Environmental Justice & Wetlands
Stephanie Martinez, PhD Student
UCI Team Update
June 19, 2025
EcoAtlas South Coast
Qualitative Analysis
What environmental justice themes are emerging in the descriptions of South Coast basin EcoAtlas projects?
EcoAtlas South Coast
Qualitative Analysis
What environmental justice themes are emerging in the descriptions of South Coast basin EcoAtlas projects?
EcoAtlas South Coast Qualitative Analysis
Framing of Environmental Justice
Ways that EJ is Described by CA
California Department of Fish and Wildlife | California Environmental Protection Agency | CA State Water Resources Control Board | California Coastal Commission |
“Fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes with respect to the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.”
| “The principles of environmental justice call for fairness, regardless of race, color, national origin or income, and the meaningful involvement of community in the development of laws and regulations that affect every community’s natural surroundings, and the places people live, work, play and learn.”
| “The Water Boards are committed to the equitable treatment of all Californians. We seek to meaningfully involve stakeholders and other interested parties in our decision-making processes and provide open and transparent opportunities for people to participate in public meetings, hearings, and workshops that may affect their environment and health.”
| “The California Coastal Commission’s commitment to diversity, equality and environmental justice recognizes that equity is at the heart of the Coastal Act, a law designed to empower the public’s full participation in the land-use decision-making process that protects California’s coast and ocean commons for the benefit of all the people.”
|
Ways that EJ is Described by Communities
Communities for a Better Environment | California Environmental Justice Alliance | Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice | Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice |
“The principles of environmental justice say that access to clean air, water and soil and to a healthy, safe, livable community are intrinsic human rights.”
| “Environmental Justice (EJ) is the right of all people, regardless of race, class or national origin, to healthy places to live, work, play and go to school.” “We believe that environmental justice communities should play a central leadership role in climate policies so the most vulnerable communities are not left behind.”
| “To inspire social change by dismantling the root causes of environmental injustice: Through community base building and leadership development we seek to change the political and social landscape of the Inland Valley which includes Riverside and San Bernardino counties.”
| “The Principles of Environmental Justice have served as a defining document for the grassroots movement for environmental justice. Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice adheres to and follows these principles in our organization and in all of our work.”
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One Way to Think About Epistemic (Knowledge) Justice within EJ Fricker, M. (2007) & adapted by Mabon et al. (2022)
One Way to Think About Epistemic Injustice
Fricker (e.g. 2007, 2014)
Testimonial Injustice
A wrong that I may suffer due to a knowledge-receiver’s prejudices
Example: Valuing the same words spoken by a male colleague > female colleague
Hermeneutical Injustice
The wrong of having my own experience obscured from my own understanding and society’s understanding due to a structural prejudice
Example: “People like me don’t get to contribute to the communal understanding”
Epistemic Justice happens when we are able to communicate and effectively express our knowledge for the purpose of increasing others’ individual understanding (testimonial) and society’s collective consciousness (hermeneutical).
“No agent perpetrates hermeneutical injustice – it is a purely structural notion….hermeneutical injustice might often be compounded by testimonial injustice.” Fricker (2007)
One Way to Think About Epistemic Injustice & Environment
Fricker & adapted by Mabon et al. (2022)
Testimonial Injustice
Whose ideas are given credibility?
Hermeneutical Injustice
Are certain kinds of evidence ranked as more valuable to the exclusion of others?
There is an Epistemic Injustice when a person or group is excluded from the processing of defining a problem and range of solutions due to identity, language, and evidence-type used.
Codebook V1
Was too complex for the simplicity of the available data
Codebook V2
Codebook VMostRecent
Codebook |
Distributive (In)justice |
Procedural (In)justice |
– Community Engagement |
– Community groups |
Recognitional (In)Justice |
– Testimonial Epistemic (In)justice |
– Hermeneutical Epistemic (In)justice |
– Community knowledge |
How the System is Valued |
– Instrumental |
– Inherent |
– Scientific |
Codebook |
1. Distributive (In)justice |
– Non-human |
2. Procedural (In)justice |
– Community Engagement |
– Community groups |
3. Recognitional (In)Justice |
– Testimonial Epistemic (In)justice |
– Hermeneutical Epistemic (In)justice |
– Community knowledge |
4. How the System is Valued |
– Community Values the Wetland |
– Instrumental |
– Inherent |
– Scientific |
5. Other |
The Project Descriptions/Abstracts
Word cloud for codes related to Knowledge
Word cloud for codes related to Distributive Justice
Next Steps
Thank you!
Presented by Stephanie Martinez
UCI Team: Dr. Richard Matthew, Dr. Jessica Garrison, Dr. Avipsa Roy, Stephanie Martinez