What does environmental justice look like in Vermont? Centering perspectives from the margins

Bindu Panikkar (), Julia Selle (), Ingrid L. Nelson (), Marianne Engelman-Lado (), Susannah McCandless (), Shaina Kasper (), Jennifer Byrne (), Walter Keady (), Qing Ren () and Kelly Hamshaw ()
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Bindu Panikkar: University of Vermont
Julia Selle: University of Vermont
Ingrid L. Nelson: University of Vermont
Marianne Engelman-Lado: Vermont Law School
Susannah McCandless: Center for Whole Communities
Shaina Kasper: Community Action Works
Jennifer Byrne: Vermont Law School
Walter Keady: University of Vermont
Qing Ren: University of Vermont
Kelly Hamshaw: University of Vermont

Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2023, vol. 13, issue 4, No 1, 529-544

Abstract: Abstract Until 2022, Vermont was one of the few US states that did not have an Environmental Justice (EJ) policy. In 2016, the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) initiated a process to create an EJ policy based on an agreement with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A coalition of academics, non-profit organization leaders, legal experts, and community-based partners formed in response to the DEC’s initial approach because it lacked a robust process to center the voices of the most vulnerable Vermonters. The coalition developed a mixed-method, community-based approach to ask, “What does EJ look like in Vermont?” This article reports the door-to-door survey portion of that broader research effort. The survey of 569 Vermont residents purposively sampled sites of likely environmental harm and health concerns and sites with existing relationships with activists and community organizations engaged in ongoing EJ struggles. The survey results use logistic regression to show that non-white respondents in the sites sampled were significantly more likely to be renters, to report exposures to mold, to have trouble paying for food and electricity, to lack access to public transportation, were less likely to own a vehicle, to have a primary care doctor, and reported higher rates of Lyme disease than white respondents. Our findings contribute to EJ theory regarding the co-productive relationship between environmental privilege and environmental harms within the context of persistent characterizations of Vermont as an environmental leader with abundant environmental benefits.

Keywords: Environmental justice; Environmental privilege; Policy; Race; Vermont (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s13412-023-00829-6

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