Synopses & Reviews
In Environmentalism Unbound, Robert Gottlieb proposes a new strategy for social and environmental change that involves reframing and linking the movements for environmental justice and pollution prevention. According to Gottlieb, the environmental movement's narrow conception of environment has isolated it from vital issues of everyday life, such as workplace safety, healthy communities, and food security, that are often viewed separately as industrial, community, or agricultural concerns. This fragmented approach prevents an awareness of how these issues are also environmental issues.After tracing a history of environmental perspectives on land and resources, city and countryside, and work and industry, Gottlieb focuses on three compelling examples of this new approach to social and environmental change. The first involves a small industry (dry cleaning) and the debate over pollution prevention approaches; the second involves a set of products (janitorial cleaning supplies) that may be hazardous to workers; and the third explores the obstacles and opportunities presented by community or regional approaches to food supply in the face of an increasingly globalized food system.
Review
"Environmentalism Unbound is a convincing nudge in a positive direction. Gottlieb leaves us with much food for thought." Stacey Swearingen White Journal of the American Planning Association The MIT Press
Review
"Environmentalism Unbound is a powerful reinterpretation of environmentalism and a trenchant critique of established environmental organizations and the environmental justice movement. Filled with historical insight and practical wisdom, the book serves as a road map for revitalizing America's most important social movements, bringing urban issues, industrial development, the hazards of work, and efforts to achieve livable communities to the center of the debate about society's relation to the natural world. A tough, profoundly inspiring, and optimistic book."--Carl Anthony, Ford Foundation
Review
" Environmentalism Unbound is cogent and visionary." Chip Ward Washington Post Book World The MIT Press
Review
"We've come to expect provocative, insightful ideas from Robert Gottlieb about the environment and the environmental movement. His new book, *Environmentalism Unbound,* does not disappoint. Linking environmental justice and pollution prevention, the social and the ecological, and an ethic of place, he urges us to reconsider our environmental objectives and to clarify the expected results. This is an accessible book that at once elevates the dialogue about environmentalism and puts the responsibility for rethinking our values and actions squarely in our laps."--Martin V. Melosi, Distinguished University Professor, University of Houston, Author of The Sanitary City: Urban Infrastructure in America from Colonial Times to the Present The MIT Press
Review
"David N. Pellow has written a unique study. Garbage Wars examines environmental racism and environmental justice from a variety of vantage points, including those of workers and whole neighborhoods. In doing so, he raises important questions about how society confronts its waste problems, and who ultimately pays for the choices made."--Martin V. Melosi, Distinguished University Professor, University of Houston, Author of The Sanitary City: Urban Infrastructure in America from Colonial Times to the Present The MIT Press
Synopsis
A call for a broadened environmental movement that addresses issues of everyday life.
In Environmentalism Unbound, Robert Gottlieb proposes a new strategy for social and environmental change that involves reframing and linking the movements for environmental justice and pollution prevention. According to Gottlieb, the environmental movement's narrow conception of environment has isolated it from vital issues of everyday life, such as workplace safety, healthy communities, and food security, that are often viewed separately as industrial, community, or agricultural concerns. This fragmented approach prevents an awareness of how these issues are also environmental issues. After tracing a history of environmental perspectives on land and resources, city and countryside, and work and industry, Gottlieb focuses on three compelling examples of this new approach to social and environmental change. The first involves a small industry (dry cleaning) and the debate over pollution prevention approaches; the second involves a set of products (janitorial cleaning supplies) that may be hazardous to workers; and the third explores the obstacles and opportunities presented by community or regional approaches to food supply in the face of an increasingly globalized food system.
Synopsis
A call for a broadened environmental movement that addresses issues of everyday life.
About the Author
Honorable Mention for Outstanding Book in the Field of Ecological and Transformational Politics 2002 presented by the Organized Section on Ecological and Transformational Politics of the American Political Science Association (APSA).
Bronze Award Winner for Environment in the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards.
Selected as a finalist for the 2002 C. Wright Mills Award presented by the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP).