Received: from darkwing.uoregon.edu (darkwing.uoregon.edu [128.223.32.29]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.6.4/8.6.4/CNS-2.0) with ESMTP id NAA04238 for ; Sat, 15 Jan 1994 13:10:41 -0700 Received: from localhost (alummus@localhost) by darkwing.uoregon.edu (8.6.4/8.6) id MAA23287; Sat, 15 Jan 1994 12:10:38 -0800 Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 11:55:29 -0800 (PST) From: allan lummus Sender: allan lummus Reply-To: allan lummus Subject: re:identity poltics and environmental justice movements To: progressive sociologist network In-Reply-To: <199401150838.AAA18258@am.ucsc.edu> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Status: RO On Sat, 15 Jan 1994 jlgulick@cats.ucsc.edu wrote: > However, what I am talking about is the chronic tendency in "grass-roots" > or "community" politics in the U.S. to wage struggle around inequities in > _distributional_ outcomes, which are typically skewed in racial terms. The > environmental justice movement is a prime example. To boil it down, identities ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > are erected in relation to equal access to decent means of consumption (housing > in non-polluted neighborhoods is a preeminent example here), as opposed to > popular participation in institutions (planning agencies, corporations which > make investments), not to speak of attacking the wage relation which, in > conjunction w/racism, so sharply defines access to means of consumption. > This flame of thousands of poor and working class people who are linking issues of social justice with environmental degradation is really very regrettable. Environmental justice movement(S) are about broadening environmentalism to include where people live and work (not just recreate). Talk to Vernice Miller from West Harlem Environmental Action fighting hazardous waste facilities or Gulf Coast Tenants Organization fighting the Chemical corporations in "Cancer Alley." Are they really only interested in "equal access to decent means of consumption?" No, they are making connections between there hospital bills and the decisions of corporations and government. They are demanding to have decision making power over how land is used, in addition to what and how corporations produce. These organizations are after social transformation not lower prices at Walmart! I think you are confusing some single interest brand of environmentalism with environmental justice movements. Environmental Justice is about more than essentializing pigmentation. For those who are interested these are really good sources on this topic: Toxic Struggles: The theory and practice of environmental justice. Edited by Richard Hofrichter from New Society Publishers 1993. Forcing the Spring: The transformation of the environmental movement. by Robert Gottlieb from Island Press 1993. Los Angeles' Lethal Air: New Strategies for Policy, Organizing and Action. Eric Mann. Labor/Community Strategy Center 1991. Also the spring 1993 Socialist Review and the Feb 1993 Social Problems is dedicated to Environment Justice Movements.