This article explores women’s pathways to participation in environmental justice advocacy in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Many scholars find that women become environmental justice activists according to a common set of experiences in which apolitical women personally experience an environmental problem that launches them into a life activism to protect the health of their families. Although a small group of the 25 women the author interviewed fit this description, overall the interviews reveal a much more diverse array of paths into environmental justice activism. The author’s data complicate the idea that environmental justice activism is the first political activity for most women environmental justice activists and that they are motivated to become activists primarily in order to protect the health of their families. The author discusses the significance of these findings and concludes with a call for scholars to revisit the question of women’s pathways into environmental justice activism.
The lack of a strong national US strategy to respond to the threat of climate change places significant responsibility on urban areas to mitigate their risks through resilience planning. However, urban riskscapes include a complex and unequal layering of risks, with historically disadvantaged populations often bearing the brunt of many forms of cumulative risk while realising the fewest benefits from urban amenities. This article contributes to scholarship on resilience planning through an analysis of current development plans and resident perceptions in a neighbourhood in Southwest Washington, DC, by integrating insights on social inequality from the study of urban development, social capital and riskscapes.
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