Participatory Science: Environmental Justice

Participatory science empowers the public to engage in scientific research and to use the results of that research to express community concerns. It also allows for the democratization of knowledge, particularly within traditionally marginalized and underrepresented communities and bridges diverse sources of scientific knowledge like the traditional ecological knowledge with Western science.

Community-led research efforts help to build community awareness of environmental issues while increasing community confidence in being able to generate and manage information, rather than being dependent on others. It can also strengthen advocacy by allowing community members to support their concerns with scientific information.

Environmental justice communities, with heavy pollution burdens from multiple sources, are increasingly using scientific tools to educate themselves and to support their advocacy. Their work is usually referred to as “community science.” Examples of community science efforts include acquiring and operating devices such as low cost air sensors to measure air quality or documenting the impact of pollution sources ranging from ports and highways to industrial facilities.

Community science faces the same challenges as other forms of participatory science, particularly lack of engagement from key community members, the limitations of data accuracy from low-cost devices and even structural bias. Agencies may also be reluctant to take regulatory or enforcement action using data from low cost devices.

In light of this history, there is a critical need for agencies to build trusted, collaborative and constructive relations with communities. Promoting inclusive engagement in monitoring, enforcement and raising awareness of environmental concerns, can lead to decision making and policy making processes that are truly collaborative. Collaborative relationships between agencies and communities can ensure that the efforts of local residents are most likely to generate data that leads to action.

Nationwide Efforts

Some states are creating a legal framework for the use of participatory science in the environmental justice context. In 2017, California adopted legislation specifically addressing environmental justice concerns; community monitoring is a centerpiece of that law. New York has now launched a statewide community monitoring program as well.

Examples of citizen science programs that support environmental justice can be found on ELI’s citizen science database. [LINK TO DATABASE PAGE]