5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

Environmental and climate justice scholarship interrogates the disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards experienced by racial and ethnic minorities, women, Indigenous peoples, and communities across the Global South. Global environmental change both amplifies these hazards and raises new questions about whether environmental change can be mitigated in just and equitable ways, whether people and ecosystems can adapt, and whether the lives of humans and non-humans alike can be improved. Speakers in this session will discuss the enduring importance of the environmental justice movement and reflect on new challenges facing scholars and activists as they confront the global climate and biodiversity crises. They will consider:

• Who gets to define the Anthropocene, including the role of expertise, modelling, and knowledge platforms in shaping understanding of and responses to environmental change.
• The ability of First Peoples and local communities to assert epistemic and political autonomy in the face of environmental change.
• Whether adaptation to novel ecosystem and climate states offers opportunities for progressive social change.
• The shortcomings of Anthropocene and resilience discourses in pursuit of environmental justice.

This session is sponsored by RC24 Research Committee on Environment and Society and its official journal, Environmental Sociology.