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Thank you for being a real pioneer.
-Hardball host Chris Matdiews to Lois Gibbs, December 1, 1999
The legacy of Love Canal is not over, it will never be over.
-Lois Gibbs, December 8, 1999
On the eve of a new millennium, environmentalism occupies a more prominent place dian ever before in American culture. Polls show that American citizens rank environmental issues as one of their primary concerns; environmental studies programs have matured from fringe areas to primary fields of inquiry; and environmental movements have reshaped our culture's understanding of fundamental rights to include clean air, water suppUes, and living environments.
Although it was a seminal chapter in modern environmental activism, the Love Canal citizen protest movement (particularly women's activist roles) lacks a significant place in environmental history.1 Many environmental texts skim over Love Canal. For example, Carolyn Merchant's otherwise fine textbook, Major Problems in Environmental History, covers topics ranging from conservation and Rachel Carson to colonists' land-use concepts in the 1600s and 1700s. But it mentions Love Canal only in passing - and it has no essay on the citizens' movement, its impact on environmental legislation, or documents from activists. And even when Love Canal warrants mention, many environmental writers elide the citizens movement itself: Love Canal "happened," laws "were passed," Americans "woke up" to the problem of hazardous waste. Irene Kiefer's Poisoned Land (subtitled The Probkm of Hazardous Waste) identified Love Canal as one of the worst environmental disasters ever. Although Kiefer sought to raise consciousness about the broader problem of hazardous waste disposal (and what business and ordinary citizens could do to shape public policy on the matter), her allusions to Love Canal say nothing about citizen protest. Kiefer writes merely that "two hundred thirty-seven families living in Love Canal . . . were forced to leave their homes . . . because of harmful wastes." The indirect locution removes Love Canal activists from the reader's attention.2
Environmental activist writing on Love Canal puts citizen protest front and center. As one grassroots organization announced in a pamphlet published in 1993, the movement for environmental justice has become a significant part of American politics - and that movement emerged out of Love Canal citizen protests. "The grassroots environmental movement began when the residents...