Kristin Shrader-Frechette
American philosopher
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Through United Nations
Shrader-Frechette coined the phrase “ecological justice” more than 40 years ago, with the term changing to “environmental justice” over time. Among other things, "environmental injustice" references situations in which certain groups bear disproportionate environmental risks, have unequal access to goods like clean air or water, or have unequal voices in determining the imposition of environmental risks. Shrader-Frechette, who is considered one of the founders of the environmental justice movement, was also an early advocate of the concept of “intergenerational equity,” the idea that the environmental problems of future generations are also significant to the current generation.
Shrader-Frechette has received the Global Citizenship Award, and the Catholic Digest named her one of 12 "Heroes for the US and the World."
Education
Kristin Shrader-Frechette studied physics at Xavier University and graduated (summa cum laude) in 1967. She received her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame in 1972. Shrader-Frechette also did post-doctoral work relating to biology, economics, and hydrogeology.
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Professional membership
Shrader-Frechette has been a member of many boards and committees at the international level. She has been invited to address the National Academies of Science in three different countries. She has served as an advisor to numerous governments and international organizations, including the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Associate Editor of BioScience until 2002, Shrader-Frechette is Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford University Press monograph series on Environmental Ethics and Science Policy and spent two terms on the US EPA Science Advisory Board. She also serves on the editorial boards of 22 professional journals.
Awards
In 2004 Shrader-Frechette received the World Technology Award. In 2007, Catholic Digest named her one of 12 "Heroes for the US and the World" because of her pro-bono environmental justice work with minority and poor communities. In 2011, Tufts University gave her the Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award. In 2023, she received the International Cosmos Prize, Japan for research and pro bono work on methods of quantitative risk assessment and stopping environmental injustice.