[1] These differences are felt across a number of aspects of the environment, including air pollution, access to green space and exposure to flood risk.
'[4] Gordon Walker (Department of Geography, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University and Malcolm Eames (University of Cardiff) defines 'environmental inequality' as 'covering a wide range of questions of difference or unevenness, including: Sociologist Liam Downey (2005) has distinguished five different ways of defining environmental inequality: i) Intentional racism definitions: According to this definition, environmental inequalities arise when environmental hazards are intentionally placed in minority neighbourhoods by private companies.
McConnell said: '... the reality is that the people who have the most urgent environmental concerns in Scotland are those who daily cope with the consequences of a poor quality of life, and live in a rotten environment – close to industrial pollution, plagued by vehicle emissions, streets filled by litter and walls covered in graffiti.
These are circumstances which would not be acceptable to better off communities in our society, and those who have to endure such environments in which to bring up a family, or grow old themselves are being denied environmental justice.
'[11] In a 2001 speech, Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke about the need to address environmental issues such as access to green space and air quality in deprived urban areas[12] and in a speech given to the UN in New York, 2007, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that 'the consequences of climate change will be disproportionately felt by the poorest who are least responsible for it – making the issue of climate change one of justice as much as economic development...economic progress social justice and environmental care now go together.
'[13] The presence of this agenda became clear at a policy level in England, in DEFRA's 1999 Sustainable Development Strategy 'A Better Life', in which there was a focus on access to environmental information, decision making and justice.
[15] Further, in 2003, the government's Social Exclusion Unit published a report that examined issues around inequalities in transport and pollution.
[16] One governmental actor involved in pushing forward the Environmental Justice agenda was The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
For example, those living in the most deprived parts of England experience the worst air quality and have less access to green space and adequate housing.
This paper also noted that the frequency of exposure to the natural environment (incorporating a broad array of living things including wildlife, forests, rivers, streams, lakes, seas, countryside, farmed land and urban green space) is 'significantly lower' amongst those aged above 65, BME populations and those on low incomes (members of DE socioeconomic groups).
These are: economic factors; lack of awareness, familiarity, knowledge, confidence or interest; cultural attitudes and preferences; feeling unwelcome and out of place.
[1] The average black or black-British African in the UK person is exposed to 27.25 micrograms per cubic metre of harmful pollutant PM10.
[29] A 1999 Friends of the Earth report found that 82% of all carcinogenic chemical emissions were released by factories in the most deprived 20% wards.
[36][37][38][39] In Wales, action around environmental inequalities has primarily been coordinated through the Welsh Assembly's Community First initiative, which has attempted to enable deprived communities to take action themselves on sustainable development issues, with a particular focus on health inequalities and the health benefits of access to environmental goods.