Environmental Advocacy: Working for Economic and Enviornmental Justice

Millions of people--particularly people of color and low-income groups -live in the most undesirable sections of cities and towns where they are faced with and variety of environmental insults. This book explores environmental justice through several theoretical frameworks. This book goes beyond grievances and promotes the scientific and theoretical analysis as bases for a deeper understanding and critical analysis of the interface of race and the environment and implication for public policy. This textbook grows out of scholarly research and the experience of scholar-activists, some of which have made contributions to this book. Each chapter begins with a set of objectives and ends with questions of critical thinking. Race and exercises on race awareness are presented in such a way that allows students to engage in meaningful discussion that is safe yet provocative. The short chapter inserts as well as case studies on the struggles of people of color and low-income groups are examples of the interface of race and environmental degradation and are used for points of discussion. The book also includes environmental justice and related movies for students to view. In addition the book include some light and livelies to help serve as icebreakers and a means to lighten the classroom environment.

"Designed for environmental justice courses, Environmental Advocacy: Working for Economic and Environmental Justice brings together a number of analytical frameworks, case studies, problem sets, and exercises to help us more fully understand the social and environmental problems of the poor and of people of color. This textbook is lucid reading with numerous case studies, problem sets, and questions for critical thinking. This book should be required reading for students interested in environmental justice."

–Richard Moore
Co-director and founder of the Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP)
and Executive Director of the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (SNEEJ)

"This book stands alone as a rich and comprehensive teaching resource for all who are committed to economic and environmental justice. Bunyan Bryant's pioneering work for over three decades-- at the University of Michigan, in communities across the globe, and in the cauldrons of public policy-- informs both the content and wisdom of this sweeping volume. This is a book for students and seasoned practitioners, for community leaders and policymakers, for teachers and newcomers to the field. It is a bold and genuine gift to those who seek to engage in the tough and challenging practice of building a more just and livable global community."

–The Rev. David L. Ostendorf
Executive Director, Center for New Community

"The book, Environmental Advocacy: Working for Economic and Environmental Justice integrates a variety of insightful and thought-provoking materials to provide a valuable framework for the analysis of issues of environmental and economic justice confronting people of color and low income communities. In writing this volume Dr. Bryant provides a cross-disciplinary perspective growing out of many years as a researcher, teacher, mentor and community advisor. This book will be of tremendous value to teachers and students for many years."

–James Hoyte
Associate Vice President, Office of the Assistant ot the President, Harvard University

"With the publication of "Environmental Advocacy: Working for Economic and Environmental Justice," Bunyan Bryant has once again elevated the study of environmental justice to another historic level. This is a ground-breaking book that brings EJ into the classroom like no other text has done. If, as so many of us believe, education is the key to creating a socially and environmentally just world, then this book must be a part of that vision. Bryant presents the problems of environmental and economic justice with a broad and refreshing theoretical framework and with deep empirical grounding. And, true to his participatory roots, Dr. Bryant invites the reader to engage in a dialogue with him in order to question, comment, critique, and revise this work for future editions and future generations of students. This is a rare work that will stand for a long time."

–David N. Pellow
Author of "Garbage Wars: The Struggle for Environmental Justice in Chicago." MIT Press, 2002

CONTENTS <---Click to see sample pages
Preface	I
Introduction	1
Contextual History of Environmental Justice	11
Culture	45
The Social Structure of Accumulation	91
Resource Mobilization	148
Henry Ford Medical Waste Incinerator: A Case Study	183
Movements of The New Left and New Right	200
A Creative Response to Violence and Hate: Ann Arbor, Michigan A Case Study on Resource Mobilization	211
Building Ideology and Organization for Social and Environmental Change	250
Environmental Advocacy and Environmental Mediation; Differences and Similarities	264
Key Environmental Justice Research Issues in the Positivistic Tradition	275
Political Practices, Pollution Prevention, and Participatory Research as Methodology for Environmental Justice	297
Dependency Theory	323
Environmental Justice, Consumption, and Hazardous Waste within People of Color Communities in the U.S. and Developing Countries	340
Global Warming	367
Environmental Crisis or Crisis of Epistemology	378
Environmental Advocates as Futurists	394
Appendix I: Environmental Justice Executive Order 12898	410
Appendix II: Health Research and Needs to Ensure Environmental Justice	414
Appendix III: Interim Guidance for Investigating Title VI Administrative Complaints Challenging Permits	420
Appendix IV: The Earth Charter	432
Appendix V: Glossary	440
Appendix VI: Environmental Justice Chronology	456
Appendix VII: Media Resources	466
Appendix VIII: Light and Livelies	474
References	480
Index	504

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