Supporting Our Frontline Struggles

Analyzing the Military’s Role in Producing Air Toxics Disparities in the United States: A Critical Environmental Justice Approach

“…The absence of a current EJ plan from the DoD is especially disconcerting given that the agency 1) may be the single greatest institutional contributor of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide (Crawford 2019); 2) had an enormous $649 billion budget in 2018 (Tian et al 2019); and 3) is one of the largest employers in the country with 2.7 million active duty personnel, reservists, and civilian support staff (Defense Manpower Data Center 2020). Previous research demonstrates negative environmental, health, and social effects arising from military action, including actions near Indigenous communities and lands in the United States (Hooks and Smith 2004;Kuletz 1998;LaDuke 1999;LaDuke and Cruz 2013), as well as in locales abroad, including some that are both near and distant from combat (Bonds 2016;Frey 2013;Smith, Hooks, and Lengefeld 2014). Others have claimed that "the presence of a military facility is the most reliable single predictor of environmental trauma" (Seager 1993:33).…”

“…EJ scholars have long argued that the state is an active or a tacit contributor to environmental inequality (Bullard 1990;Bullard and Wright 2012;Pellow and Brulle 2005;Pulido 2017), thus providing an opportunity to link military activity with approaches to the state developed under critical environmental justice (CEJ) (Pellow 2017;Pulido 2016). The U.S. military has a history of environmental degradation and injustice that results from defense operations and land appropriation, including on the basis of race and colonial history (Alvarez, Theis, and Shtob 2021;Dillon 2015;Smith 2004, 2005;Kuletz 1998;LaDuke 1999;Seager 1993). These environmental injustices may be compounded by the overrepresentation of racial and ethnic minority military personnel in the lower ranks (Armor and Gilroy 2010;Mariscal 2005;Martinez and Huerta 2020;Williams 1998) that may place people of color in closer proximity to risk.…”

“…The Environmental Harms of the U.S. Military Military and environmental sociologists have demonstrated the military's environmental impacts domestically and abroad (Bonds 2016;Frey 2013;Hooks and Smith 2004;Kuletz 1998;LaDuke 1999;LaDuke and Cruz 2013;Smith, Hooks, and Lengefeld 2013). Military activity can result in environmental contamination and health risks due to the use of industrial chemicals as well as through the production of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons Cable, Mix, and Shriver 2008;Downey 2015).…”

Indigenous Youth and Decolonial Futures: Energy and Environmentalism among the Diné in the Navajo Nation and the Lepchas of Sikkim, India

“…Many younger Diné people describe decolonisation as a return to traditional notions of culture and economic practices. They read and incorporate critical Indigenous scholarship into their ideological frameworks, such as the works of Waziyatawin and Michael Yellow Bird (2005, 2012), Leanne Simpson (2017), Sarah Deer (2009, 2015), Winona LaDuke (1999, 2005), and others. Not only are Diné youth challenging the continuation of extractive industries within their communities, but they are also contesting development.…”

Pathways to healing: Indigenous revitalization through family-based land management in the Klamath Basin

“…Seeking to dismantle colonial legacies, Indigenous resurgence initiatives are working to revitalize human-environment relations as well as to advance Indigenous sovereignty (LaDuke 1999, Risling Baldy 2013, Simpson 2014, Popken et al 2023). Here, we use the term resurgence asserted by Indigenous scholars who are committed to the pursuit of decolonial futures that turn away from the state and instead focus on Indigenous leadership advancing social and cultural rejuvenation from within Indigenous communities.…”