This blog is a collaborative effort begun by students in the class Southwest Studies 220: Environmental Justice in the Southwest at Colorado College during fall 2016. The case studies presented here represent distillations of more in-depth scholarly research conducted by each student. Each student’s post was drafted individually and then reviewed and edited collectively by his or her classmates. The students sought to ground their interpretations and understandings of a range of different cases in academic environmental justice frameworks to develop analyses that go beyond journalistic accounts. Although the topics and approaches represented by these blog posts are fairly broad, there is an intentional common thread connecting them: the region we call the “Greater Southwest.” It is deeply regrettable that it was so easy for students to identify a number of case studies in the region. By taking a regional focus, the students seek to (1) highlight the need for awareness of disproportionate exposure of different communities to environmental risks and hazards, as well as more subtle inequalities and injustices that may be all around the areas in which we live, work, and play (2) emphasize the importance of local and grassroots work in this respect and the ways that scholarly work can inform activism (3) encourage creative efforts to foster local and regional dialogue about issues of environmental injustice and inequality in other parts of the U.S. and the world.

For additional information about this project contact Dr. Zachary Sugg at zach.sugg@coloradocollege.edu.