ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how environmental privilege is manifest and maintained through immigration politics, specifically the ideology and application of nativism through state actions aimed at reducing the flow of immigrants into the United States. It focuses on a case study of a wealthy, politically liberal enclave in the United States where the city council unanimously approved a resolution that declared (1) that the city should continue to be a model sustainable, green municipality and (2) in order to achieve and maintain that status, immigration from Latin America would have to be severely curtailed. The chapter then explores the historical driving forces behind environmental privilege and consider its implications for ongoing debates and policy making over race, immigration/citizenship, globalization, and environment. It focuses on the anti-immigrant and pro-environmental discourse and policy-making in Aspen as well as the response to this nativist environmentalism by Latin American immigrants themselves.
