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Green Criminology. Based on research by M. Lynch & P. Stretsky and Routledge. Social Construction of Crime . Like other crimes, green criminology is a social construction Influenced by: social locations Power relations in society Definitions of environmental crimes Media
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Green Criminology Based on research by M. Lynch & P. Stretsky and Routledge
Social Construction of Crime • Like other crimes, green criminology is a social construction • Influenced by: • social locations • Power relations in society • Definitions of environmental crimes • Media • Political process
Corporate vs. Environmental Justice • Two very different definitions on what it means “to be green.” • 1970s was a time of political activism aimed at environmental protection
Corporate Definition • 1990s was supposed to be the decade of the environment • But things didn’t quite go as planned…..
The involvement of corporations actually sidetracked the movement • Corporations were able to influence the social construction of green through the use of public relations and the mass media
This version was: mild less radical de-political zed vision
Stressed consumption rather than production issues • A human could become “green” just by buying the correct products • This was known as “greenwashing” • This enabled corporations to defuse and redirect support for environment
Why did corporations do this? • Radical environmental positions were a threat to corporations • They wanted “business as usual.”
An example of “business as usual” • Love Canal near Niagara Falls • In the 1940s Love Canal was an abandoned navigation channel • For years Hooker Chemical dumped thousands of drums filled with toxic chemical waste directly into the canal
In 1952 the canal was covered up • A year later Hooker Company sold the land to the Niagara Falls Board of Education • A school was built
In the 1970s Niagara Falls experienced a season of very heavy rain • Chemicals began to seep up onto the school grounds and neighboring homes, including their basements
Federal and state officials investigated and found: • 88 separate chemicals, some in concentrations 250 to 5,000 times higher than acceptable safety levels • 11 of the 88 were known carcinogens
This case received massive media attention • Though Hooker Company had a total disregard for the environment or future generations they had not broken any law • Since then new laws have been passed…
The “greenwashing” continues • Chevron has commercials proclaiming they care about the environment • Just look at all they have done for the El Segundo Blue Butterfly • Of course, the butterfly would have been safe if its habitat was not on top of the U.S.’s largest underground oil spill
Environmental Justice (EJ) • Three major types of EJ • Ecofeminism • Environmental racism • Red-green movement
Ecofeminism • Began in the 1970s • Criticized capitalist profit-growth orientation and the patriarchy • Connects the domination and exploitation of nature with the domination and exploitation of women
Argues that women are more concerned with survival than men • It has been shown that women do put more money back into their own communities than their male counterparts
Ecofeminism can be achieved by • Reorienting cultural values • Returning to small-scale local economies • And grass root democracy
Environmental Racism • Simultaneously advocates EJ and the elimination of racial discrimination in environmental decisions • Argues that toxic factories, pollution and waste sites affect communities of color more than Caucasians
Short term goals: race-linked theory and action • Long term goals: • Elimination of exposure to dangerous products and practices for all
Union Carbide Chemical plant in Bhopal, India • December 1984 • The world’s worst environmental accident occurred • (Chernobyl was a close 1st runner up)
The plant used highly toxic chemicals in its production process • Water somehow got mixed into the toxic chemicals • An explosion occurred
It is estimated that more than 6,000 humans died as a result of this “accident” • 60,000 other humans were seriously affected by the toxic gases • Over 20,000 of which who were permanently injured as a result of the exposure
It is argued that far fewer humans would have died if…… • The plant had not been located so close to the shanty towns of the poor
The true extent of the damage will not be known for twenty or more years • This could affect birth defects in upcoming generations • Impact the natural environment and wildlife
Red-green movement • Relates economic oppression to environmental degradation • In a class society environmental problems are more likely to impact the working class and the poor • Example?
Goal: Ecological Socialism • A method of simultaneously eliminating environmentally destructive • Unsustainable production practices • Exploitative mode of production
