Source: EcoWatch
16 Essential Books About Environmental Justice, Racism and Activism
By John R. Platt
Jun. 29, 2020 12:02PM ES
This year has brought us some brutal lessons so far, chief among them the fact that systemic racism drives or amplifies nearly all our societal and environmental ills.
Now is the time to listen to the people affected most by those problems of environmental justice and racism — and the activists working to solve them.
Here’s a good place to start: We’ve gathered 16 essential recent books on environmental racism and related topics from leading journalists and experts. Two of these are hot off the presses and scheduled to hit shelves this month, while the rest were pulled from previous “Revelator Reads” installments. All provide vital insight into the problems that plague people and the planet, while also offering solutions for a more just future.
Since we’re still in the middle of a pandemic — another problem made worse by racial injustice — it obviously remains challenging to visit local bookstores and libraries, so these links all go to publishers’ sites, where you can order hard copies or e-books. You can also find enough information to order any of these books from local stores, which may offer delivery or curbside pickup.
This list is hardly exhaustive and pulls mostly from books published over the past two years, and it weighs a bit heavily on Indigenous authors and protests like Standing Rock. So please feel free to recommend any insightful books we missed. Here are three titles to begin:
Whose Water Is It, Anyway? Taking Water Protection Into Public Hands by Maude Barlow
One of the world’s most notable water-justice activists provides a step-by-step guide to help communities keep themselves from going dry due to the actions of irresponsible companies and governments.
Standing With Standing Rock: Voices from the #NoDAPL Movement edited by Nick Estes and Jaskiran Dhillon
An essential volume to understand the history and significance of the famous resistance action, combining everything from essays and interviews to poems and photography.
Who Killed Berta Cáceres? Dams, Death Squads and an Indigenous Defender’s Battle for the Planet by Nina Lakhani
Honduran indigenous leader and activist Berta Cáceres won the prestigious Goldman Prize in 2015 — one year before she was murdered for her work trying to stop a hydroelectric dam from destroying a sacred river. This powerful book tells the story of her life and death, a tragedy echoed in the murders and assaults committed against hundreds of environmental defenders every year.
Related:
Leave a Reply