Acting Locally: Environmental Injustice and the Emergence of Grass-Roots Environmental Organizations

Abstract

Because of the contradictions inherent in a liberal democratic state, the environmental regulatory process often fails to protect citizens from corporate pollution. As a consequence, organizations have emerged in some contaminated communities to put pressure on the regulatory process. This paper examines the structural sources of the emergence of grass-roots environmental organizations. These organizations represent a new trend in the environmental movement, and are part of a broader historical process involving the evolution of the legal culture and the social control of corporate conduct in the United States.