Introduction: Environmental Justice Activism Then and Now

In the 1980s and early 1990s, environmental justice activists made headlines across California and the nation. Tribes, low-income communities, and communities of color faced serious environmental problems: agricultural poisons, incinerators that released toxic substances such as dioxin into the air, industrial accidents at oil refineries, and direct exposure to hazardous wastes, among others. But their pleas for help were typically ignored or stonewalled by public officials.¹ Many residents therefore turned to more confrontational tactics. Corporate representatives were run out of town by angry residents at raucous public hearings; roads were blockaded to prevent access to industrial sites; schoolchildren skipped school