Resource List: Immigration & Environmental Justice

UUMFE

We hope you find this list of resources useful in planning your 2012 Earth Day activities and future immigration and environmental justice projects. See the Call to Action page for most of the Web resources associated with the four focus issues and actions.

Jump to . . .

UUA Resources

  • In support of “Immigration as a Moral Issue,” the 2010-2014 Congregational Study/Action Issue (CSAI), the UUA has posted extensive resources on its website. Although most materials do not directly address the connection between immigration and environmental justice, they provide excellent background information and ideas for action and worship. To get you started, here are the links to the various pages, or go directly to the main Immigration Justice page. Note: elsewhere in the 2012 Earth Day pages, UUMFE has made every effort to present new/different resources than those found in this UUA resource section.
  • “Cooking Together: Recipes for Immigration Justice Work,” is a special blog where UUs involved with immigration justice work can share ideas and resources around the issues. This is a great place to learn about how other congregations are engaged.
  • Best Practice spotlights outstanding congregational work and changes periodically. This “best practice” from last fall features insights from the Oct. 2011 “Immigration Reform – A Moral Imperative” conference sponsored by the Pacific Central District. See the Miscellaneous section below for a link to resources from the conference.
  • Faithful Witness and Action includes extensive resources and information to help in planning immigration related social action projects. Check out the “Take Action for Immigrant Families”section of the Standing on the Side of Love website. This page also includes links to webinars, guidebooks and toolkits, congregational stories, partner organizations, and more.
  • Worship includes suggested hymns and songs, scripture readings, poems, and prayers as well as links to worship resources from other organizations. Be sure to watch the video of Rev. Fred Small performing “Marching into the Light,” which was written by Andres Useche in protest of Arizona’s SB 1070.
  • Theological Reflection includes links to sermons on immigration, discussion guides, and other materials.
  • Religious Education has links to the CSAI text and Resource Guide (a six-session curriculum); GA workshop presentations on immigration justice from 2004–2011; lists of books, films, and songs; and immigration book and game suggestions for youth.
  • Immigration Policy includes extensive resources and information on immigration reform issues – such as Visa backlogs and the flawed Guest Worker program – raids and detentions, the ICE ACCESS program, and federal and state legislation.
  • Congregational Stories on Immigration features inspirational stories from UUs in twenty-three states and the District of Columbia who are learning about and taking action on immigration issues (this page is frequently updated).

Miscellaneous:

Books

(Book titles link to Amazon.com and reader reviews; listed by publication date, most recent is first. There are numerous other books on the UUA website immigration pages.)

Too Many People?: Population, Immigration, and the Environmental Crisis – by Ian Angus and Simon Butler (Haymarket Books, October 2011)

The Slums of Aspen: Immigrants vs. the Environment in America’s Eden – by Lisa Sun-Hee Park and David Naguib Pellow (NYU Press, September 2011)

Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence – by Christian Parenti (Nation Books, June 2011)

Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit – by Barry Estabrook (Andrews McMeel Publishing, June 2011)

Fields of Resistance: The Struggle of Florida’s Farmworkers for Justice – by Sylvia Giagnoni (Haymarket Books, March 2011)

Climate Refugees – by Collectif Argos (MIT Press, April 2010)

The Silicon Valley of Dreams: Environmental Injustice, Immigrant Workers, and the High-Tech Global Economy – by David Naguib Pellow and Lisa Sun-Hee Park (NYU Press; first edition, December 2002)

Faces of Environmental Racism: Confronting Issues of Global Justice – by Laura Westra and Bill Lawson, Editors (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; 2nd edition, July 2001)

  • Review at Humanities and Social Sciences Online

With These Hands: The Hidden World of Migrant Farmworkers Today – by Daniel Rothenberg (University of California Press, 1998; reissued October 2000)

  • Abstract at Education Resources Information Center
  • Review at New York Times
  • Review in the Spring 2003 issue of Labour/Le Travail (Canadian Committee on Labour History)

Films

(Film titles link to Amazon.com and reader reviews; listed by publication date, most recent is first. There are numerous other films on the UUA website immigration pages.)

The Harvest/La Cosecha – Documentary film featuring Zulema Lopez, Victor Huapilla, and Perla Sanchez (DVD – October 2011)

The Other Side Of Immigration – Documentary film directed by Roy Germano (DVD – October 2010)

  • Director Roy Germano’s blog
  • Film website – includes comments, awards, film festivals, videos
  • Short review at Tucson Weekly

Climate Refugees – Documentary film featuring Lester Brown, Paul Ehrlich, John Kerry, Desmond Tutu, and others (DVD – January 2010); not available on Amazon.com – title link is to film website

A Village Called Versailles – Documentary film directed by S. Leo Chiang (2009)

Additional Resources

Note: there are many more web resources in the Call to Action page.

  • “Asian American Activism for Environmental Justice” (in Peace Review, Summer 2004)
    Eight page essay by Julie Sze that summarizes the rise of the environmental justice movement and the growing documentation of environmental racism. She references the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in 1991 and talks about activism of African American, Latino, and Native American communities.
  • “Could Farms Survive Without Illegal Labor?” (New York Times, Room for Debate, August 17, 2011)
    American produce is underpriced, in part because farmers and growers rely on immigrant workers, who are paid little and often have poor working conditions. Six experts discuss the ramifications of a bill that would require growers to verify migrant workers’ status. Read about farmers’ opposition to the bill here.
  • O’odham Solidarity Project (Tohono O’odham Nation)
    Voice Against the Wall is a grassroots project of the people of the cross-border Tohono O’odham Nation, located in southern Arizona near Tucson. The O’odham motto is “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us.”
  • Population and Development Program – PopDev (Hampshire College, Amherst, MA)
    PopDev is a small, progressive think tank and activist organization that has an excellent collection of original material and other resources on environmental and climate justice, population and immigration, including its DifferenTakes Issue Papers Series.
  • Land of Risk/Land of Opportunity (UC Davis Center for Regional Change)
    This path-breaking report documents the high levels of environmental and social risks confronting San Joaquin Valley residents and identifies the locations and populations within the Valley that are at greatest risk and that require immediate protection.
  • Migration, Environment, and Climate Change: Assessing the Evidence (International Organization for Migration)
    The papers in this publication were first presented at the Research Workshop on Migration and the Environment: Developing a Global Research Agenda held in Munich, Germany in April 2008. Although you may purchase this if you wish, you can download a PDF by scrolling down the page (448 pages, 2.4MB PDF).
  • “How US Policies Fueled Mexico’s Great Migration” (The Nation)
    This article by David Bacon in the Jan. 4, 2012, issue of The Nation reports on the devastating effects of NAFTA on the health and well-being of Mexican agriculture workers on both sides of the border.