Environmental (in)justice 4219-SH0052
The course introduces the concepts of environmental justice and discusses them in the context of the US. It presents cases of environmental pollution and degradation related to material extraction, manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, and infrastructural projects. It highlights unequal distribution of benefits and burdens between social groups and gepgraphical areas at various scales from the local to the global. The course introduces federal institutions relevant to environmental justice (such as the Environmental Protection Agency), discusses their current situation under the Trump administration, and highlights the role of other governmental and non-governmental organizations, grassroots movements, and universities in pursuing environmental justice.
The course introduces the concept of climate justice, discusses the US's position in global carbon inequality, and presents examples of climate change impacts and inequalities in the country. It highlights tensions between environmental justice and efforts to mitigate climate change by technological replacement within “green capitalism” both in the US and abroad.
While covering a broad range of cases, it emphasizes those related to Black and Hispanic communities and Native American nations.
The class format combines a short lecture with students’ presentations, group exercises, and discussions of weekly readings. The readings include academic texts, primary sources (e.g., testimonies, interviews) in various formats, including podcasts and documentaries, interactive maps, and, occasionally, songs and music videos.
Exemplary class topics include:
• Dumping in Dixie: environmental (in)justice in Black communities
• Cuyahoga River fire and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency
• Ramapough Mountain Indians vs. Ford Motor Company
• Standing Rock and Dakota Access pipeline
• Fracking and the revival of plastic
• Cancer Alley, Louisiana
• Yellow Dirt: mining uranium in Navajo Land
• Mountaintop removal in Appalachia
• The US and global carbon inequality
• Los Angeles fires and climate change
• Onshoring for green transition: lithium mining in the US
• Who emits and who inhales air pollution?
• Chicano Park and Barrio Logan: urban freeways, biofuels, and environmental justice
• Unequal access to green spaces in American cities
Course coordinators
Type of course
Mode
Learning outcomes
Knowledge:
- Understands the need to draw on the achievements of social sciences (including sociology and social geography) to create foundations and contexts for research on the culture of the United States.
- Knows the basic characteristics of social structures and understands the principles of their operation in the United States, particularly in the context of environmental justice.
- Knows the specific social characteristics of the United States and how the multiculturalism and multinationality of its inhabitants are related to environmental inequalities.
- Knows and understands the place and role of the United States in international political and economic relations, including relations with indigenous nations.
Skills:
- Is able to recognize, understand, interpret, explain, and analyze the causes and course of processes and phenomena related to environmental inequalities in the United States.
- Is able to formulate and solve complex and unusual problems concerning issues of American culture using sources from sociology and social geography.
- Is able to identify and describe social phenomena and manifestations of social culture in the United States using basic theoretical and methodological tools from sociology and social geography.
- Is able to critically perceive content concerning United States through the media and other media
- Can use acquired interdisciplinary knowledge in the field of American studies to formulate their own opinions and recognize its importance in solving cognitive and practical problems
Assessment criteria
1. In-class presentation on a given topic (50%)
2. Written assignment (30%)
3. Class participation (20%)
Bibliography
Bullard, R. D. (2000). Dumping in Dixie: Race, class and environmental quality. Westview Press
Butler, T., and Wuerthner, G. (Eds.). Plundering Appalachia: the tragedy of mountaintop-removal coal mining. Earth Aware Editions
Estes, N. (2024). Our history is the future: Standing Rock versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the long tradition of Indigenous resistance. Haymarket Books.
Pasternak, J. (2010). Yellow Dirt. An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed. Free Press
Riofrancos, T. (2025). Extraction. The Frontiers of Green Capitalism. W. W. Norton & Company
The Shocking Hazards of Louisiana’s Cancer Alley. (2025, August 4). [Broadcast]. Johns Hopkins | Bloomberg School of Public Health. https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/the-shocking-hazards-of-louisianas-cancer-alley
Westervelt, A. (Host). (2023-2026). Drilled [Broadcast]. https://drilled.media/podcasts/drilled