Reviews for Sustainable Communities and the Challenge of Environmental Justice

The average rating for Sustainable Communities and the Challenge of Environmental Justice based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-03-10 00:00:00 Doug Patterson When it came to transportation and land-use I was delighted to see all the connections to e.j. Duh. I usually talk about urban sprawl in a very white-oriented audience, but hadn't made the connection that lots of groups of people feel the impacts of urban sprawl, after all we're waiting for the bus together. i've been thinking of the bigger issue for people of color being that of gentrification/smart growth in the cities, and it may be the bigger issue, but i haven't strayed too far into la-la land, all the better to try to look at the whole problem at once. and i love the concept of 'environmental space' instead of 'ecological footprint'. a ceiling and a floor! i think the 'fair share' as a pc ethic is a really good, simple way of saying it. and, i was repeatedly struck that permaculture in theory has a lot going for it into the 'just sustainability' movement, but how it's not making that connection in practice. proactive, people-based, grassroots, changing the system. not singular on habitat-conservation but instead 'what can we do?' and the solutions are often good at saving money too. anyway, much food for conversation! :) but oy! those first few chapters! academia drives me bonkers! 'just say it, yo!!'

Review # 2 was written on 2007-04-03 00:00:00 Christopher Destefano I received a copy of this book because I read the glowing blurbs of it on amazon, and added it to my wish list. A mistake on my part, I think, as the book turned out to be an unfortunate example of how bizarre writing on certain topics can become when transferred into academic jargon and citation. I can't really see this book being very useful to either environmental justice activists or to sociologists interested in really understanding the environmental justice movement. The concepts are so basic to anyone already working in environmental justice, but they're dressed up here to look more authoritative - to convince whom, I'm not sure. The author's whole argument has been made many times before, and usually more quickly and elegantly at that.