by Margherita D’Andrea and Roberto Sciarelli

On the 22nd and 23rd of May, the workshop “Just Sustainability – Rhizomatic Social Innovations, Transformative Knowledge, and Prefigurative Practices for a Just Transition” took place in the University of Catania, in the beautiful historical premises of the Department of Humanities. The event was organized by the team of the Italian research project JUSTAINABILITY (https://justainability.hcommons.org), whose aim is to redefine the concept of sustainability by incorporating categories of environmental justice, as well as the knowledge, practices, and innovations generated by communities confronting climate change.

Building on the concept of the Wasteocene (Armiero 2021), the workshop centered on issues of contamination and waste. Participants explored forms of resistance to “wasting relationships,” highlighting the commoning practices emerging within social movements to reclaim and revitalize marginalized communities and environments. The aim was to challenge dominant narratives that separate struggles for justice from the creation of alternative socio-ecological ways of living. “Sacrifice zones” are highly contaminated areas where vulnerable and marginalized groups bear a disproportionate burden of health impacts. In this sense, the workshop did not focus on “waste” per se, but on the ensemble of wasting relationships that transform communities into socio-ecological dumps.

The participants’ contributions were informed by critical approaches and enriched by co-research methodologies aimed at co-generating knowledge and political perspectives together with social and environmental justice movements. This allowed the ensuing discussions to explore how the grassroots knowledges cultivated in environmental justice mobilizations can be transferred and scaled up into concrete policies of just ecological transition.