LibGuides: Center for Social Justice Online Library: Environmental Justice

Environmental Justice Select Bibliography

Environmental justice is achieved when everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, income, etc., is equally involved and considered when environmental laws and policies are developed. It is a mechanism of accountability for the protection of rights and the prevention and punishment of wrongs related to the disproportionate impacts of growth on the poor and vulnerable in society.

Careers in Environmental Justice

Career Opportunities: Environmental justice lawyers can work in nonprofit environmental law organizations, government agencies, or private practice. They can also serve as advisors in corporations or work in public interest organizations. Another potential role is that of a sustainability manager. These roles require expertise in areas like water legislation, climate change law, clean technology, and public land administration. The work involves safeguarding rights, enforcing penalties, and advocating for fair access to environmental benefits, all of which are crucial for ensuring an equitable distribution of environmental burdens and benefits among all communities.

Intro to Environmental Law Series – Career in Environmental Law 101
YouTube Video 1 hr.
This Environmental Law Careers webinar is part of a free series covering key practice areas within the environmental legal field. This series is geared toward law students, new lawyers, and even experienced attorneys interested in learning more about environmental law.

Participants will receive a “101” level introduction to the practice area from private, government, and non-profit lawyers. Each panel will include a high-level overview of the basic legal framework, real-life project examples, and a question-and-answer session for attendees to meet members practicing in the field.
Smith, Heather. "How to be an Environmental Lawyer". Sierra (August 22, 2017).
Seth A. Davis, A Look into the Life of an Environmental Lawyer, 39 GPSOLO 53 (2022).
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Jason Sanders & Mary Ellen Ternes, Different Career Paths in Environmental Law, 25 TYL 8 (2020).
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HeinOnline
HeinOnline includes full-text access to more than 1,500 law journals, and current and classic legal sources. It provides exact page images of the documents in PDF format just as they appear in the original print.

Environmental Justice Activists

Activist-Lawyers

Activist lawyers championing environmental justice have a broad range of expertise, including water legislation, climate change law, clean technology, and public land administration. They are committed to safeguarding rights, enforcing penalties for violations, and advocating for fair access to environmental benefits. Their work is pivotal in ensuring an equitable distribution of environmental burdens and benefits among all communities.

Citizen Justice by M. Margaret McKeown
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 1640125558
Publication Date: 2022-09-01
Citizen Justice: The Environmental Legacy of William O. Douglas-Public Advocate and Conservation Champion highlights William O. Douglas's dual role in fulfilling his constitutional duty as justice while catering to his personal commitment to serve the public as a citizen advocate.

Activism

The New Climate Activism : NGO authority and participation in climate change governance by Jen Allan
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781487525842
Publication Date: 2021-01-04
At the 2019 UN climate change conference, activists and delegates from groups representing Indigenous, youth, women, and labour rights were among those marching through the halls chanting "Climate Justice, People Power." In The New Climate Activism, Jen Iris Allan looks at why and how these social activists came to participate in climate change governance while others, such as those working on human rights and health, remain on the outside of climate activism.

Through case studies of women’s rights, labour, alter-globalization, health, and human rights activism, Allan shows that some activists sought and successfully gained recognition as part of climate change governance, while others remained marginalized. While concepts key to some social activists, including gender mainstreaming, just transition, and climate justice are common terms, human rights and health remain "fringe issues" in climate change governance. The New Climate Activism explores why and how these activists brought their issues to climate change, and why some succeeded while others did not.
No Globalization Without Representation by Paul Adler
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 0812299663
Publication Date: 2021-05-28
Amid the mass protests of the 1960s, another, less heralded political force arose: public interest progressivism. Led by activists like Ralph Nader, organizations of lawyers and experts worked "inside the system." They confronted corporate power and helped win major consumer and environmental protections. By the late 1970s, some public interest groups moved beyond U.S. borders to challenge multinational corporations. This happened at the same time that neoliberalism, a politics of empowerment for big business, gained strength in the U.S. and around the world.
No Globalization Without Representation is the story of how consumer and environmental activists became significant players in U.S. and world politics at the twentieth century's close. NGOs like Friends of the Earth and Public Citizen helped forge a progressive coalition that lobbied against the emerging neoliberal world order and in favor of what they called "fair globalization." From boycotting Nestlé in the 1970s to lobbying against NAFTA to the "Battle of Seattle" protests against the World Trade Organization in the 1990s, these groups have made a profound mark.This book tells their stories while showing how public interest groups helped ensure that a version of liberalism willing to challenge corporate power did not vanish from U.S. politics. Public interest groups believed that preserving liberalism at home meant confronting attempts to perpetuate conservative policies through global economic rules. No Globalization Without Representation also illuminates how professionalized organizations became such a critical part of liberal activism—and how that has affected the course of U.S. politics to the present day.
Environmental Justice in a Moment of Danger by Julie Sze
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 0520971981
Publication Date: 2020-01-07
We are living in a precarious environmental and political moment. In the United States and in the world, environmental injustices have manifested across racial and class divides in devastatingly disproportionate ways. What does this moment of danger mean for the environment and for justice? What can we learn from environmental justice struggles? Environmental Justice in a Moment of Danger examines mobilizations and movements, from protests at Standing Rock to activism in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Environmental justice movements fight, survive, love, and create in the face of violence that challenges the conditions of life itself. Exploring dispossession, deregulation, privatization, and inequality, this book is the essential primer on environmental justice, packed with cautiously hopeful stories for the future.

More Books on Environmental Justice Activism

Environmental Law Stories

Environmental Law Stories by Richard Lazarus; Oliver Houck
Call Number: West Online Study Aids
ISBN: 9781587787287
Publication Date: 2005-07-21
Louisiana's Response to Extreme Weather by Shirley Laska (Editor)
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9783030272043
Publication Date: 2019-11-21
In-depth look at Louisiana as a state which is ahead of the curve in terms of extreme weather events, both in frequency and magnitude, and in its responses to these challenges including recovery and enhancement of resiliency. Louisiana faced a major tropical catastrophe in the 21st century, and experiences the fastest rising sea level. Weather specialists, including those concentrating on sea level rise acknowledge that what the state of Louisiana experiences is likely to happen to many more, and not necessarily restricted to coastal states. This book asks and attempts to answer what Louisiana public officials, scientists/engineers, and those from outside of the state who have been called in to help, have done to achieve resilient recovery. How well have these efforts fared to achieve their goals? What might these efforts offer as lessons for those states that will be likely to experience enhanced extreme weather? Can the challenges of inequality be truly addressed in recovery and resilience? How can the study of the Louisiana response as a case be blended with findings from later disasters such as New York/New Jersey (Hurricane Sandy) and more recent ones to improve understanding as well as best adaptation applications – federal, state and local?

More Books on Environmental Justice

Environmental Law History

This Land Is Our Land by Jedediah Purdy
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 0691216800
Publication Date: 2021-05-18
From one of our finest writers and leading environmental thinkers, a powerful book about how the land we share divides us—and how it could unite usToday, we are at a turning point as we face ecological and political crises that are rooted in conflicts over the land itself. But these problems can be solved if we draw on elements of our tradition that move us toward a new commonwealth—a community founded on the well-being of all people and the natural world. In this brief, powerful, timely, and hopeful book, Jedediah Purdy explores how we might begin to heal our fractured and contentious relationship with the land and with each other.

More Books on Environmental Law History

Environmental Law Practice Guides

Environmental Law
Background on environmental law and science, updates on statutes and regulations, and practical approaches to resolving issues, including litigation strategies.
California Civil Practice-Environmental Litigation
In-depth analysis of current environmental issues, statutes, and cases
Explorations of criminal penalties and considerations, as well as bankruptcy considerations
A helpful glossary of environmental terms, and helpful tables
Procedural checklists to help keep your case on track
Environmental Law in Indian Country
Offering in-depth tribal caselaw analysis, Environmental Law in Indian Country focuses on the environmental work of the 562 Indian tribes that play an important role in the environmental arena. This publication covers the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act, and the Wilderness Act. It uses primarily Indian and tribal cases to illustrate the finer points of NEPA doctrine as it exists in the broader field of Indian law.
Environmental Law Practice Guide
Comprehensive coverage of the entire spectrum of federal and state environmental law. Everything you need all in one place! Provides practical guidance that cuts across all substantive areas of environmental law. Written for attorneys, consultants, regulators and facility managers by some of the foremost authorities in the country, this publication provides guidance through complex procedures and phases of environmental law practice, featuring state-by-state as well as subject-by-subject coverage. This publication consists of four major units: * Unit I: step-by-step guidance for procedural items involving, for example, environmental impact statements, land preservation, government financing, environmental management systems, document retention requirements, consultants and contractors, environmental due diligence, audits, liability, insurance, taxation, international activities, Indian country activities, regulatory takings, litigation, citizen suits, environmental justice, attorney's fees, conflicts of interest, ADR, civil and criminal enforcement, and practice before the EPA *
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Unit II: substantive law of environmental quality: air and water pollution, pollution prevention, indoor air quality, vapor intrusion, environmental trading programs, wetlands, drinking water, noise, oceans and coasts, and wildlife protection * Unit III: regulated substances and waste management, e.g.: identifying hazardous substances and hazardous wastes, RCRA, CERCLA, TSCA, OSHA, EPCRA, hazmat transportation, agricultural issues, pesticides, asbestos, lead, PCBs, molds, used oil, medical and infectious wastes, storage tanks, radioactive materials, preparation and responses to disasters and terrorism * Unit IV: state-by-state (plus D.C. and Puerto Rico) guide to environmental law, including an examination of the federal-state relationship, and state environmental law procedures, programmatic areas and reference guides Practice materials include permit and litigation forms, lease clauses, environmental audit checklists, due diligence inquiry letters, site investigation and remediation forms and checklists directories of state governmental offices, lists of environmental and trade associations in each state, and bibliographies.
Treatise on Environmental Law by Frank P. Grad
Examines issues, analyzes the statutes and important case law in every area of environmental law: * Climate change and global warming * Air, water and noise pollution * Solid waste * Hazardous waste * Toxic substances * Radiation * Fertilizer and feedlot pollution * Pesticides * The National Environmental Policy Act and the "little NEPA's" of the states Environmental protection aspects of land use planning and controls * Public lands and conservation * International aspects of environmental protection under United States law * Attorneys' fees in environmental litigation * Alternative dispute resolution in environmental law * Self-compliance programs as alternatives to traditional command-and-control systems The treatise provides: * Thorough analysis of the statutes, regulations, and decisions * Coverage of the emerging issue of climate change and global warming, including U.S. and international initiatives * Coverage of the problems of growth, exhaustion of natural resources, aesthetic values, power shortages, effects of pollution on health * Primary source manuals of relevant federal statutes and regulatory material You can feel confident relying on Professor Grad's explanations and analyses. The depth of analysis is invaluable in dealing with complex and controversial issues and in forming legal arguments.
All Environmental Law Treatises, Guides & Jurisprudence on Lexis
Energy & Environment Texts and Treatises on Westlaw

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