Definitions

These definitions are designed to support campaigners with health and social justice terminologies.

Environmental Factors

  • a gas produced from the incomplete burning of fuel. Outdoors, the key sources are vehicles and machinery, while indoor sources include heaters and gas stoves. In the human body, carbon monoxide reduces the amount of oxygen that is transported in blood reducing oxygen supply to vital organs including the heart and brain

  • a gas produced from the burning of fossil fuel and is generated by vehicles (cars, trucks and buses), power plants, and machinery. It irritates the airways and short-term exposure can aggravate respiratory conditions e.g., asthma. Exposure over longer periods can contribute to the development of asthma and potentially increase susceptibility to respiratory infections

  • a secondary pollutant, that is produced when emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides interact with sunlight. Ozone exposure irritates and damages the airways and exposure to high levels has been linked to deaths from respiratory causes.

  • comes from burning of fuels containing sulphur. Major sources are power plants and industries, but also ships and vehicles that use fuel containing sulphur. Exposure to SO2 causes problems for people with asthma, who are particularly sensitive to this gas.

  • a metal whose levels in air have decreased since the introduction of unleaded fuel. Historic use in paints and ceramic glazes can cause small amounts of lead to leach out of glazed wear into foods, and lead dust re-circulates from domestic renovations. It remains a problem in communities close to lead mines and smelters. Lead is known to have significant effects on the brain and nervous system and young children are particularly susceptible.

  • particles smaller than 10 thousandths of a millimetre in diameter - can enter the respiratory system. Short-term exposure is linked to increased hospitalisations and deaths from heart and lung conditions. Long-term exposure is linked to ongoing heart and lung conditions and disorders affecting metabolism e.g., diabetes.

  • fine particles smaller than 2.5 thousandths of a millimetre - can reach deep into the respiratory system and cross into the blood stream. Exposure to PM2.5 is one of the leading causes of death and disease around the world. It is associated with heart and lung conditions, type 2 diabetes, pre-term birth and impaired brain health.

Environmental Justice Definitions

  • The activation of our “fight-or-flight” system due to stressors that lasts for minutes or hours and results in the short-term stress response.

  • A name for a type of biological regulation, which translates to stability through change. It is a scientific understanding of how our bodies achieve adaptability and survival.

  • The systemic applications of racism and classism that lead racialised Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC) communities to experience disportionate amounts of environmental pollutants and psychosocial stress, which may create a dysregulation of various biological systems.

  • Those who are racialised as Black, Indigenous, People of Colour.

  • The continued activation of our “fight-or-flight” system due to stressors that lasts days or longer leading to long term health decline from an inability of your body to recover.

  • The cognitive frameworks and values that unethically organise society by a person’s economic worth. This can be historic and in real-time. It is a system that was set in place as far back as the 4th/5th century when Europe moved towards a feudal system, which created the need for a “labour class” and a “land owning class”. This classification started with those racialised as white and then moved on to include BIPOC communities.

  • An artificial condition driven by systemic discrimination including racism and classism in which a person is systemically alienated from the resources or conditions that are usually considered necessary for a dignified life.

  • “Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies (EPA definition) or It's the principle that all people are entitled to equal environmental protection regardless of race, color or national origin. It's the right to live and work and play in a clean environment. It is concerned with four major priorities; reducing environmental, health, economic and racial disparities.” (Robert Bullard definition)

  • The introduction of contaminants or agents into a natural environment that leads to increased negative health effects in the short and long term.

  • The systemic, avoidable, and unjust distribution of ecologically healthy environments (those that are free from pollutants, have high biodiversity, and have a healthy microbiome). It also refers to land being unjustly stolen, polluted, or damaged.

  • An internal or external stressor, such as infections and emotional stressors, or extreme weather conditions and trauma respectively.

  • Equality is everything being the same, whereas Equity is the quality of being fair and just.

  • Health is the ability for our biological systems to enter stability after experiencing trauma or stress throughout our entire lifetime, to give us all an equal opportunity to realise our full potential.

  • Health inequity refers to the systemic, avoidable, and unjust differences in health outcomes between different racialised and classed social groups

  • A requirement that all persons have the same chance to be free from hazards and stressors that jeopardise health, fully participate in society, and access opportunity. Health justice addresses the social determinants of health that result in poor health for individuals and consequential negative outcomes for society at large.

  • The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis is a widely studied biological system based on a communication between the nervous and endocrine (hormones) systems that is responsible for regulating stress reactions, immune system, and fertility.

  • ‘Inequality’ is a difference in distribution that is random rather than driven by systemic factors. Whereas an ‘Inequity’ is the systematic, avoidable, and unjust differences between different racialised and classed social groups within a population. It is also related to lack of justice and fairness.

  • Biological dysregulation that is highly linked to the places we inhabit. They can include cancers, mental health disorders, hypertension, asthma, obesity, etc. These diseases cannot be transmitted from person to person.

  • A stressor based on a perceived threat that someone does not foresee the ability to address, such as socioeconomic uncertainty, crime, and a lack of social cohesion or support.

  • The international movements and social infrastructure driven mainly by those racialised as BIPOC. The purpose is to dismantle the frameworks and systems that lead to racialised groups experiencing injustice across all life paradigms; legal, employment, health, environment, climate, food access, etc.

  • Is the artificial, unethical, inaccurate, and illegitimate classification of people based on the colour of their skin. It has no scientific or biological basis. There is evidence that this framework was conceptualised in Medieval Europe.

  • Race doesn’t exist and is illegitimate, therefore none of us Black or Brown, we are People. It is more accurate to say racialised as it is the process and enactment of racism. It is this process that is the process not a person’s skin colour.

  • The cognitive frameworks and values that organise society by the illegitimate classification of race. This creates an inequitable access to all resources; healthcare, employment, clean Water, clean Soil, clean Air, food, mobility, and legal structures. This makes racism the primordial risk factor for poor health outcomes amongst those who are racialised as BIPOC.

  • A threatening agent to your biological system that either brings you to an unstable biological state or reduces the ability of your system to recover.

  • A term used to reference the role the lived experience plays on poor health outcomes.

  • Violence that is systemic rather than physical. Poverty is systemic violence.