Toxic Communities, Dorceta E. Taylor
Toxic Communities, Dorceta E. Taylor
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Toxic Communities
Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution, and Residential Mobility

Author: Dorceta E. Taylor

Narrator: Janina Edwards

Unabridged: 11 hr 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/19/2020


Synopsis

From St. Louis to New Orleans, from Baltimore to Oklahoma City, there are poor and minority neighborhoods so beset by pollution that just living in them can be hazardous to your health. Due to entrenched segregation, zoning ordinances that privilege wealthier communities, or because businesses have found the "paths of least resistance," there are many hazardous waste and toxic facilities in these communities, leading residents to experience health and wellness problems on top of the race and class discrimination most already experience. Taking stock of the recent environmental justice scholarship, Toxic Communities examines the connections among residential segregation, zoning, and exposure to environmental hazards.

Drawing on an array of historical and contemporary case studies from across the country, Taylor explores controversies over racially-motivated decisions in zoning laws, eminent domain, government regulation, and urban renewal. She provides a comprehensive overview of the debate over whether or not there is a link between environmental transgressions and discrimination, drawing a clear picture of the state of the environmental justice field today and where it is going. In doing so, she introduces new concepts and theories for understanding environmental racism that will be essential for environmental justice scholars.

About Dorceta E. Taylor

Dorceta E. Taylor is a professor in the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan, where she also serves as field of studies coordinator for the Environmental Justice program. She graduated from Yale University with doctorates in sociology and forestry/environmental studies. Her books include The Environment and the People in American Cities: 1600s-1900s, which won the 2010 Allan Schnaiberg Outstanding Publication Award from the Environment and Technology Section of the American Sociological Association.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Sam on March 08, 2020

This book is mainly a comprehensive literature review with the purpose of imploring environmental justice advocates and scholars to fully understand the long histories of racial segregation and housing discrimination. EJ research has yet to sufficiently go beyond “the question of who lives beside wh......more

Goodreads review by Guilu on January 25, 2019

Very impressive and comprehensive!! Written as a true academic novel so a little dry and dense at times.......more

Goodreads review by Mbgirl on March 22, 2021

Examples of EJ, or environmental racism is ongoing in the news right now, with Reserve Management moving their plant to SE chi-town. This book elucidates all of the different facts and laws that have occurred in this country with regards to a specific sector and sort of racism.......more

Goodreads review by Tori on June 20, 2022

your average literature review with a 60-page long bibliography...i learned so much, but i did want to hear more of the author's voice, even if it was just a brief note in the introduction of why she chose this field of research and what it means to her.......more

Goodreads review by Heather on December 29, 2020

Very well researched and lots of great information. It is very dense, fact based, and more an academic text which I didn't realize going into it. I feel like there was a lot that could be written in fewer words and things could've been organized differently so topics of discussion were clearer, but......more