Transforming sacrifice zones into sacred zones—Ryan Juskus approaches environmental justice as integral to human dignity

Transforming sacrifice zones into sacred zones

Ryan Juskus approaches environmental justice as integral to human dignity

April 15, 2026

For Ryan Juskus, assistant professor of the practice at the Institute for Social Concerns, the true cost of our global energy systems is best seen not in atmospheric charts but in the mines, extraction sites, and waste pits of marginalized areas like Appalachia or the Amazon.

As Juskus argues in a recent article, by focusing exclusively on the “hole in the sky,” we risk overlooking the immediate, existential crises occurring in “the holes in the ground.” He suggests these physical excavations are almost always accompanied by holes in our society: deep economic, social, and racial inequalities.

Juskus’s research explores the concept of “sacrifice zones”—geographic areas systematically degraded so that other parts of society can remain green and comfortable. Drawing on the insights of Black and Latin American theologians, he describes sacrifice zones as a form of “putting people on a cross.” In his framework, the goal of environmental justice is not merely to manage a global crisis but to “take people down from the cross” by restoring dignity and justice to the people in regions that have been sacrificed.

This approach reflects the etymological roots of the word sacrificium—to make sacred. Juskus argues that, by refusing to sacrifice a neighbor for a landfill or a power plant, the pursuit of environmental justice becomes a vital way to recognize and restore the sacredness of the human person.

“The vision of turning sacrifice zones into sacred zones reflects the narrative logic of Jesus’s love for creatures who are caught up in polluted ecologies of false sacrifice.” — Ryan Juskus

Juskus’s perspective aligns seamlessly with the approach to justice central to the Institute for Social Concerns and further contributes to its research. By prioritizing engagement with those most affected by injustice and examining questions of justice through the lens of Catholic social tradition (CST), the institute provides Juskus with interdisciplinary interlocutors who are bringing both their intellectual acumen and their faith commitments to bear on the most urgent signs of the times.

Since joining the institute in the fall of 2024, Juskus has developed courses that challenge students to interrogate their perspectives through the lens of CST. In his course Decarbonizing Catholicism, he bridges CST with the energy humanities—a field that examines how human culture and energy systems shape one another. The course asks a provocative question: To what degree was the development of CST influenced by the fossil fuel era of the Industrial Revolution? Conversely, Juskus pushes students to see how the Church’s ancient wisdom, which predates the steam engine, can serve as a guide for living well in a world after oil.

The connection between faith and justice solidified for Juskus during fieldwork in Birmingham, Alabama. There, he met an environmental justice activist named Sarah, whose commitment to Appalachia was rooted in a deep, personal spirituality. Sarah had participated in a series of projects across Appalachia organized by the Christian environmental organization Restoring Eden. When Juskus asked how she persisted against insurmountable opposition, she explained her belief that Jesus was to be found not in the halls of power but among vulnerable populations in North Birmingham and the mountains.

Juskus believes today’s students are hungry for this kind of good news—that the pursuit of environmental justice need not be opposed to faith commitments but can be an expression of them. “They see a world on fire,” he says. “They want to know what to say yes to.”

Juskus’s research suggests that environmental justice requires a fundamental shift in environmental politics, moving away from technocratic management toward a model grounded in human rights and human dignity. By synthesizing ethnographic fieldwork with theological analysis, his research at the Institute for Social Concerns is generating the critical insights needed to transform sacrifice zones into communities defined by their inherent sacredness.