From Love Canal to Environmental Justice

Tracing the history of environmental policy and politics from the seminal moments of 1978 at Love Canal to current environmental justice disputes, this in-depth study offers a cross-border analysis of the modern environmental movement that should be of interest to students and practitioners, academics and activists. Though no explicit environmental justice movement has developed in Canada, questions of fairness and equity in issues like the recent Toronto garbage crisis are central to many of the country's environmental conflicts. The location of Love Canal and other hazardous waste facilities on the New York-Ontario border allows for striking national comparisons without sacrificing attention to local and regional detail. Just as the issues surrounding Love Canal have shaped environmental management many years after the event, so too the environmental justice movement is making its mark on contemporary policy and politics in ways that we are likely to recognize many years from now.