Social Justice and the Environmental Commons

Area of Science:

• Environmental studies
• Political science
• Psychology

Background:

• Youth civic engagement scholarship.
• Environmental commons as a site for political action.
• Social justice implications within environmental commons discourse.

Purpose of the Study:

• Define the environmental commons and its social justice dimensions.
• Identify psychological challenges to environmental action.
• Propose strategies to foster youth commitment to the environmental commons.

Main Methods:

• Literature review on youth civic engagement and environmental commons.
• Analysis of psychological barriers to environmental action.
• Exploration of Ostrom's empirical evidence on commons management.
• Discussion of social justice-aligned practices for nurturing environmental commitment.

Main Results:

• The environmental commons offers a unique space for youth political action and social justice engagement.
• Psychological factors can impede environmental stewardship, but critical experiences can overcome these.
• Practices aligned with social justice can cultivate youth identification with and commitment to the environmental commons.

Conclusions:

• Fostering youth commitment to the environmental commons, grounded in social justice, benefits individuals, democracies, and the planet.
• Overcoming psychological barriers is key to effective environmental action.
• The environmental commons provides a vital framework for intergenerational environmental stewardship.