The How-To's

Lets start at the beginning. I think the part of this book that I find the most interesting are the various cases of EJ that the author presents to the readers. She uses them to expand on her theories but I think the cases tend to catch my attention more than what she has to say. Mainly because they're so unbelievable as they're happening in what we call a developed country.

I liked how she challenged what we usually call a "neutral" stand or take to the subject because neutrality is not necessarily not doing anything about the issue. Her take home message is that in today's world, no one and no institution is safe from the lure of economic profit. Be it institutions of higher learning who obtain funding from corporations in exchange for research and rights to their publication. We then cannot expect these once thought neutral inputs to stay the same.

I liked the idea that being neutral is not necessarily staying back and not doing anything but being neutral oftentimes requires us to be critical on both sides of the issue. By keeping mum and not pointing out possible flaws or disagreement in the value system of current issues, we're inherently taking sides with those who are the cause of environmental injustice.

The author is right in stating that in order to cause change of a large enough magnitude, we need to start changing the minds of the people. I think people usually fail to see that they're the ones who actually have the power in causing change. Oftentimes, we fail to invoke any significant change as individuals because we are not organized and are not numerous enough to rally against large corporations and governments.

She suggests that to be effective members of the EJ movement, we have to be involved in NGO's in order to keep in touch with current issues and to network with other organizations who might be in on the same issues. I can already see some problems that may arise with this idea; that each organization might have different goals or have different value systems. But the main point in networking is to find some common ground in fighting for the same cause as we're both trying to do good anyway.

She does come up with good theories as to why we should do what we do because if we don't, who's going to do them for us? I think the take home message of the book is that although we each may have different perspectives and beliefs when it comes to the EJ cause but in the end, in order to invoke meaningful change, we need to be able to work with each other and to be organized to be effective in addressing the various issues.