Table Of ContentEnvironmental Justice
and the New Pluralism
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Environmental Justice
and the New Pluralism
The Challenge of Difference
for Environmentalism
DAVID SCHLOSBERG
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© David Schlosberg 1999
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ISBN 0-19-829485-9
For my daughters, Mira Enya and Valerie Violet
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Preface
This project began in Oregon, overlooking the majestic mountains of
the Cascade Range. It concludes during a snowstorm in the shadows
of the San Francisco Peaks of Northern Arizona. In each place, and at
each time, I could describe the beauty of the natural environment
I was lucky enough to be surrounded by. But the environment in
both of those idyllic settings was more than the natural beauty; in
both places, environmental injustices abound. During the work
in Oregon, a monstrous semiconductor manufacturing plant rose out
of what was once wetlands in my community, destroying creeks and
wetlands, spilling toxic acids, soaking up tax breaks, and threaten-
ing nearby schools and neighborhoods. And now, environmental
groups, community groups, and Native American tribes are working
in coalition against plans to bury low-level radioactive waste at a
sacred site in the nearby California Desert, as well as against plans to
ship nuclear waste through my present community, on their way to
storage near other Native American nations.
Through both my studies and my personal experience, I have been
exposed to numerous understandings of the concept of 'environ-
ment', as well as a variety of forms of resistance. The challenge for
all of this difference in environmental movements, of course, is in
developing political ethics, practices, and demands that are both
encompassing and just. That challenge was the motivation for this
project, and what I explore here are notions—in both the realms of
theory and practice—that have evolved in response.
I owe a great deal of thanks to a great number of people for their
help on various parts, in numerous stages, of this project. My greatest
single debt is owed to John Dryzek, who introduced me to the
concept of discursive democracy which has, in turn, led to the whole
range of questions inherent in pluralist discourse and practice. John's
comments on the text, and on many of the theories and theorists I
address, were always succinct and insightful. Discussions with him
were invariably fruitful, especially those laced with his trademark
wry humor fed by award-winning homebrew. At Oregon, Deborah
Baumgold, Irene Diamond, Dan Goldrich, and Greg McLauchlan
viii Preface
pushed me in numerous directions. Irene was the first to suggest I
look at the early pluralist literature in my examination of difference
in the environmental movement, though I am sure she had no idea
where it would lead me. Dan fought to keep my theoretical work
relevant to contemporary movements, and his own dedication to,
participation in, and evaluation of the movements he studies was
both inspiration and motivation.
Throughout the project, I have had the fortune of the aid of
numerous academics and activists alike who have had an effect on
my thinking of both theory and practice. Whether in interviews,
discussions, presentations, supplying materials, or in responses to the
written work, I have benefited from the input of: Magdalena Avila,
Wanda Ballentine, Santina Baumeister, Joseph Boland, Steve Brittle,
Bunyan Bryant, Leslie Byster, David Carruthers, Pamela Chiang,
Sumi Cho, Avigail Eisenberg, Tupac Enrique, Danny Faber, Kathy
Ferguson, Mike Glavin, Jennifer Gleason, Roger Gottlieb, Doug
Heiken, Tim Ingalsbee, Bern Johnson, Josh Karliner, Timothy
Kaufman-Osborne, Robert Knox and the staff at EPA's Office of
Environmental Justice, Denny Larson, Sanford Lewis, Mike
McGinnis, Ron Mitchell, Alan Moore, Richard Moore, Mary O'Brien,
Devon Pena, Chris Rootes, Peggy Saika, Ted Smith, Noel Sturgeon,
Liz Taylor, Nate Teske, Kaylynn Sullivan TwoTrees, and Mike
Welsh. Faulty memory and bad note-taking keep me from mention-
ing many others; apologies for those inadvertently excluded.
I am forever grateful to the Political Science Department at North-
ern Arizona University for providing me with a home supportive of,
and conducive to, my dual interests in political theory and environ-
mental politics. Those here who have offered specific assistance in
the refinement of some of these ideas include Geeta Chowdhry,
Sheryl Lutjens, Sheila Nair, Larry Preston, Mary Ann Steger, and
Carol Thompson. Graduate students at NAU have also prodded me
in various directions; thanks especially to Martin Me, Richard
Tahvildaran-Jesswein, Paul Vaughn, and everyone involved in the
dissection of Chapter 5 in my Graduate course on Politics and
Ecology.
Heartfelt appreciation goes to Dominic Byatt of Oxford University
Press for his constant support of the project. A special thanks to Doug
Torgerson, for his thorough, constructive, and, of course, positive
review of the manuscript for OUP; Doug fully engaged the text and
offered numerous valuable suggestions on both substance and
Preface ix
organization. Thanks also to another—again valuable reviewer for
the Press Les Thiele.
Barbara and Stewart Schlosberg—Mom and Dad—have been right
there through it all. Their enthusiasm for my work has never
wavered, and has been a constant source of energy. Sheila Clancy, my
wife, partner, and media naranja, must get credit for her faith, sup-
port, and encouragement to stick with it, even in the depths of
graduate school uncertainty and despair. She continues to this day,
not letting me slack in parental duties and insisting I come out
sledding, even as deadlines approached. Finally, I borrowed a tactic
from an old professor, and I tried to induce my daughter—with
chocolate—to take the blame for the mistakes herein. But she knows
a raw deal when she hears one (and also knows she can get chocolate
from me anytime), so the standard disclaimer about all fault for
mistakes, omissions, and various oversights falling on the author
alone will have to apply.
For financial support at various stages of this project, I thank the
family of Neil Blackman, the Oregon Humanities Center, the Univer-
sity of Oregon Department of Political Science, the College of Social
and Behavioral Sciences at Northern Arizona University (especially
Dean Susanna Maxwell), and the Organized Research Committee at
NAU.
D.S.S.
Flagstaff, Arizona
March 1998
