Mountains of Injustice ─ Social and Environmental Justice in Appalachia

Research in environmental justice reveals that low-income and minority neighborhoods in our nation’s cities are often the preferred sites for landfills, power plants, and polluting factories. Those who live in these sacrifice zones are forced to shoulder the burden of harmful environmental effects so that others can prosper. Mountains of Injusticebroadens the discussion from the city to the country by focusing on the legacy of disproportionate environmental health impacts on communities in the Appalachian region, where the costs of cheap energy and cheap goods are actually quite high.

Through compelling stories and interviews with people who are fighting for environmental justice,Mountains of Injustice contributes to the ongoing debate over how to equitably distribute the long-term environmental costs and consequences of economic development.

Geoffrey L. Buckley is an associate professor in the department of geography and the Program in Environmental Studies at Ohio University. He is the author ofExtracting Appalachia: Images of the Consolidation Coal Company, 1910–1945 and America’s Conservation Impulse: Saving Trees in the Old Line State.

Michele Morrone is an associate professor of environmental health sciences and director of Environmental Studies at Ohio University. Her publications includeSound Science, Junk Policy: Environmental Health and the Decisionmaking Processand Poisons on Our Plates: The Real Food Safety Problem in the United States.