Despite increasingly abundant references to the spatial concentration of environmental problems or the economic externalities in other areas, ecological discourse had not yet mentioned social inequality, a theme that has become increasingly present in scientific journals and official reports. But this greater visibility is not supported by a clear definition articulating diverse scales and a wide range of issues, resulting perhaps from a symptom: compensating for an impossible decrease in ecological problems by reducing related social inequalities, in the context of an economic growth framework. This article shows what this concept conveys and disregards. It insists, on the one hand, on existing gaps in reasoning and data, and, on the other hand, on the contradictions of an approach likely to lead to a dilution of nuisances without reducing them, and deeper social inequalities in the years to come.
