Embedded Files
Books
Books
As Long As Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, From Colonization to Standing Rock, by Dina Gilio-Whitaker (2019)
Through the lens of “Indigenized environmental justice,” researcher and activist Dina Gilio-Whitaker explores the history of treaty violations, struggles for food and water security, and protection of sacred sites, while highlighting the important leadership of Indigenous women in this centuries-long struggle. This book shares the history of Indigenous resistance to government and corporate incursions on their lands and offers new approaches to environmental justice activism and policy. The author argues that modern environmentalists must look to the history of Indigenous resistance for wisdom and inspiration in our common fight for a just and sustainable future.Breakthrough Communities: Sustainability and Justice in the Next American Metropolis, edited by M. Paloma Pavel (2009)
Activists, analysts, and practitioners describe innovative strategies that promote healthy neighborhoods, fair housing, and accessible transportation throughout America's cities and suburbs.Breathing Space: How Allergies Shape Our Lives and Landscapes, by Gregg Mitman (2008)
Breathing Space offers an intimate portrait of how allergic disease has shaped American culture, landscape, and life. Drawing on environmental, medical, and cultural history and the life stories of people, plants, and insects, Mitman traces how America’s changing environment from the late 1800s to the present day has led to the epidemic growth of allergic disease.Climate Justice: Frontline stories from groundbreaking communities in California, by M. Paloma Pavel (2017)
In the face of global crisis and in response to California’s leadership in the field of global warming, climate justice advocates and organizations in California are writing a new chapter in the struggle for social justice.Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience, and the Fight for a Sustainable Future, by Mary Robinson (2018)
Mary Robinson’s mission would lead her all over the world, from Malawi to Mongolia, and to a heartening revelation: that an irrepressible driving force in the battle for climate justice could be found at the grassroots level, mainly among women, many of them mothers and grandmothers like herself.Dumping In Dixie: Race, Class, And Environmental Quality, Third Edition, by Robert D. Bullard (2000)
This book provides the major economic, social, and psychological impacts associated with the siting of noxious facilities and their significance in mobilizing the African American community. It explores the barriers to environmental and social justice experienced by African Americans.Environmental Inequalities: Class, Race, and Industrial Pollution in Gary, Indiana, 1945-1980, by Andrew Hurley (2009)
By examining environmental change through the lens of conflicting social agendas, Andrew Hurley uncovers the historical roots of environmental inequality in contemporary urban America.Environmental Justice in a Moment of Danger, by Julie Sze (January 2020)
This book examines mobilizations and movements, from protests at Standing Rock to activism in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Environmental justice movements fight, survive, love, and create in the face of violence that challenges the conditions of life itself. Exploring dispossession, deregulation, privatization, and inequality, this book is the essential primer on environmental justice, packed with cautiously hopeful stories for the future.Environmentalism and Economic Justice: Two Chicano Struggles in the Southwest, by Laura Pulido (1996)
Environmentalism and Economic Justice is one of the first books devoted to Chicano environmental issues and is a study of U.S. environmentalism in transition as seen through the contributions of people of color.Failed Promises: Evaluating the Federal Government’s Response to Environmental Justice, edited by David M. Konisky (2015)
A systematic evaluation of the implementation of the federal government's environmental justice policies.Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement, by Robert Gottlieb (2005)
Originally published in 1993, Forcing the Spring was quickly recognized as a seminal work in the field of environmental history. The book links the environmental movement that emerged in the 1960s to earlier movements that had not previously been defined as environmental. It was the first to consider the importance of race, ethnicity, class, and gender issues in the history and evolution of environmentalism.From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement, by Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster (2000)
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 U.S—towns like Kettleman City, California; Chester, Pennsylvania; and Dilkon, Arizona—and their struggles against corporate polluters.If You Poison Us: Uranium and Native Americans, by Peter H. Eichstaedt (1994)
This book recounts the story of how uranium mining began on the Navajo lands in the American West. It discusses how mining was conducted and how its deadly legacy still lingers in the lives of the men, women, and children whose homelands have been destroyed.Inescapable Ecologies: A History of Environment, Disease, and Knowledge, by Linda Nash (2007)
Linda Nash gives us a wholly original and much longer history of “ecological” ideas of the body as that history unfolded in California’s Central Valley. Taking us from nineteenth-century fears of miasmas and faith in wilderness cures to the recent era of chemical pollution and cancer clusters, Nash charts how Americans have connected their diseases to race and place as well as dirt and germs.Latinx Environmentalisms: Place, Justice, and the Decolonial (2019)
Building on insights of environmental justice scholarship as well as critical race and ethnic studies, the editors and contributors to Latinx Environmentalisms map the ways Latinx cultural texts integrate environmental concerns with questions of social and political justice. Original interviews with creative writers, including Cherríe Moraga, Helena María Viramontes, and Héctor Tobar, as well as new essays by noted scholars of Latinx literature and culture, show how Latinx authors and cultural producers express environmental concerns in their work.Noxious New York: The Racial Politics of Urban Health and Environmental Justice (Urban and Industrial Environments), by Julie Sze (2006)
Examines the culture, politics, and history of the movement for environmental justice in New York City, tracking activism in four neighborhoods on issues of public health, garbage, and energy systems in the context of privatization, deregulation, and globalization.Packing Them In: An Archaeology of Environmental Racism in Chicago, 1865-1954, by Sylvia Hood Washington (2005)
Washington excavates and tells the stories of Chicago's poor, working class, and ethnic minority neighborhoods - such as Back of the Yards and Bronzeville - that suffered disproportionately negative environmental impacts and consequent pollution related health problems. This pioneering work will be essential reading not only for historians, but for urban planners, sociologists, citizen action groups and anyone interested in understanding the precursors to the contemporary environmental justice movement.State of Resistance: What California's Dizzying Descent and Remarkable Resurgence Means for America’s Future, by Manuel Pastor (2018)
A leading sociologist’s brilliant and revelatory argument that the future of politics, work, immigration, and more may be found in California.The Earth, the City, and the Hidden Narrative of Race, by Carl Anthony (2017)
The Earth, the City, and the Hidden Narrative of Race connects the logics behind slavery, community disinvestment, and environmental exploitation to address the most pressing issues of our time in a cohesive and foundational manner.This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate, by Naomi Klein (2014)
Klein argues that climate change isn’t just another issue to be neatly filed between taxes and health care. It’s an alarm that calls us to fix an economic system that is already failing us in many ways. Klein meticulously builds the case for how massively reducing our greenhouse emissions is our best chance to simultaneously reduce gaping inequalities, re-imagine our broken democracies, and rebuild our gutted local economies.This Could Be the Start of Something Big: How Social Movements for Regional Equity Are Reshaping Metropolitan America, by Manuel Pastor Jr., Chris Benner, and Martha Matsuoka (2009)
In places as diverse as Chicago, Atlanta, and San Jose, the usual business resistance to pro-equity policies has changed, particularly when it comes to issues like affordable housing and more efficient transportation systems. To see this change and its possibilities requires that we recognize a new thread running through many local efforts: a perspective and politics that emphasizes "regional equity."Toxic Communities: Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution, and Residential Mobility, by Dorceta Taylor (2014)
From St. Louis to New Orleans, from Baltimore to Oklahoma City, there are poor and minority neighborhoods so beset by pollution that just living in them can behazardous to your health. Due to entrenched segregation, zoning ordinances thatprivilege wealthier communities, or because businesses have found the ‘paths ofleast resistance,’ there are many hazardous waste and toxic facilities in thesecommunities, leading residents to experience health and wellness problems ontop of the race and class discrimination most already experience.
Articles
Articles
10 Principles for Just Climate Change Policies in the U.S.
California students join global strike demanding action on climate change (EdSource, 9/20/19)
Climate Justice (UN Sustainable Development Goals)
Environmental Justice Articles (Inside Climate News)
Key Books and Reports on Climate Justice (Yale Climate Connections)
Movements for Climate Justice (Institute for Social Ecology)
Principles of Climate Justice (Mary Robinson Foundation)
The Principles of Environmental Justice Delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held in Washington DC on October 24–27, 1991, drafted and adopted 17 principles of environmental justice. Since then, The Principles have served as a defining document for the movement for environmental justice.Teaching Intersectionality and Environmental Justice in Our Classrooms
These Young Climate Justice Advocates Say It’s Time for A Revolution (Huffington Post)
Podcasts
Podcasts
Degrees Of Change: How Native American Communities Are Addressing Climate Change (Science Fridays, 2/7/20)
Indigenous peoples are one of the most vulnerable communities when it comes to the effects of climate change. This is due to a mix of cultural, economic, policy and historical factors. Some Native American tribal governments and councils have put together their own climate risk assessment plans. Native American communities are very diverse—and the challenges and adaptations are just as varied.Dr. Robert Bullard: The Father of Environmental Justice (Climate One, 1/2/20)
Often described as the father of environmental justice, Dr. Robert Bullard has written several seminal books on the subject and is known for his work highlighting pollution on minority communities and speaking up against environmental racism in the 1970-1980s.Environmental Justice at risk in East Boston (The Climate Minute, 3/9/20)
Environmental justice is at stake in the historic community of East Boston. Eversource is trying to build an electrical substation (read: “unnecessary fossil fuel infrastructure”) in a community already heavily burdened by industrial facilities and the support of Logan airport. We speak with two activists from GreenRoots to better understand the issues.Fired Up on Climate Change in California Schools (EdSource, 9/27/19)
Featuring Ten Strands CEO Karen Cowe and Oakland high school student and activist Isha Clarke.Living Downstream (NPR)
Living Downstream explores environmental justice in communities from California to Indonesia and is hosted by NCPM News Director Steve Mencher. The podcast features some of the most experienced environmental reporters in the public radio system, as well as a handful of talented newcomers.The Environmental Justice Landscape (In this Climate, 4/3/20)
In this bonus episode, IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs professor David Konisky helps us understand the modern environmental justice movement in the context of its history.The Relationship Between Environmental Justice And Winter Health (Issues of the Environment, 1/15/20)
A number of Americans have difficulty paying their energy bills, which can be very dangerous to a person's health during the winter months. Dr. Tony Reames, an assistant professor at the U-M's School for Environment and Sustainability, is now researching ways to better understand the correlation between environmental health and income.Think 100%: The Coolest Show on Climate Change (Hip Hop Caucus)
There are over 50 episodes about justice, solutions, and realness. "It isn’t depressing. It is about the beauty of our world and the grit of fighting for our existence." "Featuring stories from communities facing deadly impacts from pollution and climate change, and conversations with celebrities, artists, activists, youth leaders, Congressional Members, issue experts and more, the show will break down barriers between issues within the movement for justice and a sustainable planet for all.”
Websites
Websites
We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
Breakthrough Communities Project
Promotes sustainability and justice in metropolitan areas.Center for Regional Change (UC Davis)
Launched in 2007, the CRC is a catalyst for innovative, collaborative, and action-oriented research. It brings together faculty and students from different disciplines, and builds bridges between university, policy, advocacy, business, philanthropy and other sectors. The CRC's goal is to support the building of healthy, equitable, prosperous, and sustainable regions in California and beyond. Climate One at The Commonwealth Club offers a forum for candid discussion among climate scientists, policymakers, activists, and concerned citizens. Our live events are recorded and distributed to a global audience. By gathering inspiring, credible, and compelling information, we provide an essential resource to change-makers looking to make a difference.We inspire and train diverse youth to be effective leaders in the environmental, climate and social justice movements. Through the power of art, music, storytelling, civic engagement, and legal action, we’re creating impactful solutions to some of the most critical issues we face as a global community. The mission of the Groundwork USA network is to bring about the sustained regeneration, improvement, and management of the physical environment by developing community-based partnerships that empower people, businesses, and organizations to promote environmental, economic, and social well-being.Literacy for Environmental Justice
LEJ promotes ecological health, environmental stewardship, and community development in Southeast San Francisco by creating urban greening, eco-literacy, community stewardship and workforce development opportunities that directly engage and support local residents in securing a healthier future.The Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice is a centre for thought leadership, education and advocacy on the struggle to secure global justice for those people vulnerable to the impacts of climate change who are usually forgotten – the poor, the disempowered and the marginalised across the world.The Peoples Climate Movement uses two key strategies to demand bold action on climate change: mass mobilization and movement alignment. By mobilizing massive numbers of people on the ground; finding alignment with partners under the banner of climate, jobs, and justice; and lifting up our core priorities of economic and racial justice, we build the power required to win real and lasting climate policy on the federal, state, and local level.Sunrise is a movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process. We're building an army of young people to make climate change an urgent priority across America, end the corrupting influence of fossil fuel executives on our politics, and elect leaders who stand up for the health and wellbeing of all people. We are ordinary young people who are scared about what the climate crisis means for the people and places we love. We are gathering in classrooms, living rooms, and worship halls across the country. Everyone has a role to play. We are not looking to the right or left. We look forward. Together, we will change this country and this world, sure as the sun rises each morning.Based on Naomi Klein’s book, this site provides information about the book, documentary, Leap Manifesto, Leap, and Beautiful Solutions.The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.
Videos
Videos
A Brief History of Environmental Justice (ProPublica, 2017, 3:35)
Landfills, chemical waste facilities and power plants are more often built in poor and minority communities, which don't have the power or money to advocate for themselves.Becoming an ECO J.E.D.I.: Exploring ways to bridge the gap between environmental education and environmental justice (presentation by Parker McMullen Bushman, 2019, 1:23:38)
Ecosystem health and the health of communities and individuals are inextricably linked. It is often low-income and minority populations that carry the impacts of the weightiest environmental problems. Environmental education can provide an opportunity to connect people to nature and can help empower these communities to actively address environmental issues.Carl Anthony: The Earth, the City and the Hidden Narrative of Race (Bioneers, 2010, 39:44)
Carl Anthony, the seminal figure in the environmental justice movement, who founded Earthjustice's Urban Habitat program, describes his recent work with the Ford Foundation to bridge urban communities of color with environmental initiatives while reviving vital environmental cultural traditions.Climate Change, Environmental Justice and #BlackLivesMatter (PURE Project Urban Renewable Energy, 2015, 4:50)
Students from Alabama State University reflect on Environmental Justice Issues in communities of color at the 2015 3rd Annual HBCU Student Climate Change Conference.Environmental Justice (EcoSense for Living, 2018, 26:48)
EcoSense explores the intersection of environmentalism and the social justice movement with representatives from the Partnership for Southern Equity and the NAACP. In Atlanta, meet members of the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, a group that works hard to build and maintain a clean and healthy environment within its community.Environmental Justice, Explained (Grist, 2016, 3:33)
We already know that pollution and climate change negatively affect people’s health and quality of life. But we’re not always clear about which people are most exposed and impacted.Environmental Justice, Social Inequality, MCAT, Khan Academy (Khan Academy, 2015, 4:32)
Where we live in society plays a huge role in the environmental benefits and risks that we're exposed to.Hip-Hop Environmental Activism: Xiuhtezcatl Martinez (TEDxYouth@MileHigh, 2014, 13:36)
What is the power of combining hip-hop and environmental activism? In this energetic performance, hip hop artist and 13-year-old indigenous rights activist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez performs original works with powerful messages."Indigenous Roots" - We are all Indigenous to the Earth (Earth Guardian, 2015, 3:42)
We are all Indigenous to this Earth "Indigenous Roots" featuring - Shailene Woodley, Nahko Bear, Peter and Bethany Yarrow, Bibi McGill, Luke Nephew, Lyla June, Black Lives Matter and so many other incredible artists and guest artists.Isha Clarke - A New Era of the Climate Justice Movement (Bioneers, 2019, 7:22)
Sixteen-year-old Isha Clarke is a senior at Oakland High School and activist for Youth vs. Apocalypse. This is her presentation made at the annual Bioneers conference in October 2019.Van Jones: The Marriage of Social Justice & Environmental Protection (Bioneers, 2015/2003, 30:36)
Award-winning activist and author, and CNN political contributor, founded and led four social and environmental justice NGOs (The Ella Baker Center, promoting criminal justice reform; Color of Change, focused on racial fairness; Green for All, which promotes "green" job creation; and Rebuild The Dream/Dream Corps Unlimited).Van Jones: Towards a Green Alliance: Birthing a New Politics (Bioneers, 2015/2007, 33:23)
Van Jones urges us to carry our spiritual, cultural and economic movements into the electoral arena to transform politics and forge a green "New Deal" coalition so that kids who are now prison fodder will help create a zero-pollution economy, harvest the sun and heal the land instead.Winona LaDuke: Seeds of Our Ancestors, Seeds of Life (TedxTC, 2012, 16:36)
As Program Director of Honor the Earth, LaDuke works nationally and internationally on the issues of climate change, renewable energy, and environmental justice with Indigenous communities. In her own community, she is the founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, where she works to protect Indigenous plants and heritage foods from patenting and genetic engineering.
curriculum
curriculum
Alliance for Climate Education
Analyzing Environmental Justice (Teaching Tolerance)
Climate Justice Resource Kit (Rethinking Schools)
Our Lesson Plans, complemented by artist Shepard Fairey's painting of Earth Guardians Youth Director Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, were created through a partnership with Amplifier. Amplifier is a design lab dedicated to amplifying the voices of social change movements through art and community engagement, bringing We the Future into classrooms across the United States.Eight Ways to Teach Climate Change in Almost Any Classroom (NPR)
Environmental Justice lessons and classroom materials, K-12 (National Education Association)
Environmental Justice Workshop: K-12 Lessons (Duke)
Learners to Leaders: Environmental Justice Literacy Curriculum (Groundwork USA)
Links to resources, materials, and lesson plans across subject areas and K–12 grade bandsRoots of Success Environmental Literacy & Work Readiness Curriculum
Social Justice Books -- A Teaching for Change Project: Environment/Climate Justice
Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents: Reading, Writing, and Making a Difference (Richard Beach, Jeff Share & Allen Webb; NCTE & Zinn Education Project)
Teaching Intersectionality and Environmental Justice (NAACP)
The People’s Curriculum for the Earth: Teaching Climate Change and the Environmental Crisis (Edited by Bill Bigelow and Tim Swinehart, 2014, Rethinking Schools Publication)
K-12 Teaching Guide: Articles, student readings, and teaching activities to understand environmental problems and imagine solutions.U.S. Green Building Council Environmental Justice Curriculum
Organizations
Organizations
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
APEN brings together a collective voice to develop an alternative agenda for environmental, social and economic justice. APEN holds this vision of environmental justice for all people. Our work focuses on Asian and Pacific Islander communities.California Environmental Justice Alliance
Our core members are base-building environmental justice organizations who are deeply engaged in CEJA’s work. Each core member has their Executive Director on our steering committee and staff members sitting on our program committees.Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice
The mission of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice is to bring people together to improve our social and natural environment. We do this by developing indigenous leadership, community organizing through strategic campaigns and building a base of community power.Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment
CRPE is a national environmental justice organization providing legal, organizing, and technical assistance to grassroots groups in low-income communities and communities of color. Our work is rooted in California's San Joaquin Valley. The Valley is home to the worst air pollution in the nation, some of largest waste dumps west of the Mississippi, intense oil and gas production, and a dense agricultural landscape that has complex air and water issues.CCV was founded on the principle that “Informed People Build Healthy Communities” and continues to incorporate this in all partnerships, research, and civic engagement taken by our organization. Our organization was founded in Imperial County with the endeavor of improving the lives of disadvantaged communities; informing, educating, and engaging the community’s civic participation.Communities for a Better Environment
The mission of CBE is to build people’s power in California’s communities of color and low income communities to achieve environmental health and justice by preventing and reducing pollution and building green, healthy and sustainable communities and environments.Environmental Health Coalition
We believe that justice is accomplished by empowered communities acting together to make social change. We organize and advocate to protect public health and the environment threatened by toxic pollution. EHC supports broad efforts that create a just society and fosters a healthy and sustainable quality of life.Fathers & Families of San Joaquin
To promote the cultural, spiritual, economic and social renewal of the most vulnerable families in Stockton and the greater San Joaquin Valley.The mission of the Groundwork USA network is to bring about the sustained regeneration, improvement, and management of the physical environment by developing community-based partnerships that empower people, businesses, and organizations to promote environmental, economic, and social well-being.We inspire, connect, and engage Latino communities in the outdoors and embrace cultura y familia as part of the outdoor narrative, ensuring our history, heritage, and leadership are valued and represented.People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights
PODER’s mission is to organize with Latino immigrant families and youth to put into practice people-powered solutions that are locally based, community led and environmentally just. We nurture everyday people’s leadership, regenerate culture, and build community power.SanDiego350 is building a movement to prevent the worst impacts of climate change and climate injustice through education and outreach, public policy advocacy, and mobilizing people to take action.Our mission is to strengthen the partnerships and strategies that will bring environmental literacy to all of California’s K–12 students. Our vision is a world where everyone understands and experiences the interrelatedness of people and place; where all students have access to high-quality education with an environmental component; and where all people have the knowledge, awareness, and ability to make decisions that promote health and wellbeing for themselves and their communities.We strive to ensure that the lived experience of all youth is honored as part of the outdoor experience. We provide grantmaking, capacity building, and training to promote healthy lives and inspire future champions of the planet.Youth Vs. Apocalypse is a diverse network of young climate justice activists working together to lift the voices of youth, in particular youth of color, and fight for a livable climate and an equitable, sustainable, and just world. Youth leaders are supported with networks, training, logistical assistance, and intersectional analysis in order to allow them to fight powerfully for themselves, their communities, and the planet.Page updated
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