ABSTRACT
Movements for sustainable food, energy, and fashion are increasingly about the creation of just material systems and communities. Actors in these movements often understand their efforts to redesign systems as linked to a broad range of concerns about social justice. In particular, movement activists articulate justice concerns focused on political inclusion and engagement, a clear response to unjust and powerful institutions, and a set of basic human needs and capabilities. Across these, a rejuvenated and re-engaged community is seen as a crucial to the expression and achievement of a range of justice goals. Justice in these movements is understood in multiple ways, and injustice is seen as interrelated and mutually reinforcing. The breadth of justice concerns in these movements illustrates the reach of the discourse of environmental justice into other areas of environmental politics. And yet, such a discourse is limited; not only do these movements often eschew basic issues of equity, but they are also less likely to take on a more critical environmental justice approach. The key question here is how critical such sustainable materialist movements can be—and if their aims further the goals of environmental justice.
