much broader and goes far beyond the technical. Using detailed historical exposition in tandem with interviews, this thesis seeks to demonstrate the processes that have led to the dominant constructions of environmental justice. The main argument of this thesis is that the phenomenon of EJ/injustice is a condensation of power relations/struggle, and the discourses that describe and the measures that gauge it are an expression of this struggle. Specifically, in this thesis I attempt to show that EJ is being constructed through the very process of debate among EJ supporters and with their challengers. Seen from this angle, this thesis shows that the conceptions of EJ differ and are mutable. To say that these conceptions change is not to deny that there is environmental injustice, but to recognise that the key characteristics can be categorised or explained differently. This research discloses that claims about EJ can be framed in much greater variety in terms of identity, difference, territory and governance. This thesis suggests that although understanding EJ through specific indicators and some sorts of techniques are necessary, a just society cannot be achieved through scientific research alone. The question of how much or what sort of data is sufficient to prove the existence of (in)justice is not a scientific one, but a social one. Our research could become much more meaningful if we recognise the specificity and limitations of the dominant approach and if the phenomenon of EJ/injustice is put in context. To achieve this, our intellectual endeavours should be properly conceived as being about a theory of endless political struggles over the issue, rather than simply about “discovering” EJ. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY OF SUBMITTED WORK..............................ii NOTICE OF PUBLICATION.....................................................................................iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .........................................................................................ii ABSTRACT................................................................................................................iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ iv LIST OF TABLES.......................................................................................................vi LIST OF FIGURES....................................................................................................vii LIST OF ACRONYMS...............................................................................................ix 1 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Prelude from the news of the 8/8 floods ........................................................ 1 1.2 Research questions, design and methods ....................................................... 7 1.3 Plan of thesis ................................................................................................ 20 2 A history of EJ: A conceptual analysis............................................................... 25 2.1 Introduction.................................................................................................. 25 2.2 First wave: Political movement gains momentum....................................... 25 2.3 Second wave: Conflicting evidence and authority....................................... 29 2.4 Third wave: Institutionalised EJ................................................................... 35 2.5 Does the EJ science provide enough evidence for the EJ thesis? ................ 38 3 The conflicting terms of EJ: an analysis of the discourse.................................. 39 3.1 Introduction.................................................................................................. 39 3.2 Environmental racism: EJ in a racial sense.................................................. 39 3.3 Environmental equity: EJ in an income sense.............................................. 51 3.4 Environmental justice: A better term than the others? ................................. 59 3.5 You have a dream; I have a problem: What does EJ really mean? .............. 69 4 Spatialising Blackness: EJ classification and mapping techniques.................... 71 4.1 Introduction.................................................................................................. 71 4.2 Not so black and white: Who is White/Black and where are they? ............. 72 4.3 MAUP: How to lie with scales .................................................................... 79