Interestingly enough, the book does come around to say that communities working together make the biggest difference in situations of environmental justice. The last chapter alludes to “transformative politics.” As implied by the title From the Ground Up, justice and action start with the little man. When people change the way they act, the entire system changes. Lots of little voices telling the government that it isn’t doing its job add up to a significant moving power.
Before people can change the system in which they live, the awareness has to be raised that the system is indeed flawed. Without this understanding, it is impossible to determine the best corrective course of action. Success by grassroots organizations showed just this idea. Lots of aggrevated or concerned people decided they had had enough and worked to better their odds. By connecting all the little voices into networds of informed individuals who can add pressure to the apporpriate actors, individuals are turning the government into a living, working institution of environmental justice.
Some interesting things to note that the book brought up are that the idea of transformative politics is only possible in a democratic system. It assumes that since everyone in a democracy is able to voice their concerns and opinions, there is a good chance that changing an individual will have cascading effects in the democratic system itself. However, it is interesting to point out that environmental justice, as earlier described by the book, occurs in places where commercial voices are much louder than the local community or individuals. This inequality is not due to the democractic system, but to the larger societal ignorance and apathy. Changing these problems will definitely lead to a change in the structure and system because it will make everyone realize that our nation is a community and we are not separated by economic status, and we are a unified front against any and all instances of injustice!!!…Sounds very appealing. But how does one go about changing apathy? Make the community more cohesive! Make people understand how they are affected! Make the system more open to the public and give equal say to people and corportations! Make people realize that they have a say in the politics around them! Listing these goals sounds like something is being done, and it is I just wrote lots of words with exclaimation marks but gave you no idea how any of these things will be accomplished or how. I feel like that is the biggest problem with this book. It suggests that the community is the main factor in environmental justice issues, and that a community should bond together to change the system around them. Transformative politics will change the system one person at a time! But honestly, I couldn’t tell you one environmental issue facing the Des Moines community right now. I could tell you that Drake is making a “green movement” effort, but I have no idea what that entails. If you look outside of Meredith right now, the east windows face a dirt mess. When it rains, all that dirt washes away and causes sedimentation in nearby water systems. The coffee shop in Olmstead changed to free market but a Starbucks in being put just accross the street under the West Village apartments. All I could tell you is that the furniture in Olmstead now sucks. The chairs are much less comfortable than they used to be and so I choose not to sit there between classes. That is the extent of the issues I could tell you about in the community of which I have been a part for 3 years now, almost 4. I’m sure that these changes all occurred for good reason and are promoting a better environment, but I never was informed they were going to happen, I never was given the opportunity to put in my ideas. There is a student senate, but I know nothing about what it does. Every year, people come to chapter and express their stern belief that if I elect them to (insert position name) they will change the communication problems and make my voice heard. So far I haven’t even gotten an e-mail from this group. I read in the TD what the senate is doing, but there is no guy calling me up and putting me on speaker phone during a meeting. This is a tangent but I feel it is somewhat relevant. The ability to change a community seems like a very daunting process and I don’t feel like I am the only person in the world who looks at the prospective of community change as anything but a piece of cake. I personally would like a directory of who is most influential, where they eat and at what time so I can meet with them and make change happen, without wasting lots of time and effort talking to dead ends. When that directory is made please make sure to send me a link.
Like most politics, this book gives me the sensation of all talk no action. It describes what the issue is, how some people have gone about success and others failure, but ultimately just tells me to institute “transformative politics.” No instructions, no guidelines, just become more informed and create that all important network.
