Sustainability and Social Justice

As the close to the Com 221 quickly approaches, I’m starting to grasp how interconnected social justice and sustainability truly are, especially as they’re channeled out by the mass media in unique and varying approaches (as shown by the variety of blog posts from our group). Admittedly at the onset I didn’t have a clue what I was doing trying to connect the two, but as I progressed I realized how exchangeable they were.  One journalistic source Earthly Goods aptly describes the relationship between the two:

“We argue that a concern for social justice is central to devising acceptable policies for a global response to environmental change and should be placed at the forefront of the international debate.”

One final example of this connection comes in my last post, as we look at a corporate webpage blog which serves as a journalistic and institutional source. What’s interesting too, is comparing it to an academic source written by Alison Alkon entitled, “Paradise or pavement; the social constructions of the environment in two urban farmers’ markets and their implications for environmental justice and sustainability.” Although you might think these two issues aren’t connected at all—they are. I’ll take a final stab to show you how, and display how media is used throughout its process.

The post on the business site is a short encouragement for people to take a course that will further develop their skills and understandings of the two issues and their connection. The study by Alkon, on the other hand, is an extensive look at farmers’ markets and the way sustainability is seen through the eyes of different social stereotypes. This study is highly interesting and thought provoking, and it’s good to know that although widely different, it is connected to the before mentioned blog post. What connects these two modes of media is a common interlaced theme (although difficult to detect) of concern about social justice within efforts for sustainability. This is important as we must note that the writers are genuinely concerned and perplexed about preserving the important elements of social justice in regards to the efforts for sustainability. Many environmental activists might throw precaution in the wind and not realize the significance of preserving social justice—but these two sources do. One does this by means of a research project and the other by a blog comment from business professionals.  

These two resources are an incredible example of the balance mass media can provide on a complicated issue like the one I’ve been studying. It also covers important aspects of media including new definitions of community, information, and surveillance.