Class and the Environment

In this seminar we will explore how and why, in a world being divided into consumer markets, sources of cheap labor and raw materials, and ecological sacrifice zones, the most vulnerable are disenfranchised into communities of poor and working class people. We will examine the future of the environment and “free" market economy and the prospectus of radical green and democratic movements. Through reading, writing, and discussion we will investigate such texts as The Struggle for Environmental Justice to learn how communities face the task of linking protest strategies to the building of positive alternatives.