환경위험에 있어서의 불평등 해소방안: 환경정의

초록

Those who are economically weak are more exposed to environmental dangers than those who are wealthy. This can be seen in the phenomenon in which dangerous facilities are disproportionately constructed near regions with less political and economic power. Poor societies are being damaged by the hazardous substances that are generated by landfills, incinerators, and nuclear waste facilities. Such regions must fight desperately against severly polluted air and water. Environmental justice has a history of at least 30 years in the case of America where its very first environmental movement took place in Warren County. Today, environmental justice is becoming a social and human rights movement as its concept is converging with ideas such as human rights and equity. In comparison, Korea’s environmental justice movement is at a very elementary stage. There has been no efforts made to examine or to break injustice. Our society should give more attention to environmental justice than just environmental regulations so as to redistribute the allocation of dangerous facilities. Unless we prepare a more direct, specific, efficient,and essential method to attain environmental justice, injustice will continue. In order to alleviate environmental injustice, we must approach it by solving the roots of the problem than to prescribe temporary solutions. Lawmaking can be a powerful tool to prevent the essential problems of environmental injustice. The legislation should firmly declare that the act of allocating dangerous facilities in poor provinces is illegal. Local communities negatively affected by wide-range environmental harm can also be rescued directly and efficiently through the same law.

키워드