Chapters 1 and 2

In the introduction, Pellow outlines the four primary focuses of the study presented in this book. The first goal is to explore the extent to which immigrants are more likely to be subject to environmental injustice. The author points to political, legal, social and historical pressures leading to the exploitation of immigrant employees. “The political establishment despises immigrants and immigration, even though the reality is that immigrant labor is a core component of the U.S. economy.” I agree that this paradigm contradicts liberal democracy. Consider the passage that greets immigrants on Ellis Island: “Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” This country was built on the backs of immigrants—in fact, everyone here is an immigrant—so blaming immigrants for “straining the nation’s ‘carrying capacity’” and exploiting its resources is absurd and reprehensible. This overwhelming perspective has allowed legislation to restrict the rights of immigrants to enjoy public services in the United States and “chipped away at the legal status of millions of immigrants and has threatened their life chances.” This pattern is especially disgusting considering the economic cycle that drives so many immigrants out of their countries of origin to the United States for new economic opportunities. They are greeted with environmental injustice.

The second focus outlined in chapter one is the workplace as an environmental concern. This seems pretty obvious to me, probably because we already read a similar argument in Shrader-Frechette’s book. The third focus of this study is environmental injustice toward women in the workplace. I’m relieved that we’re finally reading a book that discusses the direct role of women in environmental justice issues. All four books we’ve read on the subject have completely overlooked the fact that women are targeted for and disproportionately suffer from environmental inequality. The fourth and final focus of this study is global environmental inequality.

Chapter two is a historical account of Spanish conquest of Native American Ohlone communities, the Gold Rush in California and Chinese immigration into the “free labor state.” The authors point out that racial minorities were used for the most dangerous mining work in Santa Clara County, framing the racial division of labor in its historical context. Overall I didn’t learn anything new or (unfortunately) particularly surprising in chapter two.