Abstract
The Anthropocene stresses existing inequalities among humans and human communities, broadens the scope of these questions across time, space, species, and the rest of nature, and emerges as an epoch in which the concept of ‘equivalence’ is in crisis. This article first considers intra-human inequality, sketching the genesis of environmental and climate justice movements before indicating certain conceptual problems with equity in international climate diplomacy. Focus then shifts to measures of inequality and criticism of the dominant economic model that assumes that all values can be monetized. Insofar as questions of inequality remain concentrated on humans, such concerns, however important, do not measure up to the rift in orders of scale that the Anthropocene brings about. A politics of the Anthropocene oriented to climate justice will have to negotiate the incommensurable scales that define the epoch.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Agarwal, A., & Narain, S. (1991), Reprinted 2003. Global warming in an unequal world: A case of environmental colonialism. Centre for Science and Environment.
Boran, I. (2018). On inquiry into climate justice. In T. Jafry, M. Mikulewicz, & K. Helwig (Eds.), Routledge handbook of climate justice (pp. 26–41). Routledge.
Chakrabarty, D. (2015, February 18–19). The human condition in the Anthropocene. Tanner lectures in human values, Yale University.
First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit. (1991, October 24–27). Principles of Environmental Justice.
Gardiner, S. (2011). A perfect moral storm: The ethical tragedy of climate change. Oxford University Press.
Guha, R., & Martínez-Alier, J. (1997). Varieties of environmentalism: Essays north and south. Routledge.
Hamilton, C., Bonneuil, C., & Gemenne, F. (Eds.). (2015). The Anthropocene and the global environmental crisis: Rethinking modernity in a new epoch. Routledge.
Harvey, D. (1996). Justice, nature and the geography of difference. Blackwell.
Horn, E., & Bergthaller, J. (2019). The Anthropocene: Key issues for the humanities. Routledge.
Jamieson, D. (2014). Reason in a dark time: Why the struggle against climate change failed – And what it means for our future. Oxford University Press.
Kothari, A., Demaria, F., & Acosta, A. (2014). Buen Vivir, degrowth and ecological Swaraj: Alternatives to sustainable development and the green economy. Development, 57(3–4), 362–375.
Martínez-Alier, J. (2012). Environmental justice and economic degrowth: An alliance between two movements. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 23(1), 51–73.
Moore, J. (2015). Capitalism and the web of life: Ecology and the accumulation of capital. Verso.
Narain, S. (2019). Equity: The final frontier for an effective climate change agreement. In K.-K. Bhavnani, J. Foran, & P. A. Kurian (Eds.), Climate futures: Re-imagining global climate justice (pp. xxiv–xxx). Zed Books.
Nixon, R. (2011). Slow violence and the environmentalism of the poor. Harvard University Press.
Roberts, J. T., & Parks, B. C. (2006). A climate of injustice: Global inequality, north-south politics, and climate policy. Cambridge University Press.
Schlosberg, D. (2007). Defining environmental justice: Theories, movements, and nature. Oxford University Press.
Shiva, V. (1989). Staying alive: Women, ecology, and development. Zed Books.
Thomas, J. A., Williams, M., & Zalasiewicz, J. (2020). The Anthropocene: A multidisciplinary approach. Polity Press.
Vanderheiden, S. (2008). Atmospheric justice: A political theory of climate change. Oxford University Press.
World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth. (2010, April 22). Peoples Agreement.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Robinson, B.L. (2023). Equity and Equality. In: Wallenhorst, N., Wulf, C. (eds) Handbook of the Anthropocene. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25910-4_171
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25910-4_171
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-25909-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-25910-4
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)