The construction of environmental justice: Warren County, North Carolina

"By seeking to ameliorate environmental problems while also working to alleviate poverty and oppression, the construct of environmental justice has transformed environmental activism and altered the national environmental agenda. The controversy over the Warren County landfill is seen as the birth place of the environmental justice movement. Despite the importance assigned to Warren County, there has been no thorough analysis of the events. In this study, I analyze the Warren County events using a social movement theory which integrates issues of strategy and identity. I show that when the mostly white opposition changed their strategy to direct action and needed assistance from seasoned civil rights activists, the political and cultural context of Warren County created the necessary ingredients for this unlikely alliance. As a result of the alliance, the collective action frame changed from ""Not In My Backyard"" (NIMBY) to ""environmental racism."" The fear of loosing local control over a land use decision was the conceptual link between the broad injustice frame of environmental racism and the earlier, more narrow, NIMBY frame. Environmental racism was the catalyst to the more elaborative master frame of environmental justice which brought into question the entire hazardous waste policy."

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Regional Planning

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2011

Author dc:creator

• McGurty, Eileen Maura

Contributors dc:contributor

• Steelwater, Eliza K.

• History, United States
• Political Science, General
• Sociology, Social Structure and Development
• Environmental Sciences
• Urban and Regional Planning

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 1995 McGurty, Eileen Maura

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

AAI9624433
(UMI)AAI9624433

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/20719