How is race defined and perceived in America today, and how do these definitions and perceptions compare to attitudes 100 years ago... or 200 years ago? This four-volume set is the definitive source for every topic related to race in the United States. In the 21st century, it is easy for some students and readers to believe that racism is a thing of the past; in reality, old wounds have yet to heal, and new forms of racism are taking shape. Racism has played a role in American society since the founding of the nation, in spite of the words "all men are created equal" within the Declaration of Independence. This set is the largest and most complete of its kind, covering every facet of race relations in the United States while providing information in a user-friendly format that allows easy cross-referencing of related topics for efficient research and learning. The work serves as an accessible tool for high school researchers, provides important material for undergraduate students enrolled in a variety of humanities and social sciences courses, and is an outstanding ready reference for race scholars. The entries provide readers with comprehensive content supplemented by historical backgrounds, relevant examples from primary documents, and first-hand accounts. Information is presented to interest and appeal to readers but also to support critical inquiry and understanding. A fourth volume of related primary documents supplies additional reading and resources for research.

This book discusses the poor and people of color and their struggle to take control of one of the most basic aspects of their lives: the quality of their environment. It exposes the fact of environmental inequity and its consequences in face of general neglect by policymakers and social scientists.

Pollution control, a key component of U.S. environmental policy, has made important progress in recent decades. Yet important problems remain and there is need for improvement in the pollution control regulatory system. This book is the most extensive evaluation of that system ever produced. It reveals many strengths and accomplishments, but also illustrates serious shortcomings and the need for reform. The volume emerges from three years of research on a fragmented 'system' of institutions, statutes, and procedures that is often inefficient and ineffective, hobbled by misplaced priorities. Part I provides an in-depth description of this system, centered on the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the labyrinthine laws it must implement. The authors evaluate the federal legislation, administrative decisionmaking, and the state-federal division of labor that defines the system. Davies and Mazurek assess the effectiveness and efficiency of U.S. pollution control. They discuss the performance of U.S. laws and regulations in comparison with those of other nations, assess the ability of the U.S. pollution control system to meet future problems, and consider proposals for reform and repair. Within this far reaching analysis, they include criteria that are often overlooked by policymakers and analysts, including social values, equity, nonintrusiveness, and public participation.

From Flint, Michigan, to Standing Rock, North Dakota, minorities have found themselves losing the battle for clean resources and a healthy environment. This book provides a modern history of such environmental injustices in the United States and Canada. From the 19th-century extermination of the buffalo in the American West to Alaska's Project Chariot (a Cold War initiative that planned to use atomic bombs to blast out a harbor on Eskimo land) to the struggle for recovery and justice in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria in 2017, this book provides readers with an enhanced understanding of how poor and minority people are affected by natural and manmade environmental crises. Written for students as well as the general reader with an interest in social justice and environmental issues, this book traces the relationship between environmental discrimination, race, and class through a comprehensive case history of environmental injustices. Environmental Racism in the United States and Canada: Seeking Justice and Sustainability includes 50 such case studies that range from local to national to international crises.

Environmental Health: Foundations for Public Health brings together diverse voices and perspectives to examine our most pressing public health issues today. This foundational textbook introduces readers to a wide range of the knowledge, skills, data, and resources needed to ensure environmental health at local and global levels. Whether students are heading into careers in governmental public health, research, advocacy, or other sectors, this textbook covers topics that relate to us all: climate change, energy, air, water, food, waste, and much more. Designed for graduates and advanced undergraduates, this textbook presents the field's basic concepts, related policies, and scientific tools in an accessible way. Readers learn about regulatory science, how environmental health science informs environmental protections, and where gaps remain, particularly in promoting environmental justice. Each chapter examines ways that structural racism and discrimination have shaped environmental health inequities that persist today. Readers can dig deeper to examine how environmental health and justice can be achieved in our communities, workplaces, households, and other built and social environments, as well as our healthcare systems. Drawing on countless historic and contemporary case studies, Environmental Health: Foundations for Public Health facilitates a learning experience that inspires students to reimagine the foundations of environmental health for all. Key Features: Provides a variety of learning tools, including discussion questions and learning activities, related to engagement, advocacy, and the exploration of environmental health in our daily lives Presents "In Other Words" boxes to reframe key or complex concepts and promote accessibility Humanizes the realities of pressing environmental health and justice concerns Includes access to a five-episode companion podcast series—The PFAS Chronicles—on the challenges and solutions of preventing and combating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), or "forever chemicals" Qualified instructors have access to expanded Instructor Resources featuring chapter PowerPoint slides, a Test Bank, a Sample Syllabus, and an Instructor Manual to supplement students' dynamic learning and interaction with the text

"Toxic City examines the politics of environmental repair and urban redevelopment in a historically segregated neighborhood of San Francisco. The book argues that environmental racism is part of a broad history of harm linked to slavery and its afterlives, and that environmental justice can be considered within a larger project of reparations. The book also details how, over many decades, residents have argued that toxic cleanup and urban redevelopment ought to be a socially, economically, and ecologically reparative process that supports the self-determination of Black residents"--

Emphasizing the voices of activists, this book’s diverse contributors examine communities’ common experiences with environmental injustice, how they organize to address it, and the ways in which their campaigns intersect with related movements such as Black Lives Matter and Indigenous sovereignty. The global COVID-19 pandemic exposed the ways in which BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities and white working-class communities have suffered disproportionately from the crisis due to sustained exposure to toxic land, air, and water, creating a new urgency for addressing underlying conditions of systemic racism and poverty in North America. In addition to exploring the historical roots of the Environmental Justice movement in the 1980s and 1990s, the volume offers coverage of recent events such as the DAPL pipeline controversy, the Flint water crisis, and the rise of climate justice. The collection incorporates the experiences of rural and urban communities, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, Puerto Ricans, and Indigenous peoples in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The chapters offer instructors, undergraduate and graduate students, and general readers a range of accessible case studies that create opportunities for comparative and intersectional analysis across geographical and ethnic boundaries.

"This collection of works is ambitious, well documented, thoroughly--though not turgidly--referenced, and comprehensively indexed. It is deeply disturbing and deeply engaging... " --Australian Feminist Studies Contributors discuss the subtle and complex relationships between various notions of "feminism" and "peace." Feminist peace issues are explored along a wide spectrum of personal and political issues--from the personal violations of rape, incest, and domestic abuse, to the violence of racism, sexism, economic exploitation, war, and genocide.

This one-stop resource is ideal for understanding the extent to which toxic chemicals are used in U.S. industry and agriculture—impacting public health and the environment through everything from industrial solvents to children's toys. Every year, about 4 billion pounds of toxic chemicals are generated and released by U.S. industries. Do these chemicals pose a potential health threat to American families, including vulnerable groups like children and the elderly? Is their manufacture and use adequately regulated to protect both human and environmental health? Is the Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, signed in June 2016 by President Barack Obama with bipartisan support, truly the first major overhaul of toxic chemical regulation in 40 years to put human health first, as its supporters asserted? Or is it a fatally flawed bill that does the bidding of industry by undermining strong state environmental and public health laws, as some detractors claim? This two-volume set addresses all of those questions. Moreover, it presents and examines arguments marshaled by business interests, community leaders, scientists, activists, and lawmakers alike. It thus provides users with the information they need to accurately assess the impacts—pro and con—that industrial chemicals are having in shaping the world in which we work, eat, drink, breathe, and play.