Environmental Inequalities, Soc. 185
Winter 2012
Instructor:
Class time & Location:
Office hours:
Tracy Perkins
teperkin@ucsc.edu
M/W/F 9:30-10:40 Social Sciences 2, room 75
Mondays and Wednesdays 11-12:30, College 8, room 223
“The challenge of modernity is to live without illusions and without becoming
disillusioned.” - Antonio Gramsci
The aims of this course are to:
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Explore societal experiences of the environment through the lens of race, class
and gender.
Learn about the problems of environmental inequality and how different social
actors are trying to solve them.
Improve critical reading, analytical, and discussion skills.
Create a productive, respectful and creative learning environment and intellectual
community in class.
On completion of this course students should be able to:
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Define and provide examples of environmental racism, environmental inequality,
and environmental justice.
Analyze multiple theories of what causes environmental inequality.
Analyze environmental justice as both a theoretical lens and an advocacy arena.
Analyze U.S. government, non-profit and social-movement responses to
environmental inequalities.
Engage real cases of environmental inequalities and environmental justice
advocacy in domestic and international settings.
Requirements
 Complete course readings before the lecture for which they are assigned. Course
readings are available on eCommons.
 Attend lecture regularly.
 Participate in classroom discussion and activities
 Take 5 quizzes, given at random times, during lecture. The quizzes will test your
knowledge of key issues raised in readings and lecture. Each quiz is worth 5% of
your course grade.
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Complete a take-home midterm exam.
Complete a take-home final exam.
Grading
Due date
Participation
5 Quizzes
Midterm
Final
in class, at random
Feb. 6th, in class
March 21st, 8:00 -11:00
a.m.
% of course
grade
15%
25%
25%
35%
Class policies
 If you come to class after attendance has already begun or been completed, it is
your responsibility to speak with me after class to make sure I marked you as
present.
 Please step outside the classroom if for any reason you need to make or receive a
call, check your e-mail, or read or write text-messages.
 I will use your ucsc e-mail account for any outside of class communication with
you. You are responsible for checking this account regularly. If you do not check
it daily, I suggest you set your UCSC account to forward to the account that you
do check daily.
 Bring course readings to class to refer to in discussion and in-class activities
 Please let me know of any special considerations you might need for this class
within the first 2 weeks. Contact the DRC at 459-2089 or http://drc.ucsc.edu for
more information on the requirements and/or process.
 Any act of academic misconduct, such as cheating or plagiarizing on exams, is a
serious violation of the University’s norms of conduct. Students who plagiarize
or cheat on exams receive an F in the course and will be reported to their College
Provost for further sanctions.
Peer Support
Contact your peers for questions regarding what happened in class if you did not attend,
clarification on where you should be in the reading assignments and to set up studygroups to prepare for exams.
Name
e-mail
phone
Resources
 Writing support and general tutoring:
http://www2.ucsc.edu/lss/tutorial_services.shtml
 Forwarding your UCSC e-mail: https://www2.ucsc.edu/its/cgi-bin/chpobox
 How to get tested for a learning disability:
http://drc.ucsc.edu/current_students/doc_guidelines_ld2.shtml
 Counseling and psychological services: http://www2.ucsc.edu/counsel/
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••WEEK 1 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
I.
Understanding Environmental Inequality
January 9th
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Perkins, Tracy and Julie Sze. 2011. “Images from the Central Valley.” Boom: A
Journal of California 1(1):70-80.
January 11th
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Toxic distribution
Lerner, Steve. 2010. Sacrifice Zones: The Front Lines of Toxic Chemical
Exposure in the United States. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
o Introduction
Bullard, Robert, Paul Mohai, Robin Saha and Beverly Wright. 2007. Toxic Wastes
and Race at Twenty: 1987-2007: Grassroots Struggles to Dismantle
Environmental Racism in the United States. Cleveland, OH: United Church of
Christ Justice and Witness Ministries.
o Ch. 4: A Current Appraisal of Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States
- 2007
January 13th

Introduction
Conceptualizing the environment and environmentalism
Gottlieb, Robert. 1993. Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American
Environmental Movement. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.
o Introduction: Where We Live, Work and Play
Rechtschaffen, Clifford, Eileen Gauna and Catherine A. O’Neill. 2009.
Environmental Justice: Law, Policy and Regulation. Durham, NC: Carolina
Academic Press.
o Ch. 1, pgs 22-25.
 Letter, Circa Earth Day 1990.
 Principles of Environmental Justice. The First National People of
Color Environmental Leadership Summit. 1991
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••WEEK 2 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
January 16th
Holiday
January 18th
Cumulative impacts of toxic exposure
Guest speaker: Jonathan London (UC Davis)

London, Jonathan, Ganlin Huang and Tara Zagofsky. 2011. Land of Risk/ Land of
Opportunity: Cumulative Environmental Vulnerability in California’s San
Joaquin Valley. Davis, CA: UC Davis Center for Regional Change.
January 20th
Resource Extraction
Guest speaker: Flora Lu (UCSC – Latin American and Latino Studies)

Lu, Flora. “Petroleum Extraction, Indigenous People and Environmental Injustice
in the Ecuadorian Amazon.” In International Environmental Justice. Frederick
Gordon and Gregory Freeland, Co-Editors. ILM Publishers. Forthcoming.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••WEEK 3 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
January 23rd

Harrison, Jill. 2006. “'Accidents' and Invisibilities: Scaled Discourse and the
Naturalization of Regulatory Neglect in California's Pesticide Drift Conflict.”
Political Geography, 25(5), 506-529.
January 25th
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International development
Agyeman, Julian, Robert D. Bullard, and Bob Evans, eds. 2003. Just
Sustainabilities: Development in an Unequal World. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
o Ch. 1: “Environmental Space, Equity and the Ecological Debt” by Duncan
McLaren
January 27th
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Accidents and Disasters
Barriers to political participation
Cole, Luke and Sheila Foster. 2001. From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism
and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement. New York: New York
University Press.
o Ch. 5. Processes of Struggle: Grassroots Resistance and the Structure of
Environmental Decision-Making
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••WEEK 4 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
January 30th
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Using science, contesting science
Corburn, Jason. 2005. Street Science: Community Knowledge and Environmental
Health Justice. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
o Introduction
Shearer, Christine. 2011. Kivalina: A Climate Change Story. Chicago, IL:
Haymarket Books.
o Ch. 1: Blueprint for Denial
February 1st
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Women and advocacy
Wallace, Aubrey. 1993. Eco-Heroes: Twelve Tales of Environmental Victory. San
Francisco, CA: Mercury House.
o Mrs. Gibbs Goes to Washington.
Perkins, Tracy. 2012. “Women’s Pathways Into Activism: Rethinking the
Women’s Environmental Justice Narrative in California’s San Joaquin Valley.”
Organization & Environment 25(1):76-94.
February 3rd
Hand out take-home midterm
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••WEEK 5 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
*** TAKE-HOME MIDTERM DUE FEB. 6 IN CLASS ***
II.
What Causes Environmental Inequality?
February 6th

Rechtschaffen, Clifford, Eileen Gauna and Catherine A. O’Neill. 2009.
Environmental Justice: Law, Policy and Regulation. Durham, NC: Carolina
Academic Press.
o Ch. 3: Theories of Causation
February 8th
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Regulatory Failure
Bernstein, M. 1955. Regulating Business by Independent Commission. Princeton,
NJ: Princeton University Press. Pgs. 74-95.
Rechtschaffen, Clifford, Eileen Gauna and Catherine A. O’Neill. 2009.
Environmental Justice: Law, Policy and Regulation. Durham, NC: Carolina
Academic Press.
o Ch. 5: Regulation and the Administrative State, pgs. 140-143
February 10th
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Regulations, the market, social capital and discrimination
Colonialism
Cronon, William. 1983. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology
of New England. New York: Hill and Wang.
o Ch. 4: Bounding the Land
o Ch. 5: Commodities of the Hunt
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••WEEK 6 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
February 13th
Commodification of land and labor
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Polanyi, Karl. 1944. The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic
Origins of Our Time. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
o Chapters 3-6
February 15th
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Capitalism
Faber, Daniel. 2008. Capitalizing on Environmental Injustice: The PolluterIndustrial Complex in the Age of Globalization. Lanham, MD: Rowman and
Littlefield Publishers.
o Ch. 1: “Not All People Are Polluted Equal: The Environmental Injustices
of American Capitalism.”
III.
What is being done?
February 17th
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Protecting individual communities
Cole, Luke and Sheila Foster. 2001. From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism
and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement. New York: New York
University Press.
o Preface: We Speak for Ourselves: The Struggle of Kettleman City
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••WEEK 7 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
February 20th
Holiday
February 22nd
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Website: Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment. http://www.crpeej.org/crpe/. Read entries under “Campaigns” including: Civil Rights, Clean Air,
Dairies, Climate Justice, National, Forgotten Voices, Don’t Waste the Valley,
Pesticides, and Power to the People.
Website: The Women’s Foundation of California - Women’s Policy Institute.
http://www.womensfoundca.org/site/c.aqKGLROAIrH/b.982359/k.8397/Womens
_Policy_Institute.htm
Website: Communities for a New California. http://www.anewcalifornia.org/
Pellow, David Naguib and Robert J. Brulle, eds. 2005. Power, Justice and the
Environment: A Critical Appraisal of the Environmental Justice Movement.
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
o Ch. 10: “Environmental Justice and the Legal System” by Holly D.
Gordon and Keith I. Harley.
February 24th

Policy advocacy, electoral politics and the courts in the US
International advocacy
Carmin, JoAnn and Julian Agyeman. 2011. Environmental Inequalities Beyond
Borders: Local Perspectives on Global Injustices. Cambridge, MA: The MIT
Press.
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o Ch. 7: “Global Environmental Governance and Pathways for the
Achievement of Environmental Justice” by Beth Schaefer Caniglia
Keefe, Patrick Radden. 2012. “Reversal of Fortune.” The New Yorker, Jan. 9, 3849.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••WEEK 8 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
February 27th
Research
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Pellow, David Naguib and Robert J. Brulle, eds. 2005. Power, Justice and the
Environment: A Critical Appraisal of the Environmental Justice Movement.
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
o Ch. 4: “Mission Impossible? Environmental Justice Activists’
Collaborations with Professional Environmentalists and with Academics”
by Sherry Cable, Tamara Mix, and Donald Hastings.
February 29th

Rosenbaum, Walter A. 2008. Environmental Politics and Policy. Washington,
D.C.: CQ Press.
o Ch. 5: More Choice: The Battle Over Regulatory Economics
March 2nd
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Market-based vs. command-and-control environmental
management
Government Responses
London, Sze, Liévanos. 2008. “Problems, Promise, Progress and Perils: Critical
Reflections on Environmental Justice Policy Implementation in California.”
UCLA Journal of Environmental Law and Policy 26(2):255-290.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••WEEK 9 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
March 5th
Cross-movement organizing
Guest speaker: Catalina Garzón (Pacific Institute)

IV.
Gonzalez, Priscilla A., Meredith Minkler, Analilia P. Garcia, Margaret Gordon,
Catalina Garzón, Meena Palaniappan, Swati Prakash, and Brian Beveridge. 2011.
“Community-Based Participatory Research and Policy Advocacy to Reduce
Diesel Exposure in West Oakland, California.” American Journal of Public
Health 101(S1):166-175.
Broadening the Lens
March 7th
Renewable Resources
Guest speaker: Bradley Angel (Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice)
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Nath, Ishan. 2010. “Cleaning Up After Clean Energy: Hazardous Waste in the
Solar Industry.” Stanford Journal of International Relations XI(2):6-15.
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Matheny, Keith. 2011. “Solar Plans Pit Green vs. Green.” USA Today, June 2.
Accessed Dec. 18, 2011.
(http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2011-06-01-solar-energytortoise_n.htmf)
2011. “China: Villagers Protest at Zhejiang Solar Panel Plant.” BBC News AsiaPacific, September 18. Accessed Dec. 18, 2011.
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14963354)
March 9th
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Climate Justice
Sze, Julie, Gerardo Gambirazzio, Alex Karner, Dana Rowan, Jonathan London,
and Deb Niemeier. 2009. “Best in Show? Climate and Environmental Justice
Policy in California.” Environmental Justice 2(4): 179-184.
Conant, Jeff. 2011. “Global Warming Law Shifts Responsibility from Polluters to
Communities.” AlterNet, April 21. Accessed Feb. 29, 2012.
(http://www.alternet.org/environment/150687/'landmark'_global_warming_bill_o
utsources_solutions,_putting_the_burden_on_poor_communities_in_california_a
nd_mexico_[contains_photo_slideshow])
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••WEEK 10 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
March 12th
Food Justice
Guest speaker: Alison Alkon (University of the Pacific)

V.
Alkon, Alison and Julian Agyeman, eds. 2011. Cultivating Food Justice: Race,
Class and Sustainability. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
o “Introduction: The Food Movement as Polyculture” by Alison Alkon and
Julian Agyeman
o “Conclusion: Cultivating the Fertile Field of Food Justice” by Alison
Alkon and Julian Agyemen
Looking Back, Looking Forward
March 14th

Outcomes
Pellow, David Naguib and Robert J. Brulle, eds. 2005. Power, Justice and the
Environment: A Critical Appraisal of the Environmental Justice Movement.
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
o Ch. 1: “Power, Justice, and the Environment: Towards Critical
Environmental Justice Studies” by David Naguib Pellow and Robert J.
Brulle
o Ch. 5: “Who Wins, Who Loses? Understanding Outcomes of
Environmental Injustice Struggles” by Melissa Toffolon-Weiss and
Timmons Roberts
March 16th
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
Moving forward
Bullard, Robert, Paul Mohai, Robin Saha and Beverly Wright. 2007. Toxic Wastes
and Race at Twenty: 1987-2007: Grassroots Struggles to Dismantle
Environmental Racism in the United States. Cleveland, OH: United Church of
Christ Justice and Witness Ministries.
o Ch. 2: Environmental Justice Timeline – Milestones 1987-2007
Solnit, Rebecca. 2000. Hope in the Dark. New York: Verso.
o Ch. 1: Looking into Darkness
o Ch. 10: Changing the Imagination of Change
o Ch. 12: The Angel of Alternate History
o Ch. 14: Getting the Hell Out of Paradise
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
*** TAKE-HOME FINAL DUE March 21, 8:00 -11:00 a.m. ***