Addressing Environmental Racism Through Storytelling: Toward an Environmental Justice Narrative Framework

This study uses communication, critical race theory (CRT), and storytelling to examine environmental racism and environmental justice efforts. In New Mexico’s Petroglyph National Monument, a conflict emerged when officials moved protected rock carvings to build a road through the park. When creating the monument, stakeholders evoked cultural and environmental protectionism. Yet, proroad campaigners then used colorblind racist development arguments, while environmental justice activists argued that the road violated Indigenous peoples’ wishes and environmental integrity. After analyzing the case, in the tradition of CRT scholarship, I present my own fictional narrative as an environmental justice tool. I advance an environmental justice narrative framework to address environmental racism by exploring through storytelling how racial and environmental inequalities materialize and to what effect.