Environmental Movements

The modern environmental movement has grown and changed in a number of ways since its (re)emergence in the 1960s and 1970s. Key to those changes have been ever more sophisticated understandings of the ways in which environmental issues and social issues are inextricably intertwined. The two most significant movements to further this understanding have been "ecofeminism" and the movement against "environmental racism." As ecofeminism expanded outward from its focus on the relationship between women's oppression and environmental degradation to look at the impacts of race, class and colonialism, so too has the movement against environmental racism moved outward to a larger sense of environmental justice that likewise includes this range of gender/sexuality issues as they are interwoven with environmental issues.

Women for Climate Justice rally

In addition to sites representing feminist environmental justice, the sites and bibliography below also include so-called mainstream environmental groups that continue to play a vital role.

Featured Site

Indigenous Envrionmental Network Excellent resource on environmental justice issues relating to indigenous peoples, including climate change, oil pipelines and many others.

Ecofeminist/Environmental Justice Sites

Action PA Pennsylvania-based grassroots EJ organization.
Amazon Watch Works with indigenous and environmental organizations in the Amazon Basin.
America's Migrant Farmworkers. National Center for Farmworker Health.
Arctic Social Equity and Environmental Justice Excellent set of links on artic EJ issues.
Arc Ecology San Francisco-based group with US and Pacific Island EJ concerns.
Asian Pacific Environmental Network Serving low income communities, many of whichhave seen their communities and lands damaged by US military installations and testing.
Border Environmental Justice Campaign Focuses especially on the maquiladorason the US-Mexico border.
Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice.
Center for Health and Environmental Justice. Major national organization growing out of the Love Canal disaster and the work of Lois Gibb's.
Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality. First chapter of one of the major books in the EJ struggle.
Earth to Table. Extremely rich site on the growing global food justice movement. As the curators express it: "Climate crises, a global pandemic, food riots, diet-related diseases – all are telling us that the industrial food system threatens our health and the survival of the planet, and deepens systemic inequities, racism, and poverty."
Ecofem e-Journal Includes introduction to ecofeminsm and an extensive bibliography.
Ecofeminism.net Many links to books on ecofeminism
Environmental Justice Information Page. Fine introductory, informational site from University of Michigan.
Environmental Justice Resource Center, Clark Atlanta University Major research, policy, and information clearinghouse on issues related to environmental justice, race and the environment, civil rights, and more. Presided over by Robert Bullard.
Environmental Justice Foundation.
EPA: Environmental Justice page Official US federal governmentsite on environmental justice.
Green Action SF Bay Area-centered grassroots EJ group.
Green Parties of North America. Local, regional, and national political parties uniting social justice and environmental issues.
Indigenous Environmental Network Native peoples of the Americas organization for education, coalition building, and action. Announcements and fact sheets on current issues.
Little Village Environmental Justice Organziation Chicago group based in Mexican American community.
New York Environmental Justice Alliance Grassroots coaltion of EJ groups in New York City.
Office of Minority Health Resource Center Federal Health and Human Services site with information on topics including EJ-related issues such as cancer, heart disease, lead poisoning and infant mortality in US people of color communities.
Pesticide Action Network Working for healthier alternatives to pesticides that humans and other living creatures.
Sierra Club Environmental Justice Campaign While the Sierra Club is a latecomer to EJ issues, this site is useful for current news about environmental justice issues world-wide, and opportunities for activism.
Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition Works especially on ej issues in the electronics industry.
Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP)
U.S. Department of Transportation Environmental Justice Site General information, case studies, and training resources addressing environmental justice in the planning process for highways and other transportation systems.
Working Group on Environmental Justice A group of scholars and activists committed to doing further research and promoting effective action to advance the cause of environmental justice.
For a comprehensive annotated bibliography on environmental justice, see Joni Adams, Evironmental Justice

Mainstream Sites

Select Bibliography on Ecofeminism

Alaimo, S. (2000). Undomesticated Ground - Recasting Nature as Feminist Space. New York: Cornell University Press.
Allister, Mark (Ed.). (2004). Eco-man: new perspectives on masculinity and nature. University of Virginia Press: Charlottesville.
Braidotti, R. et al. (1994). Women, the Environment and Sustainable Development. Zed Books: London.
Campbell, Andrea, ed. (2008). New Directions in Ecofeminist Literary Criticism. Cambridge Scholars Press.
Cook, Barbara. (2007). Women Writing Nature: A Feminist View. Lexington Books: Lanham.
Cudworth, Erika. (2005). Developing Ecofeminist Theory: the complexity of difference. Palgrave Macmillan: New York.
Cuomo, C.J. (1998). Feminism and Ecological Communities: An Ethic of Flourishing. Routledge: London.
Daly, M. (1978). Gyn/Ecology. The Women’s Press: London.
Diamond, I. & Orenstein, G. (eds.) (1990). Reweaving The World-The Emergence Of Ecofeminism. Sierra Club Books: San Francisco.
Eaton, Heather and Lois Ann Lorentzen. (2003). Ecofeminism & Globalization: Exploring Culture, Context, and Religion. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Gaard, G. (1994). Ecofeminism: Women, Animals, Nature. Temple University Press.
--. (1998) Ecological Politics: Ecofeminists and the Greens. Temple UP.
Gaard, G & Murphy, P (1998) Ecofeminist Literary Criticism: Theory, Interpretation, Pedagogy.
Griffin, Susan. (1978). Woman and Nature. The Women’s Press: London.
Haraway, Donna. (2003). The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press.
--. (2004). The Haraway Reader. New York: Routledge.
--. (1997). Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium. FemaleMan©_Meets_OncoMouse™ Feminism and Technoscience. New York: Routledge.
--. (1989). Primate Visions: Gender, Race and Nature in the World of Modern Science. New York: Routledge.
--. (1991). Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York: Routledge.
--. (2008). When Species Meet. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Hawthorne, Susan. (2002). Wild Politics: Feminism, Globalisation, and Bio/Diversity. North Melbourne: Spinifex Press.
Kheel, Marti. (2008). Nature Ethics: An Ecofeminist Perspective. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
McHugh, Nicole. "The Park Is Open: An Ecofeminist Critique of Universal's Jurassic World"
Mellor, M. (1992). Breaking The Boundaries- Towards a Feminist Green Socialism. Virago: London.
--. (1997). Feminism and Ecology. Polity Press: Cambridge.
Merchant, C. (1980). The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution. Harper Row: San Francisco.
--. (1989). Ecological Revolutions: Nature, Gender and Science in New England. Univ. of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill.
--. (1992). Radical Ecology: The Search for a Livable World. Routledge: London.
--. (1995). Earthcare: Women and the Environment.
Merchant, C. (ed.). (1994). Ecology. Humanities Press: New Jersey.
Murphy, P. (1995). Literature, Nature, and Other- Ecofeminist Critiques. SUNY: New York.
Norwood, V. (1993). Made from This Earth: American Women and Nature.
Plumwood, Val. (1997). Environmental Culture. Routledge: London.
--. (1993). Feminism and the Mastery of Nature. Routledge: London.
Ress, Mary Judith. (2006). Ecofeminism in Latin America: Women from the Margins. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.
Salleh, A. (1997). Ecofeminism As Politics: Nature, Marx and the Postmodern. Zed Books: London.
Sandilands, C. (1999). The Good-Natured Feminist: Ecofeminism and the Quest for Democracy.
Seager, J. (1993). Earth Follies: Feminism, Politics and The Environment. New York: EarthScan.
Shiva, Vandana. (1997). Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge..
--. (2016) Earth Democracy. Zed Books
--. (1989). Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development. London: Zed Books.
Shiva, V. & Mies, M. (1993). Ecofeminism. Zed Books: London.
Shiva, V. & Moser, I. (1995). Biopolitics: A Feminist and Ecological Reader on Biotechnology.
Sturgeon, N. (1997). Ecofeminist Natures: Race, Gender, Feminist Theory, and Political Action. Routledge: London.
--. (2009) Environmentalism and Popular Culture: Gender, Race, Sexuality and the Politics of the Natural. Tempe: University of Arizona Press.
Sullivan, Shannon. (2001). Living Across and Through Skins: transactional bodies, pragmatism, and feminism. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Turpin, J. & Lorentzen, L. (1996). The Gendered New World Order: Militarism, Development, and the Environment. Routledge: London.
Warren, K. (ed.). (1997). Ecofeminism- Women, Culture, Nature. Indiana University Press: Indianapolis.
--. (1994). Ecological Feminism. Routledge: London.
--. (1996). Ecological Feminist Philosophies. Indiana University Press: Indianapolis.
--. (2014) "Feminist Environmental Philosophy." Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy.

Environmental Justice Select Bibliography

Adamson, Joni. (2001) American Indian Literatrue, Environmental Justice, and Ecocriticism: The Middle Place. Tuscon, AZ: University of Arizona Press.
Bullard, Robert D. (1990) Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.
Bullard, Robert D., ed. (1993) Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices from the Grassroots. Boston, Massachusetts: South End Press.
Bullard, Robert D., ed. (1994) Unequal Protection: Environmental Justice and Communities of Color. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.
Faber, Daniel, ed. (1998) The Struggle for Ecological Democracy: Environmental Justice Movements in the United States. New York: Guilford Press.
Gedicks, Al (1993) The New Resource Wars: Native and Environmental Struggles Against Multinational Corporations. Boston, Massachusetts: South End Press.
Hofrichter, Richard, ed. (1993) Toxic Struggles: The Theory and Practice of Environmental Racism. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers.
Holleman, Hannah.(2018) Dust Bowls of Empire: Imperialism, Environmental Politics and the Injustice of 'Green' Capitalism. Yale Univ. Press.
Pellow , David Naguib and Robert J. Brulle, eds. (2005) Power, Justice, and the Environment: A Critical Appraisal of the Environmental Justice Movement. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Robinson, Mary. (2018). Climate Justice. Bloomsbury Press.
Scholsberg, David. (1999) Environmental Justice and the New Pluralism: the Challenge of Difference for Environmentalism.
Schlosberg, David. (2007) Defining Environmental Justice Theories, Movements, and Nature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Szasz, Andrew. (1994) Ecopopulism: Toxic Waste and the Movement for Environmental Justice. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

See also: Joni Adamson, Annotated Environmental Justice Bibliography

And see our site on "Environmental Justice Cultural Studies"

Cultural Politics