title: Social Justice and the Environmental Commons.
abstract: In this chapter, we build on the scholarship on youth civic engagement by turning attention to the environmental commons as a space for political action. We begin with a definition of the term and arguments about ways that social justice is implied in it. Following that, we raise several psychological challenges to motivating action on behalf of the environmental commons and discuss the critical experiences and actions that can defy those challenges. Finally, drawing from Ostrom's empirical evidence opposing a tragedy of the commons, we discuss practices consistent with a social justice approach that nurture in younger generations an identification with and commitment to the environmental commons and discuss how this orientation would benefit human beings, democracies, and the earth.
authors.affiliation: School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States. Electronic address: caflanagan@wisc.edu.
authors.forename: Constance A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Flanagan
authors.affiliation: School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Byington
authors.affiliation: School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gallay
authors.affiliation: School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sambo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002961:Civil Rights; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004777:Environment; D006801:Humans; D009014:Morals; D011057:Politics; D011332:Privatization; D012935:Social Justice; D012941:Social Responsibility
keywords: Civic activism; Critical consciousness; Environmental commons; Interdependence of fates; Intersectional justice; Moral disengagement; Place-based stewardship