污染流向何处?——美国环境正义问题中的种族和阶层因素

Where Does Pollution Go?——Race and Class in American Environmental Justice

环境权益的公平享有和环境负担的合理分配构成了美国环境正义运动的主要诉求。围绕有毒有害废弃物在不同社会群体之间的分配,美国政府、宗教团体、学界等进行了大量的调查与研究,并形成主流观点,即种族因素在决定环境权益和环境负担的分配中起到了决定作用,环境歧视构成了美国社会种族歧视的一个方面。但是,通过对主要调查研究的审视可以发现,这些研究的方法与结论之间存在一定的逻辑脱节现象,其结论或许片面强调了种族在环境权益与环境负担分配中的作用。美国环境正义问题以种族为核心的主流分析框架也成为美国联邦政府政策制定的依据,受害群体在其法律诉讼中也多以种族歧视提出指控,但这些努力效果并不明显。这从另一个方面证明,受害群体的种族属性或许并不是导致环境不正义事实的主要因素,至少不是唯一的因素。种族之外,以政治力量和社会经济地位为特征的社会阶层属性在美国社会环境不正义事实的形成中起到了重要作用。环境受害群体政治力量薄弱,在国会中缺乏足够的代表,致使环境正义立法在联邦层面频频失败。同时,在环境决策的公众参与程序中,该群体也表现出了政治参与能力不足、政治参与意愿不强的特征。最后,该群体较低的社会经济地位也使其在保护自身环境权益的斗争中处于不利地位。

American environmental burdens. The American govemmen J t, ustice movement demands the fair distribution of environmental benefits and religious groups and academia have conducted considerable studies on the distribution of toxic and hazardous waste among social groups. A widely accepted theory specifies race as the most important factor detemtining the distribution of environmental benefits and burdens, and environmental discrimination as an aspect of racial discrimination in American society. However, upon close analyses of those studies, a disjunction has been found between the methods and conclusions, with a possible overemphasis on race in the explanation of environmental justice issues. This analytical framework with race at its cote is widely adopted by the government in policy making, and by the victims in their legal proceedings, but with limited success. Yet, in a way, it proves that race is at any rate not the only factor leading to environmental injustice. Social classes featured by political power and socioeconomic status also exert a great impact on environmental injustice in America. The weak political power of victims of environmental injustice and representative deficiency in the U.S. Congress explain the failure of environmental justice legislation in congress. Besides, the group lacks sufficient participation in and are unwilling to be involved in the decision making progress, and their lower socioeconomic statuses also put them at a disadvantage in the fights against environmental injustice.