From the Ground Up

Environmental Racism and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement

Luke W. Cole, Sheila R. Foster

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Year: 2000
• Print ISBN: 9780814715376
• eBook ISBN: 9780814790342
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Environmental Law
• Index: Law

A critical look at the movement for environmental justice

When Bill Clinton signed an Executive Order on Environmental Justice in 1994, the phenomenon of environmental racism—the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards, particularly toxic waste dumps and polluting factories, on people of color and low-income communities—gained unprecedented recognition. Behind that momentous signature, however, lies a remarkable tale of grassroots activism and political mobilization. Today, thousands of activists in hundreds of locales are fighting for their children, their communities, their quality of life, and their health.

From the Ground Up critically examines one of the fastest growing social movements in the United States—the movement for environmental justice. Tracing the movement's roots, Luke Cole and Sheila Foster combine long-time activism with powerful storytelling to provide gripping case studies of communities across the US—towns like Kettleman City, California; Chester, Pennsylvania; and Dilkon, Arizona—and their struggles against corporate polluters. The authors use social, economic and legal analysis to reveal the historical and contemporary causes for environmental racism. Environmental justice struggles, they demonstrate, transform individuals, communities, institutions and the nation as a whole.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Preface: We Speak for Ourselves: The Struggle of Kettleman City
• Introduction
• One A History of the Environmental Justice Movement
• Two The Political Economy of Environmental Racism: Chester Residents Concerned for Quality of Life
• Three Environmental Racism: Beyond the Distributive Paradigm
• Four Buttonwillow: Resistance and Disillusion in Rural California
• Five Processes of Struggle: Grassroots Resistance and the Structure of Environmental Decision Making
• Six In Defense of Mother Earth: The Indigenous Environmental Network
• Seven Transformative Politics
• Appendix
• Notes
• Index
• About the Authors