Evolution of a Movement: Four Decades of California Environmental Justice ActivismDespite living and working in California, one of the county's most environmentally progressive states, environmental justice activists have spent decades fighting for clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and safe, healthy communities. Evolution of a Movement tells their story—from the often-raucous protests of the 1980s and 1990s to activists' growing presence inside the halls of the state capitol in the 2000s and 2010s. Tracy E. Perkins traces how shifting political contexts combined with activists' own efforts to institutionalize their work within nonprofits and state structures. By revealing these struggles and transformations, Perkins offers a new lens for understanding environmental justice activism in California. Drawing on case studies and 125 interviews with activists from Sacramento to the California-Mexico border, Perkins explores the successes and failures of the environmental justice movement in California. She shows why some activists have moved away from the disruptive "outsider" political tactics common in the movement's early days and embraced traditional political channels of policy advocacy, electoral politics, and working from within the state's political system to enact change. Although some see these changes as a sign of the growing sophistication of the environmental justice movement, others point to the potential of such changes to blunt grassroots power. At a time when environmental justice scholars and activists face pressing questions about the best route for effecting meaningful change, this book provides insight into the strengths and limitations of social movement institutionalization. |
Contents
Emergence of the Disruptive Environmental | 22 |
The Institutionalization of the Environmental | 49 |
Explaining the Changes in Environmental Justice Activism | 82 |
Case Study of Community Activism | 114 |
Case Study | 151 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
action advisory committees air pollution American Angeles antitoxics bill birth defects Black California environmental justice cap-and-trade carbon Carbon Offsets CEJA chapter Chemical Waste civil rights climate change collaboration communities and communities communities of color County create decision disruptive drinking water efforts EJAC enforcement envi environ environmental jus environmental justice activism environmental justice activists environmental justice advocates environmental justice groups environmental justice movement environmental justice organizations environmental movement environmental racism facilities federal fight funding Global Warming going grassroots greenhouse gas greenhouse gas emissions Greenpeace hazardous waste hazardous waste landfill impact income communities industry inequality institutionalization interviews Kettleman City landfill Latinx legislation Love Canal ment mental justice National neoliberal nonprofits participation Pellow Perkins Pesticide policy advocacy political Press problems programs projects protest regulation ronmental justice San Joaquin Valley Scoping Plan social movement tactics threats tice tion toxic trade waste incinerator Waste Management