From the Inside Out: The Fight for Environmental Justice within Government Agencies

by Jill Lindsey Harrison

An examination of why government agencies allow environmental injustices to persist. Many state and federal environmental agencies have put in place programs, policies, and practices to redress environmental injustices, and yet these efforts fall short of meeting the principles that environmental justice activists have fought for. In From the Inside Out , Jill Lindsey Harrison offers an account of the bureaucratic culture that hinders regulatory agencies' attempts to reduce environmental injustices. It is now widely accepted that America's poorest communities, communities of color, and Native American communities suffer disproportionate harm from environmental hazards, with higher exposure to pollution and higher incidence of lead poisoning, cancer, asthma, and other diseases linked to environmental ills. And yet, Harrison reports, some regulatory staff view these problems as beyond their agencies' area of concern, requiring too many resources, or see neutrality as demanding “color-blind” administration. Drawing on more than 160 interviews (with interviewees including 89 current or former agency staff members and more than 50 environmental justice activists and others who interact with regulatory agencies) and more than 50 hours of participant observation of agency meetings (both open- and closed-door), Harrison offers a unique account of how bureaucrats resist, undermine, and disparage environmental justice reform—and how environmental justice reformers within the agencies fight back by trying to change regulatory practice and culture from the inside out. Harrison argues that equity, not just aggregated overall improvement, should be a metric for evaluating environmental regulation.

Genres: Environment, Politics, Nonfiction

328 pages, Paperback

Published October 29, 2019

Reviews

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very frustrating but very informative book

[Sam Orndorff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is easy to follow, nuanced, and well reasoned. The main argument is that environmental justice (EJ) efforts fall short in governmental bodies because of inherent racist bias. There are other factors at play of course, all of which Harrison keenly unpacks by contextualizing her interviewee responses atop broader trends and history. The role of environmental impact statements, rule-making, and permitting for polluting industries are revealed to be deeply imbalanced in favor of profit and corporate freedom. Another crucial point that anyone in social science perhaps knows already - neoliberal takeover of government means that community gardens, parks and individualized solutions are heavily favored in the absence of much structural effort to curtail inequity or reduce ongoing toxic pollution in air, soil and water. Harrison’s argument is exceptionally clear on such a complex issue, where scientific uncertainty meets historical injustices that are unevenly distributed. It’s possible to understand the way overburdened communities of color continually go ignored. However, this book is broadly focused at different scales, it is not a case study and assumes readers enter with basic context.

It’s exceedingly rare to read such an inter-disciplinary take on EJ. She strikes a balance between being critical but also legible by the power structure, so that if those within policy or environmental fields want to learn and improve, they’ll have much to learn here as well. Happy to have this book as I begin my PhD research on environmental justice and Indigenous geographies.

[Bel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Surprised this book was published by MIT Press. It was extremely repetitive and all that I took away is that white people are against environmental justice programs and reforms. The DEI movement may be a source of good change but I believe this book simply promotes division amongst races, mostly perpetuating that white people are bad. I have some news for you, not all white people are bad.

[Carey Schafer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read and argument from the author. Giving it 4 stars only because it gets a bit repetitive after awhile.

[William Snow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skimmed for a class paper. Interesting insights