Senses of injustices-in-place: nature ’s voice through Melbourne’s environmental stewards

AbstractEcological injustices are systemic acts and processes of misrepresentation, misrecognition, maldistribution of impacts, and destruction of fundamental capabilities, to both human and nonhuman living beings. Unpacking these context-specific injustices requires in-depth explorations of people and their experiences, perceptions, types of knowledge, actions, and relations to, for, and with nonhuman beings and their capacities. To explore these injustices-in-place, we used embedded case studies within Metropolitan Melbourne, Australia, and examined the data with the self –others–environment sense of place framework to uncover people’s understandings of ecological (in)justices. The findings reveal a sense of disempowerment, conflated by unrecognized environmental work, a disconnect between different groups and levels of society, and the anonymity of the nonhuma n others. Through a contested self–others–environment lens, place meanings in the study sites show different ways of valuing nature, which is conveyed in the types of actions, stewardship behaviors, and attachment to place. This analysis introduces a new concept of ‘ecological injustice’ tha t bridges the sense of place and justice by visibilizing the senses of anonymity, collectivity, reciprocal nurturing, and contestation that unfold across human–nonhuman interactions. We discuss strategies to prevent and restore ecological injustices, which include building capacity through knowled ge exchange, imp...
Source: Sustainability Science - Category: Science Source Type: research