Viewpoint: Environmental Justice: Order-words and pass-words

Abstract

Environmental justice, along with constructs such as environmental rights, has gained prominence in environmental discourse over the last three decades. These constructs have also migrated into education discourses including education policies. In South Africa environmental justice is a component of one of the key principles supporting South Africa’s recently implemented National Curriculum Statement. Despite these developments, there is still uncertainty as to what environmental justice means. Vincent (1998) analyses the term and concludes that it is a double category error since it does not rest well with either environmental theory or justice theory. I suggest that the angle of vision should shift from a focus on what environmental justice means to a focus on what it does and what it produces.