Book Reviews
PSC 320. Environmental Politics and Policy

 

Bryant, B. and Mohai, P. (Ed) (1992). Race and the incidence of environmental hazards: A time for discourse. Westview Press, Inc., Boulder.
Book Review by Amira Beaird

 

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Bryner, G. (2001). Gaia’s wager: Environmental movements and the challenge of sustainability. Lanham: Rowan & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Book Review by Eva Lewis

Gaia's Wager: Environmental Movements and the Challenge of Sustainability by Gary C. Bryner (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2001) addresses the issues surrounding the necessary transformation from current levels of environmental practices to a heightened degree of sustainable protections for the environment. These issues can be broken down into three categories: the current political capacity for responding to environmental threats, the effectiveness of environmental policies, and the improvements needed in the political structure to effectively resolve environmental problems. Throughout the book a comparative analysis of environmental policies developed between the United States and the world, along with statistics providing a sound foundation for the shift from current environmentalism to sustainability in environmental reform.

Since 1970, global environmental problems have undergone tremendous improvements, but the last several decades have not seen any further improvement. Bryner states that increased population growth, climate change, and water resources are only a few of the problems challenging the environment. He argues that radical change is needed to transform the policies and the individuals’ private behavior of a nation. Such change is possible through environmentalism, a social movement that should eventually transition into a goal of sustainability. In the United States, the social movement will not progress further because of the following problems: The less problematic problems have been solved while the more challenging ones remain; the educational system has not taught the public the importance of the ecological system; economic gains have come through the degradation of the environment and the opportunistic exercise of political forces. All of these problems, according to Bryner, demonstrate that the American society is not ready to challenge 21st century environmental problems.

Globally, within the last several decades, there has been increasing interest in the environment, which has stimulated the organizing of interest groups to effect change in the environment through politics. Environmental politics is different across nations, but overall these groups have placed several issues, such as air and water pollution, as well as the preservation and conservation of lands, on the agenda of governments and lobbied successfully. Local activisms through grass roots organizations have a significant impact upon the local community, but more has to been done on the national and international levels. Bryner discusses the importance of improving political structures to effectively resolve environmental problems. He suggests the further implementation of Agenda 21 in the use of international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), in order for them to have a greater influence on environmental policy-making. Also, these NGOs need to be coordinated and need an overarching body so that environmental issues are on the agenda at the highest levels of government policy-making.
A case study of the complicated issue of climate change by Bryner highlights the main obstacle to addressing climate change as energy use, because all aspects of business use energy to make profit. He believes that a major catastrophe will make people change to an ecologically sustainable society. Additionally, we need greater participation from the public, values geared towards sustainability, measurement of progress, and the sharing of ideas between communities to promote sustainability. Also, self-interest is a major factor in the public organizing together to improve the environment.

Bryner’s book contends that environmentalism must evolve into a social movement that will transform the values and practices of human beings for ecological sustainability to take effect. Throughout the book he focuses on sustainability, but never defines what sustainability should be in the future. Overall, he incorporates into the book all of the actors, problems, and international organizations that must together bring about sustainability.

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Bullard, Robert D. (2004) Confronting environmental racism: Voices from the grassroots. Boston: South End Press.
Book Review by Anastasia Cunningham

Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices from the Grassroots, edited by Robert D. Bullard (Boston, MA: South End Press 1993), documents the concerns and actions of communities of color who are disproportionately exposed to greater environmental risks than other populations within the Untied States. The book focuses on people of color and their role in the environmental justice movement. Utilizing several incidents from Virginia, Alabama, and even Colorado, Bullard reveals the sheer determination of the “politically powerless” to fight the designation of their communities as the dumping ground for all that is environmentally unsafe and hazardous.

In the first chapter, Bullard outlines the environmental problems facing communities of color, reveals why the traditional movement proves inadequate to address such problems, and acknowledges the importance of grassroots groups in the environmental justice movement. Bullard’s belief that blatant racism is often the force behind the environmental justice gap between nonwhites and whites is a central theme throughout the book. He traces the lack of environmental justice to the United States’ long history of white supremacy and racism. Despite the bleak past and present, Bullard insists that grassroots groups can make a difference. The book details the actions of the United States toward African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders in the environmental justice movement, who for a long while were not considered to active participants in environmental issues. One of the best features of this book is that it dispels the myth that people of color are not concerned with environmental issues. Clearly, this book demonstrates that environmental risks are a priority in communities of color and that people of color are willing to stand up for what they believe in. People of color want clean air, clean water, and environmentally safe neighborhoods for their children.

Bullard’s book conveys the global threat to people of color that environmental degradation creates. Unfortunately, the United States is not the only country that fails to provide environmental justice for all its citizens. Globally, people of color suffer environmental and health risks more than anyone else. If such practices are allowed to continue, the political, economic and social ramifications may be far worse than we can imagine. In conclusion, Bullard’s book examines the role of government in the environmental justice movement. Although the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issues reports regarding environmental equity, such reports do not always convey the full nature of the problems facing people of color in their struggle to combat environmental racism. The book suggests that there is a need for interaction between government, grassroots groups, and people of color for any real chance to solve environmental racism.

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Camacho, D. (Ed.). (1998). Environmental injustices, political struggles: Race, class, and the environment. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.
Book Review by Tanisha Cowan

Environmental Injustices, Political Struggles: Race, Class, and the Environment, edited by David E. Camacho, focuses on the subject of environmental justice and examines the political and social aspects of environmental problems. The aim of the editor and featured writers is to inspire readers to think about environmental injustices and possible solutions. Part I approaches the topic of environmental justice with a theoretical framework based on the political process model. Part II discusses the factors contributing to the causes and consequences of environmental injustices. Part III “addresses possible ways of dealing with the environmental problems disproportionately affecting people of color and low socioeconomic groups” (p.5). Finally, Part IV stresses the importance of how these problems are addressed by policymakers and business interests.

The political process model gives a framework for analyzing a movement’s (in this case, environmental justice movement) entire development instead of a particular phase. The political process model is based on elite theory, which “argues that there are essentially two major groups in society: a small group of powerful elites and the powerless masses. Under elite theory, people of color and the working poor are part of the powerless mass” (p.16). Three factors imperative for a successful social movement, identified by the political process model are (1) the political opportunities afforded excluded groups within the larger political environment, (2) the level of organization within the excluded group, and (3) the collective assessment of the prospects for successful insurgency within that same group. Camacho agrees with Peter Eisinger that shifts in the political (social and economic) system, which are disruptive of the status quo, provide political opportunities. His example of such a shift involves the movement of large numbers of southern Blacks to the industrial centers of the urban East Coast during World War II. In reference to the level of organization within the excluded group, he relates it to the degree of organizational readiness. He believes that the group’s capacity to exploit political opportunities depends on their resources such as group size, financial resources, social status, cohesiveness, effective leadership, political knowledge, and intensity. Camacho makes a great statement on mobilization. “Mobilization does not occur through recruitment of large numbers of isolated and solitary individuals. Rather, it is a result of recruiting prospective members who are already highly organized and active” (p.23).

In the second part of the book, “Environmental Injustices,” Harvey L. White states that environmental hazards pose a greater health threat than the AIDS virus. He argues that, in reference to the AIDS virus, individuals can restrict their exposure to AIDS or take protective measures to minimize the risk. However, in reference to environmental hazards, individuals cannot limit their exposure to the contaminated or polluted air, food, and water, which are necessary for survival. Also, he states that there are no protective measures “readily available” (p.61) to minimize the risk of contact with these hazards. His proof of the existence of environmental injustices is based on the results of numerous studies conducted from 1967-1993 on the distribution of environmental hazards. The studies are listed in a table on p. 62 and include the year of observation, author, types of hazards, geographic focus, and the disparity present (race and/or income). Eighty-seven percent of the studies discovered racial disparities, and seventy-four percent of the studies discovered income disparities. The environmental hazards include toxic waste/pollution; air pollution, hazardous waste sites, and incinerators across the nation and in both urban and rural areas. White offers an explanation for the more frequent selection of communities of color and the poor for the siting of environmental hazards. This explanation is related to a set of syndrome behaviors: Not in My Election Year (NIMEY), Not in My Term of Office (NIMTOO), Put It in Their Backyard (PIITBY), Not in My Backyard (NIMBY), and Why in My Backyard (WIMBY). He classifies NIMBY’s as those persons who organize, march, sue, and petition to block developers who they believe are threatening to them. NIMBY’s can be described as proactive. White argues that communities of color and poor usually exhibit the WIMBY syndrome because they are usually more reactive than proactive. He attributes this behavior to the fact that these communities “usually do not have the resources, or contacts, to initiate or sustain the proactive behavior found in more affluent communities,” and neither “do they have the contacts in government and industry necessary to become involved during the preplanning and planning stages for the siting of environmental hazards” (p.70).

The third section of the book, “Confronting Environmental Injustices,” examines the ways in which indigenous women from grassroots organizations and traditional or mainstream environmental organizations approach the issue of environmental justice are analyzed and discussed. Qualitative data from personal interviews of twelve indigenous women from grassroots organizations were used as evidence to prove conclusions. All grassroots organizations empower community members through leadership training, education, promoting consensus building, shared decision making, and community participation in goal setting and policy formation. He adds that mainstream environmental organizations are popular for their success in protecting the environment in the “wilderness.” Peter J. Longo, a contributing writer, argues that partnerships between grassroots organizations and national mainstream environmental organizations could be mutually beneficial. The mainstream organizations can and increasingly do give technical advice, expert testimony, direct financial assistance, fundraising, research, and legal assistance to grassroots organizations. The grassroots organizations (or people of color and the poor) can provide mainstream groups with an immediate electoral advantage at the local level, enhance its national reputation and add to its membership.

In the last section of the book, “Environmental Justice,” Contributing writer, Mary M. Timney, analyzed the results of a study conducted by the Ohio Environmental Council in the summer of 1993. The purpose of the study is to identify some parameters of the environmental justice problems in Ohio and examine state and local policies that tend to perpetuate them. The results of this study were used to uphold Timney’s argument that regardless of the past, “what truly matters is how the problems are addressed by policy-makers and business interests in the present” (p. 181). Environmental Injustices, Political Struggles: Race, Class, and the Environment, edited by David E. Camacho, is a reader friendly book for college students because it addresses an audience with backgrounds that may be scientific, political, etc. In relevance to the Environmental Politics and Policy course at Spelman College, this book is a great tool for focusing on the topic of environmental justice because it covers the political and social issues involved in the distribution of environmental hazards.

 

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Davis, Devra. (2004) When smoke ran like water. New York: Basic Books.
By Tameka Cooksey

When Smoke Ran Like Water by Devra Davis is a very personal story, a gendered analysis that includes arguments about nationality, ageism, and injustice resulting from regional location and socioeconomic status. The subject of the book focuses mainly on the efforts of politicians and executives in major corporations to cover up the health risks of living in a society that does too little to prevent citizens from becoming ill and dying from exposure to toxic chemicals. This subject is made broad with examples that spread from the small town of Donora, Pennsylvania, and its establishment in the early 1950’s, to the nationally recognized Mexico City environmental conference of 1999, to discussions on China and its need to get nine of its cities off the top 10 highest pollution list. This book showed examples of many places with air pollution. The author contrasted places that housed one class versus another, or one generation versus another, but her argument seemed to boil down to locations, types of industrialization going on around them, and the wealth and corruption of politicians who took measures to cover up information that the public had a right to know. The scope of the book displayed the long term negative health effects caused by air pollution, and the book attempts to show that pollution sees no color, age, or race but is something with long-term effects. Its scope is also to maximize awareness about the difficulties surrounding recording data about environmentally induced illness and death. The purpose of the book is to document and share the grave reality that the elite group of people with economic and political power try to cover up the problems and their lasting effects on a world full of people who witness clouds of smoke that “run like water” over their neighborhoods and cities. The purpose is also to address the need for change and the need for citizens to take a stand.

The author’s hypothesis is that air pollution takes lives at an alarming rate. Because air pollution is rarely seen as a cause of death (formally), it has gone unchecked and has caused the deaths of many people since the beginning of the industrial age. Davis’s hypothesis includes notions that the government of many societies takes drastic measures to silence media and activists so that the public does not become aware of air pollution dangers. Lastly, the author’s hypothesis includes influences that cause citizens to overlook the problem and allow powerful figures to mask the realities. These variables include loss of jobs and incomes when coal mills are shut down, inability to relocate, loss of homes and communities built by citizens, and the fear of being ostracized for taking a stand. The evidence used to support the hypothesis began with the deaths that the author experienced in her own family. Also, the author’s investigation was triggered by her experiences growing up in Donora, Pennsylvania, a town that housed many toxic mills polluting both air and water. The evidence includes statistical data including the mysterious deaths of people who live within a certain radius of mills and factories. The studies of Donora, Pennsylvania; Mexico City, Mexico; and multiple cities in China show that people have long term effects from air pollution and water pollution. Also the author pinpoints strong evidence about how pollution is linked to women with breast cancer and men who have a problem producing little boys. Many more female children are being born in this historical time-frame of the 60’s and 70’s, and men are having more sexual erection problems than ever. These men usually work in or around the mills that are producing toxic coal, zinc, and other minerals and chemicals that are affecting the bloodstream of the men. Also, the author uses studies validated by authorities such as the World Health Organization, American Cancer Society, American Chemical Society, World Resources Institute, Toxic Substances Advisory Committee and the Environmental Protection Agency. In a Breast Cancer Mortality study, the author shows that numbers are higher in the northeast region of the U.S. as well as in some west coast cities. These are places that house mills and include more industrialization than inland states. She also shows evidence of the rise of penile defects, undescended testes, and testicular cancer since the 1960’s in these particular regions. It proves inarguable that rates of cancer are greater in certain cities than others. Pollution is also greater in these cities than in others.

The author concludes that, with courage, statistics, effective documentation, persistence, knowledge, and education, we can change the way the world views issues of environmental health. The author asserts that appropriate knowledge and correct numbers are the answer to finding information on cancers, heart disease, and other fatal illnesses that affect those who work in mills as well as those who live far away from them. With support from major corporations that recognize it is more healthy and cost effective in the long run to produce environmentally safe products, citizens will increase participation in the struggle. The author agrees that more work is needed but also acknowledges how far the global community has come to recognizing and distributing truth to those who live in the dark.

The argument is logically sound. Many unexplained illnesses and mysterious deaths substantiate the author’s argument, which insists that one cannot fight with numbers. Once numbers are actually recorded and documented effectively, a clear picture begins to emerge about who is affected most from air pollution. These numbers show that it is those suffer most who live in particular areas that are close to particular activities. I assert that it would still be quite difficult to assess how air pollution determines life expectancy even if data were better documented in the life and death of those exposed to it.

The evidence in the book was based on actual scientific studies that were conducted by scholars. The evidence was global and gender balanced. There were entire chapters dedicated to two of the biggest issues that we are facing in the twenty-first century, breast cancer in women and reproductive health in men. Davis utilizes other resources on the subjects and ties that information in with her own knowledge of environmental studies to create a linkage to two of today’s major issues. Above all else, the evidence proves that more research and activism are needed if we plan to locate and find causes of cancers and deaths that are mysteriously appearing in massive amounts. The conclusion that Davis presents in the book follows the course of the evidence and data. This book includes just as much of an autobiographical viewpoint as a scientific analysis. Davis includes many historical events that have been explored in media and education. From information about the holocaust to landfills in Anniston, Alabama, Davis presents so many historical events that anyone, regardless of gender, age, religion, nationality, or race, can relate to at least one historical event in the book. Although this book did not talk much about the policy surrounding environmental issues that have been discussed in this class, it did take an interesting approach to discussing the politics and political leaders’ efforts to cover up information leading to environmental justice. Davis discussed in great detail how politicians used tactics for not disclosing information to the public.