Chosen by Booklist as one of its Top 10 books on sustainability
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About the book:
This is the first book to offer a comprehensive examination of the U.S. environmental health movement which, unlike many parts of the environmental movement, focuses on preventing the effects of toxic chemicals and other hazardous agents in the environment on human health and well-being.
Born in 1978, when Lois Gibbs organized her neighbors to protest the health effects of a toxic waste dump in Love Canal, New York, the movement has spread across the U.S. and throughout the world. By placing human health at the center of concern, this movement has achieved many victories in community mobilization and legislative reform. In The Rise of the U.S. Environmental Health Movement, environmental health expert, Kate Davies, describes the movement’s historical, ideological and cultural roots and analyzes its structures, strategies and successes. What people are saying:
“The Rise of the US Environmental Health Movement is an ambitious book in the best sense of the word. Davies seeks to synthesize a tremendous amount of information, and to begin to write history as it is happening. She has made an invaluable contribution to all those who care – or should care – about what environmental contaminants are doing to us and to all life on earth.”
— Michael Lerner, president of Commonweal and co-founder of the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, Health Care Without Harm and the Health and Environmental Funders Network "The Rise of the U.S. Environmental Health Movement is a well-done history of America’s environmental health movement and offers readers valuable information on how grassroots organizing prevents harm from toxic exposures and leads to safe and healthy communities". — Lois Marie Gibbs, Executive Director, Center for Health, Environment & Justice “The Rise of the U.S. Environmental Health Movement is a finely balanced and fair-minded account of how this movement came to be and what it will take to execute the sea change we need to fully protect public health.” — Elise Miller, director of the Collaborative on Health and the Environment "A compelling history and an accessible guide that unravels the complexity of environmental health issues and the evolving environmental health movement and offers references and examples for how our collective and individual actions can make a healthy difference in the places where we live, work, play, and go to school". -- Peggy M. Shepard, executive director and co-founder of WE ACT for Environmental Justice "Kate Davies' authoritative history describes the origins and dimensions of one wing of the environmental movement. It is both generous and accurate in its portrayal of the ideas, the people, and organizations that forged the link between the environment and human health. This is the definitive guide to the story of one of the most important movements of our century." — Carolyn Raffensperger, executive director of the Science and Environmental Health Network |
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