Joan Flocks
Levin College of Law
Environmental Justice Seminar – Fall 2005
The goal of our project is to enhance and combine applied and international components of the environmental justice seminar at the Levin College of Law. This will be carried out in three phases. The first phase involves continuing research into the current consideration and understanding of “environmental justice” in other countries. The environmental justice movement as we know it is primarily a domestic movement. We are currently researching the implications of international treaties and agreements for transboundary environmental justice as well as the expansion of the domestic grassroots movement through international efforts of community-based organizations. As part of this project, our research will be enhanced by interviewing international legal advocates and professionals about the concept of environmental justice in their respective countries.
Phase Two of the modification will be to identify and develop contacts with community organizations around the world that work on environmental justice issues. The purpose of developing these contacts will be to inform the organizations of the opportunity to have seminar students conduct research into environmental justice topics of their choosing. The third phase of the project will be the actual revision to the course to incorporate findings from Phase One and offer students the opportunities for applied research as developed during Phase Two and through subsequent contact between the seminar students and the identified international organizations. It is anticipated that, in some cases, these student/organization relationships could have benefits beyond the term of the seminar.
Integral to all phases of this project will be to collect real-life global stories that can be used as case studies about individuals and communities that have dealt with environmental hazards. To enhance the value of learning from community stories, one or two speakers from grassroots groups that have worked with grassroots groups in other countries on environmental health issues will be invited to make presentations to the class.