The Obligation to Know and the Right to Know

A Relational Approach to Environmental Justice Communication and Datafication

Bibliographic Data

ID11261567
AuthorsKatherine L Dickinson (0000-0001-6390-200X, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz, Aurora, CO, USA), Leah Horgan (0000-0002-2277-8409, Northeastern University, corresponding author), Stephanie Pease (0009-0004-2783-8708, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz, Aurora, CO, USA), Carla Nyquist (0009-0003-9420-1670, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz, Aurora, CO, USA), Ruth Mekennon (Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz, Aurora, CO, USA), Vasiliki Pistoftzian (Northeastern University), Kourtney Bichotte-Dunner (Northeastern University), Ashley Varghese (Northeastern University), Sara Wylie (0000-0002-2096-9260, Northeastern University), Ean Thomas Tafoya (GreenLatinos, Boulder, CO, USA)
Year2025
Publication date2025-12-22
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience Technology & Human Values (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0162-2439 • E-ISSN: 1552-8251
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/01622439251388748
OpenAlexW7116689396
LanguageEN
References cited48

The public's “Right to Know” has been a motivating refrain for the environmental movement from its modern origins. While these policies may be an important component of environmental progress, it is critical to acknowledge the history and ongoing impacts of informating environmentalism. For example, how may information disclosures normalize ongoing harms to communities? How much energy is devoted to tracking the obvious (industries are producing pollution), and how much energy is spent on solutions to those predictable problems? How do data structures replicate power structures and continue to favor industry? Once data are “available,” whose burden is it to use it to clear a burden of proof? Alongside the Right to Know, should we also codify an Obligation to Know? In posing this question, we ask: Who is shielded from knowing about the environmental impacts of their behaviors, and how do patterns of unknowing perpetuate injustices? In this practice-based project report, we detail our process in developing Obligation to Know principles for the cocreation of environmental data justice communication tools through community partnerships in Boston, MA and Denver, CO. We draw lessons from these worked examples and identify limits to using a relational approach for environmental justice communication and datafication

Economic Justice · Energy (signal processing · Environmental communication · Environmental justice · Environmental law · Obligation · Power (physics · Process (computing · Environmental Justice and Health Disparities · Environmental law and policy · Rhetoric and Communication Studies

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