Chapter 5 Process of Struggle

Grassroots environmental justice struggles build community organizations and regional networks, that at the time are only fighting for their community and the injustice that is involved in their central location. However, the key to grassroots environmental justice struggles, is how these minority groups and communities become involved in the decision making process, that directly affects their lives. All of the cases in the book show how a system has been established in which economy and politics, outweigh environment and society. It wasn't until people in small communities stood up and made a change in their area, which lead to another group organizing and making a change, which lead to all members of the system(minorities, politicians, and businesses) getting a say in decision making, that we got to an environmental justice movement. Today environmental justice is at the forefront of a system that once devalued human interests for profits and political power. By reading these precedent cases and learning how groups and organizations have made a change in the past, other communities can learn what to do in the case of an environmental hazard.