Killing Me Softly: Toxic Waste, Corporate Profit, and the Struggle for Environmental Justice [Paperback]

Eddie J. Girdner (Author), Jack Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2002

The political economy of toxic waste was summed up by Lawrence Summersthen chief economist at the World Bank, later U.S. Treasury Secretaryin his notorious claim that poor people live in environments that are, from an economic point of view, not sufficiently polluted. The toxic waste industry came to prominence in the United States after 1945. In its ceaseless search for profit, it now routinely endangers the health of people around the worlds and the planet itself.

Smith and Girdner's Killing Me Softlyexamines the growth of the toxic waste industry and the economic logic behind its expansion. It gives a hard-hitting account of the damage it has done throughout the United States. It focuses in particular on the struggle of the people of Mercer County, Missouri, against the plans of Amoco Waste-Tech to establish a huge toxic waste landfill in the county. It shows how the persistence of ordinary people in a poor and politically marginalized area could prevail against the predations of corporate power.

Although race and ethnicity play a crucial role in deciding which communities are targeted for toxic waste dumps, Smith and Girdner argue that the critical cleavage within the United States and globally is that of class. The struggle for environmental justice has an important role to play in empowering poor communities and bringing them into a larger movement for social justice.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Eddie J. Girdnerteaches International Relations at Bashkent University in Ankara, Turkey. He is the author of People and Power: An Introduction to Politics .

Jack Smithteaches English and Philosophy at North Central Missouri College. His fiction and reviews have been published in a number of literary reviews. He is co-editor of the Green Hills Literary Lantern.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Monthly Review Press (September 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583670831
• ISBN-13: 978-1583670835
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,991,558 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Biography:

Eddie J. Girdner was born in Princeton, Missouri, USA, February 27, 1945. Nevertheless, there seems to have existed and apparently still exists, strong suspicion that he was hatched, rather than born, considering the frequency at which he is asked to produce a birth certificate. Be that as uncertain as it may, early years were spent on the family farm. Graduation from the local high school afforded the opportunity of escape from "the idiocy of rural life." After taking a Bachelors Degree from the University of Missouri, Columbia, in l968, he took the opportunity to flee further from the US Midwest to Peace Corps training in California and two years in Punjab, India. Returning to the US in 1970, he taught high school in Missouri for three years before enlisting in the US Navy and returning to California. After Navy schools in San Diego, he was stationed on a US ship in Athens, Greece and later Philadelphia and Norfolk, Virginia. The Navy afforded a good deal of travel in Europe. After the Navy, he returned to the University of Missouri to take a Masters Degree in Political Science in l980. He completed his doctorate in Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara in l985. After part time teaching in Santa Barbara, he spent one year as an instructor at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. The next four years he taught at Delta State University in Mississippi. In l992, he made a successful escape, not only from the South, but from the "Land of Liberty," to teach for six years at Eastern Mediterranean University in Cyprus, followed by two years as a Professor at Istanbul Bilgi University and ten years as a professor at Baskent University in Ankara, Turkey. He now teaches at Izmir University in Izmir, Turkey. He is currently working on a book project.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The political economy of toxic waste, December 5, 2003

By 

SPM "scott_maykrantz" (Eugene, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Killing Me Softly: Toxic Waste, Corporate Profit, and the Struggle for Environmental Justice (Paperback)

This book gives you an introduction to industrial pollution from a Marxist perspective. In this case, "Marxist" just means that the authors are willing to look at corporate causes, and show how the government interacts with corporations to ensure profits. Their description of the system is very good. In fact, it would be impossible to refute. They show how US taxpayers pay the cost for cleanup, then major chemical firms buy the cleanup companies and make a profit off of their own pollution.

After a brief but comprehensive overview of the chemical industry, public relations ("greenwashing"), and the history of dumping chemicals in poor areas, the authors turn their focus to a fight in Mercer County, Missouri. They tell the story of local activists trying to stop Waste-Tech, Inc.'s attempt to set up a toxic waste incinerator. Through public pressure, they struggle to defend their own health.

If you want a good book on the environment, try this one. The authors know how the system works and, although detractors may disregard their emphasis on the profit motive, everything here rings true. The footnotes are extensive, leading you to additional information.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gritty, realistic, pull-no-punches survey, February 10, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Killing Me Softly: Toxic Waste, Corporate Profit, and the Struggle for Environmental Justice (Paperback)

Collaboratively researched and written by Eddie J. Girdner (Professor of International Relations, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey) and Jack Smith (Professor of English and Philosophy, North Central Missouri College), Killing Me Softly: Toxic Waste, Corporate Profit, And The Struggle For Environmental Justice is a gritty, realistic, pull-no-punches survey and expose of the toxic waste industry and its relentless expansion. Stressing the need for environmental justice in a society that tends to consider the homes of poor people to be "not sufficiently polluted", Killing Me Softly is a much-needed and clarion call for the importance of conservation, ecological responsibility, environmental protections, and corporate/governmental reforms in the modern age.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring, December 11, 2004

By 

Malvin (Frederick, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Killing Me Softly: Toxic Waste, Corporate Profit, and the Struggle for Environmental Justice (Paperback)

"Killing Me Softly" by Eddie Girdner and Jack Smith is a highly readable study of the environmental justice movement and the toxic waste industry. The book skillfully blends economic theory with a real-life case study to create a work that is both deeply thought-provoking and dramatic in its narrative. Thoroughly researched and persuasively argued, "Killing Me Softly" is an excellent book for both students and general readers who may be interested in environmental politics.

Girdner and Smith devote the first two chapters explaining how pollution is a systemic problem that is related to capitalism, production and the profit motive. Toxic waste in particularl is associated with the growth of the petrochemical industry in the post-World War II era, which not coincidentally has witnessed the rise of the modern waste disposal industry. The reader understands how the regulatory system seeks merely to contain (but not eliminate) waste and how the market tends to offload this waste onto the poor. The authors draw on Marx to explain that this process is historically linked "to the continued process of enclosure" of the commons but with the goal to "enhance the bottom lines" of the politically-powerful corporations that produce and dispose of these wastes.

Girdner and Smith then introduces us to the environmental justice movement which seeks to test the theory of grassroots democracy against the reality of corporate control. While minorities and women are most often targeted and disproportionately bear the costs of pollution, the authors argue that the case of Mercer County, Missouri demonstrates that the core issue is class, which in turn is rooted in capitalism's tendency to produce profits for the privileged few at the expense of the many.

The chapter about how the close-knit community of rural Mercer County organized to resist the "obliteration of a way of life" by a major corporation is a remarkable story that is written in a compelling manner. The people's ingenuity and determination to persist and continue their struggle in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds is truly inspiring. The authors go on to share some of the lessons learned from the citizen's victory in Mercer County to provide guidance to others.

Ultimately, Girdner and Smith's work helps us recognize the necessity for the environmental justice movement to transcend race and national identities and become a much broader movement that struggles against inequality and capitalist exploitation. In the final chapter, the authors propose six principles for a form of local, sustainable development that would allow people to achieve "peace, fulfillment, and happiness" in a way that is not dependent on the pursuit of material acquisition.

I highly recommend this exceptional book to everyone.