The Quest for Environmental Justice: Human Rights and the Politics of Pollution

Book Overview

This much anticipated follow-up to Dr. Robert D. Bullard's highly acclaimed Unequal Protection: Environmental Justice and Communities of Color captures the voices of frontline warriors who are battling environmental injustice and human rights abuses at the grassroots level around the world, and challenging government and industry. policies and globalization trends that place people of color and the poor at special risk.

Part I presents an overview of the early environmental justice movement and highlights key leadership roles assumed by women activists. Part II examines the lives of people living in sacrifice zones--toxic corridors (such as Louisiana's infamous Cancer Alley) where high concentrations of polluting industries are found. Part III explores land use, land rights, resource extraction, and sustainable development conflicts, including Chicano struggles in America's Southwest. Part IV examines human rights and global justice issues, including an analysis of South Africa's legacy of environmental racism and the corruption and continuing violence plaguing the oil-rich Niger Delta.

Together, the diverse contributors to this much-anticipated follow-up anthology present an inspiring and illuminating picture of the environmental justice movement in the first decade of the twenty-first century.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1578051207
• ISBN13: 9781578051205
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Counterpoint LLC
• Length: 414 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Good Intentions

Bullard, et al. have good intentions in that they want to correct environmental injustice and racism. However, sometimes they are too quick to call racism or get bogged down in statistics. My favorite chapter was the one on the Vieques people of Puerto Rico. If anything, I learned a lot about world politics.

Empowering

"The Quest for Environmental Justice" by Robert D. Bullard (editor) is an excellent primer about the environmental justice ('E.J.') movement. Blending U.S. environmental and social justice activists together in the late 1970s, the E.J. movement has grown to become a significant multinational political force. The numerous authors who have contributed to this volume explore the movement's rich history and chronicle many of the noteworthy struggles that have improved the lives of many people and can provide inspiration and hope to us all. The introductory chapters include a Foreword by Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who played an important role in a campaign that successfully relocated the largely African-American community of Norco, LA away from a highly polluting oil refinery; a Preface by Peggy Morrow Shepard, who believes that the E.J. movement is key to reinvigorating the mainstream environmental organizations; and an Introduction by Mr. Bullard, who recounts how some of the core principles of the E.J. movement were institutionalized at the EPA during the Clinton adminsitration. The book is divided into four sections. The first section, "A Legacy of Injustice" discusses the history of the E.J. movement. "Environmental Justice in ther Twenty-first Century" by Mr. Bullard compares and contrasts the Summit I and Summit II meetings to discuss both the growth of the movement and how its organizational tactics and principles have developed over time. "Neighborhoods 'Zoned' for Garbage" by Mr. Bullard drills into the author's personal experiences fighting zoning decisions in Houston, TX that first brought the fledgling E.J. movement to prominence. "Women Warriers of Color on the Front Line" by Mr. Bullard and Damu Smith offers a series of vignettes written by seven exceptional women who have led community-based campaigns to victory, often against formidable and well-financed corporate opponents. The second section is about "The Assault on Fence-Line Communities". Beverly Wright's "Living and Dying in Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley'" connects the legacy of slavery and racism with environmental exploitation and relates the successes of historic African-American towns such as Convent, LA in achieving a small measure of justice for its citizens against a large Japanese multinational corporation. Manuel Pastor, Jr. et al's "Environmental Inequity in Metropolitan Los Angeles" documents the myriad ill health effects that are produced by the disproportionate siting of hazardous sites in minority neighborhoods. Olga Pomar's "Toxic Racism on a New Jersey Waterfront" discusses the legacy of industrial pollution in Camden, NJ and the importance of developing legal tools that communities might use to more effectively petition government to secure their rights. The third section is on the topic of "Land Rights and Sustainable Development". "Anatomy of the Urban Parks Movement" by Robert Garcia and Erica Flores explores the unequal distribution of parkland in