Abstract This study describes the central views of MTK on Finnish environmental policy during the period 1980-2000. The empirical material is collected from the magazine Maataloustuottaja. The data is analyzed using ethnographic content analysis and examining the central arguments and discoursive structures of the texts. The study begins with a description of the development of Finnish agriculture and of MTK. The first chapter also presents and evaluates empirical studies on the environmental views of Finnish farmers. The following chapter discusses some theoretical and methodological issues in environmental sociology. The theoretical foundation of this study is grounded in the idea of ecological modernization and social justice in environmental issues. The essential methodological tension that underpins environmental sociology is between critical realism and social constructivism. The starting point of this research lies between critical realism and moderate constructivism; in other words, naïve realism and strong constructivism or scientism and relativism have been abandoned. This starting point is also closely connected to environmental pragmatism. The empirical part of the study begins with a thematical discussion on changes in the views that MTK has adopted toward environmental policy issues. Although these views have not changed significantly over the years, MTK has shown an increased interest in organic production and in cooperation with consumer and worker organizations to promote "environmentally pure", local food production and the social sustainability of Finnish food production and countryside. The second part of the empirical study reveals some stable discoursive practices in the environmental rhetoric of MTK that has traditionally accentuated the connection between nature and agriculture and the notion of farmers as stewards of nature. At the same time, MTK has emphasized the alienation of urbanites and environmental policy-makers from nature and countryside. MTK has also expressed a concern about private property rights, economic expenses and a variety of practical problems caused by nature conservation and preservation. MTK's attitude towards family farming is contradictory: they are regarded as the models of agriculture, while the scale of production is growing. / Tiivistelmä Tässä tutkimuksessa kuvataan MTK:n ympäristökäsityksiä vuosina 1980-2000. Tutkimusaineistona on käytetty sen julkaiseman "Maataloustuottaja" -lehden ympäristökysymyksiä käsitteleviä kirjoituksia. Aineiston käsittely perustuu etnografiseen sisällönanalyysiin tavoitteena tarkastella MTK:n ympäristöpoliittista argumentaatiota ja etsiä tekstin diskursiivisia rakenteita. Tutkimuksen alussa tarkastellaan MTK:n ja Suomen maatalouden kehitystä sekä viljelijäväestön ympäristökäsityksiä historiallisen ja yhteiskuntatieteellisen tutkimuksen sekä tilastojen valossa. Seuraavassa luvussa tarkastellaan ympäristösosiologian teoreettis-metodologista kysymyksiä ja niihin liittyviä ajankohtaisia kiistoja. Tutkimus rakentuu lähinnä ekologisen modernisaation teorian käsitteistölle täydennettynä ajankohtaisella, ympäristökysymyksiin liittyvän yhteiskunnallisen oikeudenmukaisuuden pohdinnalla. Ympäristösosiologian viimeaikainen metodologinen keskustelu on liittynyt kriittisen realismin ja konstruktionismin välisiin kiistoihin. Tutkimuksessa päädytään naiivin realismin ja radikaalin konstruktivismin hylkäämiseen ja ympäristösosiologisen pragmatismin mahdollisuuksien hahmottamiseen. Empiirisessä osassa tutkitaan aluksi MTK:n ympäristöpoliittisia käsityksiä ja niissä tapahtuneita muutoksia. Vaikka muutokset eivät ole kovin merkittäviä, on joitain merkkejä siitä havaittavissa: kiinnostus luonnonmukaiseen tuotantoon on kasvussa, tuottajien ja kuluttajien kesken on löytymässä yhteistoimintaa "puhtaiden" kotimaisten elintarvikkeiden ja lähituotannon puolesta ja järjestö on sitoutunut kestävän kehityksen periaatteiden toteuttamiseen. Toisessa empiirisen tutkimuksen osiossa etsitään diskursiivisia piirteitä MTK:n retoriikassa. Perinteisesti MTK on nähnyt viljelijät "todellisina luonnonsuojelijoina". Samalla se on katsonut kaupunkilaisten kuten myös ympäristöaktivistien ja -poliitikkojen vieraantuneen luonnosta. Järjestö on huolestunut omaisuudensuojasta, taloudellisista kustannuksista ja erilaisista käytännön ongelmista luonnonsuojelualueiden perustamisen yhteydessä. MTK:n suhtautuu perheviljelmiin ristiriitaisesti: niitä pidetään maatalouden mallina samalla, kun maataloustuotannon yksikkökoko on kasvamassa.

L’étude des mobilisations sociales et institutionnelles nées autour d’un projet d’aménagement urbain – la Zone de l’Union (métropole lilloise, Nord) – permet d’analyser l’évolution théorique de la justice sociale lorsqu’elle se trouve progressivement confrontée aux limites environnementales. Originellement, ces mobilisations sociales étaient éloignées des enjeux spécifiquement écologiques.Mais une lente évolution des revendications s’opère lorsqu’il s’agit de se positionner sur un projet d’ « écoquartier exemplaire » (2006-2022). Nous nous intéresserons au glissement des revendications sociales (fondées sur la justice distributive et la reconnaissance politique) vers des revendications écologiques (élaborées à partir de la confrontation de la justice sociale aux limites environnementales). L’analyse des dispositifs de transformation des discours, des procédures participatives, ainsi que de l’évolution des référentiels théoriques des mobilisations, participe à une réflexion sur les conditions de transformation de la démocratie pluraliste représentative. A travers l’étude de la justice écologique et de ses enjeux, nous proposons de repenser la manière dont les limites environnementales peuvent être intégrées aux pratiques participatives de la démocratie. En nous appuyant sur les travaux de la Green Political Theory, nous montrons également que la justice écologique repose sur une conceptionécocentrée de la justice qui pourrait contribuer à interroger la théorie de la démocratie à partir des interdépendances existentielles entre les sphères sociales et écologiques. / This work aims at analysing the theoretical evolution of social justice when it is progressively confronted to environmental limits. It is based on the study of the social and institutional movements that arose around an urban planning project – the Union Zone – in the metropolis of Lille, Northern France. These social movements were at first concentrating their claims on issues far from ecologicalconcerns. But a slow evolution of their claims took place when they were confronted to a project of “exemplary eco-district” (2006-2022). This work will focus on the shift from social claims (based on distributive justice and political acknowledgement) to ecological claims (where social justice is confronted to environmental limits). Drawing on an analysis of the transformation of discourses, of the participation procedures, and of the evolution of the theoretical frames used by the social movements, we offer an insight on the conditions of transformation of pluralist representative democracy. This analysis of the issues and purposes of ecological justice aims at reconsidering the way environmentallimits could be incorporated into the participative practices of democracies. Drawing on the field of green political theory, this work also aims at showing that ecological justice lays on an ecocentrist view of justice that could contribute to question the theory of democracy in the light of existentialinterdependences connecting the ecological and the social spheres.

The aim of this paper is to investigate how strategies and plans for the transition to a fossil-free transport sector take environmental justice into account in these plans at a regional level. This is based on a theoretical framework of environmental justice and a legal geographical perspective. The empirical material that forms the basis of the study has been produced through qualitative content analysis of regional and municipal plans and strategies as well as semi-structured interviews with actors in the transition. In order to achieve the purpose, the strategies that emerged in the documents were examined, as well as how actors reasoned about these strategies with the help of environmental justice perspectives. The study has focused on an area where a knowledge gap has been identified in the literature. The result shows that there is no clear perspective of environmental justice in the plans and strategies in the Jönköping region and that the regional strategies needs to take more account of the just perspectives in the transition. This is achieved through different forms of justice: distributive, procedural, recognition and restorative. / Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur strategier och planer för omställningen till en fossilfri fordonssektor tar hänsyn till miljörättvisa i dessa planer på en regional nivå. Detta utifrån ett teoretiskt ramverk baserat på miljörättvisa och ett juridisk geografiskt perspektiv. Det empiriska material som ligger till grund för studien har tagits fram genom kvalitativ innehållsanalys av regionala och kommunala planer och strategier samt semistrukturerade intervjuer med aktörer i omställningen. För att uppnå syftet undersöktes vilka strategier som framträdde i dokumenten, samt hur aktörer resonerade kring dessa strategier med hjälp av perspektiv av miljörättvisa. Studien har fokuserat på ett område där en kunskapslucka har kunnat konstaterats i tidigare forskning. Resultatet visar att det saknas ett tydligt perspektiv av miljörättvisa i planerna och strategierna i Jönköpings län och att det behövs tas större hänsyn till rättviseperspektiven i dessa. Detta uppnås genom olika former av rättvisa: fördelande, deltagande, erkännande och reperativ.

L'analyse des transferts hydriques inter-bassins massifs a fait l'objet de très peu de travaux en économie. Pourtant ce type d'intervention hydraulique est amené à prendre une place croissante dans la gestion de l'eau au 21ème siècle, dans les pays en développement et émergents notamment. Nous proposons une analyse du point de vue de l'économie écologique d'un projet de transfert hydrique dans le Nordeste du Brésil, en nous penchant particulièrement sur les conflits socio-environnementaux qui ont lieu autour de ce mégaprojet. Dans un premier temps, nous caractérisons le style de développement économique adopté par le Brésil au tournant du siècle ainsi que la dynamique des réformes de la gestion de l'eau. Nous tirons de cette analyse une présentation stylisée du complexe eau-économie nécessaire à la compréhension du projet étudié. Nous discutons ensuite les apports et limites des approches économiques (économie du bien-être, économie de la soutenabilité) de l'évaluation des grands projets hydrauliques. Nous mettons en exergue la spécificité des transferts inter-bassins massifs et proposons une grille d'analyse économique adaptée. Dans une troisième partie, nous approfondissons les conflits socio-environnementaux qui ont eu lieu autour du projet de transfert. Nous proposons une analyse en termes de justice environnementale ainsi qu'une modélisation de type institutionnaliste du conflit et de ses répercussions. / The analysis of massive inter-basin water transfers has been scarcely developed within the discipline of economics. Though, this kind of hydraulic engineering is bound to be ever more widepsread in the 21st century, in particular in developing and emerging economies. We propose an analysis of a water transfer project in Norhteastern Brazil from an ecological economic point of view. We especially investigate the socio-environmental conflicts that take place around this megaproject. In the first place, we characterise Brazil's current style of economic development at the turn of the century, as well as the dynamics of water sector reforms. From such an analysis, we draw a stylised presentation of the water-economy nexus which we deem necessary for the understanding of the project. We then discuss the scope and limits of economic approaches (welfare economics, sustainability economics) to the assessment of large scale water projects. We put an emphasis on the specific features of massive inter-basin water transfers and we propose a suitable economic framework. In a third part, we analyse the socio-environmental conflicts that took place in relation with the transfer project. We propose an environmental justice analysis as well as an institutionalist modeling of the conflict and its impacts.

When it comes to the topic of environmental sustainability, most of us will readily agree that we face a litany of local and global environmental threats in the twenty-first century. As such, we would largely agree that the need to address climate change and other issues is urgent. Where this agreement tends to end, however, is on the question of whether this urgency is so great that we need not address issues of inequality and environmental justice when organizing sustainability efforts. Some are convinced that, because sustainability efforts are "saving the world for everyone", so to speak, issues of environmental justice are secondary at best. On the other hand, "just sustainability" advocates argue that no such effort is truly sustainable unless it considers winners and losers from the onset. I will argue the latter and demonstrate the potential consequences of a sustainability effort that has failed thus far at engaging those who might benefit most from involvement. This study is an exploration of the City Soil Network (CSN), a community garden organization comprised of seventeen garden sites throughout Portland, Oregon. Thirteen of these sites are in Northeast Portland, an area with a history of racial and ethnic discrimination and both inequalities and boundaries that prevail across the same lines today. A significant number of these residents are food insecure or at risk of becoming food insecure. Furthermore, recent gentrification in Northeast Portland has disproportionately displaced African Americans and members of other historically marginalized communities. As such, these groups tend to view recent neighborhood changes as a new variation on a decades old theme of injustice. Previous research suggests that community gardens can play a role in addressing all of these problems to some degree. However, this body of research has yet to explicitly analyze the relationship between local historical context, gentrification, the conflicting rhetorics of environmental sustainability and environmental justice and outcomes for community garden organizations. This case study includes content analysis of organizational publications, participant observation from four of the CSN's garden sites in Northeast Portland. It also includes interviews with eleven members of the CSN, representing all three levels of involvement with the organization, and six interviews with representatives of community organizations that serve Northeast Portland in some capacity. This study finds that the CSN largely consists of members of a preexisting community of sustainable agriculture enthusiasts. As such, those involved tend not to live near their garden site(s) and are distinct in a number of ways from the diverse neighborhoods that surround many of the CSN's garden sites. The organization has made very few neighborhood-level outreach efforts thus far, and those that have been made have largely been unsuccessful. Understandings expressed by both groups of interviewees help to explain why this has been the case. They also compel me to introduce the potentially adverse impact of gentrification on understandings of neighborhood socioeconomic conditions into the just sustainability debate; we need to consider that unjust sustainability can be the result of not only a lack of concern for inequality, but also a simple lack of awareness of it. Interviewees also provide suggestions for how the CSN or other community garden organizations might be more successful in appealing to marginalized communities.

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Maintaining and achieving a sustainable city is today a challenge, specifically as urbanisation and climate change continue to increase. Green cities are an opportunity to achieve a sustainable society. It promotes urban sustainability in several aspects: Trees reduce heat islands and flooding; Green areas provide space for physical activity and social cohesion; And plants promote recreation which generates better public health. However, social injustice risks arise when the green structure is insufficiently planned, and some areas are prioritised sooner than others. It is common for socio-economically vulnerable areas to become less prioritised in urban planning, and the distance to the nearest green area can have a major impact on whether it is used or not. This study examines the municipality of Jönköping, which is located in Småland, Sweden. The aim is to investigate how the municipality plans to advocate social justice when implementing and planning green structures. The study is based on a text analysis of the municipality’s planning documents in parallel with semi-structured interviews to examine visions and efforts further. The study identifies how social justice is taken into consideration in the planning, and what challenges exist in the urban planning. The study refers to Agenda 2030 and specifically sub-goals #10.2 and #11.7 to study the municipality’s planning. In addition, social- and environmental justice serves as the theoretical framework of reference in the analysis. The result confirms that the municipality uses a variety of different selective measurements to strive for social justice, however, there still exist challenges that are difficult to prevent. / Att upprätthålla och åstadkomma en hållbar stad är i dag en utmaning, specifikt när urbanisering och klimatförändringar fortsätter att öka. Gröna städer är en möjlighet till att uppnå ett hållbart samhälle. Det främjar staden på ett flertal punkter: Träd sänker urbana värmeböljor och minskar översvämningar; Grönområden ger utrymme för fysisk aktivitet och social gemenskap; Och växter främjar rekreation vilket genererar en förbättrad folkhälsa. Dock riskerar social orättvisa att uppstå när kommunens grönstruktur inte är välplanerad och vissa områden blir prioriterade före andra. Det är ett vanligt förekommande att socio-ekonomiskt utsatta områden blir mindre prioriterade i stadsplaneringen, och att distansen till närmaste grönområde kan ha stort avgörande för om den nyttjas eller ej. Studien granskar Jönköpings kommun som är lokaliserat i Småland, Sverige. Syftet är att undersöka hur kommunen planerar att främja social rättvisa när de genomför och planerar grön struktur. Studien är baserad på textanalys av kommunens styrdokument parallellt med semi strukturerade intervjuer för att undersöka kommunens visioner. Vidare identifierar studien på vilket sätt social rättvisa tas i beaktande i planeringen, och vilka utmaningar som existerar i deras stadsplanering. Studien hänvisar till Agenda 2030 och specifikt delmålen #10.2 och #11.7 för att undersöka kommunens planering. Utöver det fungerar social- och miljömässig rättvisa som teoretiskt referensram i analysen. Resultatet bekräftar att kommunen använder sig av en variation av punktinsatser för att nå social rättvisa, men att det fortfarande existerar utmaningar som är svåra att hantera.

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