Restructuring and the Contraction and Expansion of Environmental Rights in the United States

One of the most important recent developments in environmentalism in the United States is the rise of the environmental justice movement. This loose grouping of activists and organizations emerged from the antitoxics movement of the early 1980s and has become wedded to the language, actions, and rhetoric of the civil rights and social justice movements. The merging of environmentalism and social justice has resulted in a new sense of environmental rights, with important implications for changing notions of citizenship.