The People of Color Environmental Groups Directory 2000 is the only resource guide of its type in the country. The current edition of the directory lists more than 400 people-of-color groups from 45 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, up from 200 groups in 1992. Created as a standard reference guide, the directory is designed to help environmental justice organizations network with one another, as well as aid public and private decisionmakers reach community constituents and stakeholder groups.

Because of the international nature of environmental justice work, 49 groups in Canada and 24 groups in Mexico also are included in this edition. The directory profiles sixteen environmental justice case studies from Alaska to Puerto Rico. These "voices from the grassroots" include groups struggling against hazardous waste dumps in Chicago, Tucson, and Pensacola (FL), proposed uranium dumps in Claiborne Parish (LA) and Ward Valley (CA), petrochemical plants in Los Angeles and Louisiana's "Cancer Alley," military toxics in Alaska, pesticides in Puerto Rico, discriminatory land-use zoning in Austin, discrimination against black farmers in the South, sweat shops in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, and transit racism in Harlem and Los Angeles. An electronic version of these case studies can be found on the center's Web site at www.ejrc.cau.edu/voicesfromthegrassroots.htm.

Today, environmental justice is accepted as a legitimate movement among many mainstream environmental activists. It is even possible to build an academic and legal career around environmental justice study. This was not the case a decade or so ago. The resource section of the directory lists over 200 groups that provide a wide range of technical, scientific, research, education, training, and legal support to grassroots groups. For example, the guide lists over three-dozen legal groups that handle environmental justice cases. It also includes an up-to-date annotated bibliography, and a list of environmental justice videos and related Web sites.

The directory documents that a "new" environmentalism is being practiced in small towns and large urban centers, and in barrios, ghettos and rural "poverty pockets" alike. Unlike the mainstream environmental movement, the vast majority of the grassroots environmental justice groups are led by women. As a collective, they have been the primary impetus behind the recent government policy shifts to include equity and equal protection consideration in environmental enforcement, industrial facility siting and permitting, pollution monitoring, brownfields redevelopment, and transportation investments. Their message of social equity is even beginning to filter into the suburban sprawl and "Smart Growth" dialogue.

The directory is free. Copies can be obtained from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation's Publication Request Line at (800) 645-1766 or by visiting their Web site at www.mott.org.

 

Contact Person:
Glenn S. Johnson, PhD
(404) 880-8686
johnsong@cau.edu

Funding Source: C.S. Mott Foundation