Luke Cole is director of the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation's Center on Race, Poverty, and the
Environment. Sheila Foster is Associate Professor at Rutgers University School of Law, Camden.
Summary
When Bill Clinton signed an Executive Order on Environmental Justice in 1994, the phenomenon of environmental
racism--the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards, particularly toxic waste dumps and polluting factories,
on people of color and low-income communities--gained unprecedented recognition. Behind the President's signature,
however, lies a remarkable tale of grassroots activism and political mobilization. Today, thousands of activists
in hundreds of locales are fighting for their children, their communities, their quality of life, and their health.
From the Ground Up critically examines one of the fastest growing social movements in the United States, the movement
for environmental justice. Tracing the movement's roots, Luke Cole and Sheila Foster combine long-time activism
with powerful storytelling to provide gripping case studies of communities across the U.S--towns like Kettleman
City, California; Chester, Pennsylvania; and Dilkon, Arizona--and their struggles against corporate polluters.
The authors effectively use social, economic and legal analysis to illustrate the historical and contemporary causes
for environmental racism. Environmental justice struggles, they demonstrate, transform individuals, communities,
institutions and even the nation as a whole.
