Abstract
In the United States, urban water injustice has been structured by decades of racialized urban development, disinvestment, and discrimination, layers of planning and processes producing highly segregated and highly unequal relationships to water, exacerbated by exclusions of people of color from water governance and management. Numerous barriers to diversifying environmental governance and confronting environmental injustice in the United States shape how marginalized communities respond to unjust urban waterscapes. It is vital to understand how marginalized communities address disparate exposures to environmental harm and exclusions from environmental decision-making. This case study examines five African American-led community-based environmental organizations that each work on water governance issues in predominantly Black watersheds of metro Atlanta, Georgia. To better understand how African American-led organizations confront these challenges, this article presents a case study using semi-structured interviews, supplemented by participant observation and archival research, to examine these organizations’ strategies for addressing water injustice, with an additional focus on the tensions between these groups and mainstream, largely white, environmental governance institutions, particularly those forwarding resilience strategies. Our analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted from 2017 to 2019 elucidates perspectives and practices of Atlanta’s African American-led community-based environmental organizations to advance water justice through building community knowledge on water governance practices, forwarding community empowerment using place-based learning strategies, and confronting exclusions. The findings highlight paths toward redefining long-established, racialized environmental governance practices and refuting myths associated with African American involvement in environmental affairs, particularly through the promotion of resourcefulness and asset-based frameworks that reject the deficit models of tokenistic engagement with marginalized communities.
INTRODUCTION
In the United States, cities are deeply structured by systemic racism.1,2,3,4,5 Racial inequities in health, housing, education, policing, and economic development also correlate with profound disparities in exposure to environmental pollution and other environmental hazards.6,7,8 Ample research has examined the racial disparities in access to safe drinking water and urban flooding9,10, and a growing body of work looks at racialized disparities in exposure to waterborne pollution and sewage in urban settings. 11
In Atlanta, despite water supply conflicts and some of the highest water rates in the Unites States 12 , most water justice advocates have focused their work on the impacts of pollution, sewage, and flooding in minority communities owing to inadequate stormwater and sanitation infrastructure. As Atlanta communities work to confront disparate exposures to pollution and stormwater flooding, they often face challenges in demanding not mere “recognition” of disparities but actual reparation of water injustice. Additional challenges arise through collaboration with mainstream environmental groups that do not center on environmental racism, including the emergence of “resilience” as a framework for addressing socio-environmental challenges, especially in the context of a mounting climate crisis.
In this article, we identify themes in organizing for water injustice in Atlanta and contribute to scholarship highlighting the limitations of “recognition” and “resilience” in the pursuit of environmental justice (EJ). Through an examination of Black-led environmental organizations in highly segregated, Black communities of Atlanta, Georgia, we follow the contours of water injustice across the color lines and watershed boundaries of socioecological segregation, resulting in disproportionate impacts of pollution, sewage, and stormwater flooding.
We position this work in dialogue with scholars documenting the limitations of recognition and resilience as frameworks for advancing EJ. EJ scholars argue that, despite increasing recognition of racialized environmental disparities, there is no guarantee that these strategies will benefit communities that face the greatest environmental threats. 13 Indeed, in nearly a half-century of EJ organizing, demanding state recognition of racial disparity has yielded insufficient remedies.14,15,16 Moreover, governance responses to increased recognition of environmental disparities have increasingly advanced models of resilience. MacKinnon and Derickson (2013) argue that the promotion of resilience among low-income communities normalizes the uneven effects of neoliberal governance. 17 In addition, the development of resilience-oriented policy implicitly encourages susceptible community members to rebuild rather than encourage the implementation of progressive strategies and fundamental resources needed to overcome cycles of injustice. 18 Due to the ineffectiveness of current resilience strategies, there is a fundamental need to shift resilience thinking to advocate for resourcefulness. 19 To transform resilience approaches into resourceful strategies requires the inclusion of vulnerable communities in decision-making but also a commitment to challenging the structural drivers of longstanding water injustices.
To better understand how African American-led organizations confront these challenges, including the limitations of recognition and resilience, this article presents a case study using semi-structured interviews, supplemented by participant observation and archival research, to examine these organizations’ strategies for addressing water injustice, with additional focus on the tensions between these groups and mainstream, largely white, environmental governance institutions, particularly those forwarding resilience strategies. Our analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted from 2017 to 2019 elucidates perspectives and practices of Atlanta’s African American-led community-based environmental organizations to advance water justice through building community knowledge on water governance practices, forwarding community empowerment using place-based learning strategies, and confronting exclusions. The findings highlight paths toward redefining long-established, racialized environmental governance practices and refuting myths associated with African American involvement in environmental affairs 20 , particularly through the promotion of resourcefulness and asset-based frameworks that confront limitations of recognition and resilience and that reject the deficit models of tokenistic engagement with marginalized communities.
CASE
Atlanta, Georgia has a long history of racial segregation tied to racialized environmental disparities.21,22,23,24 Among other structural processes, racial zoning, redlining, urban renewal, white flight sprawl, and disinvestment concentrated African American and low-income residents to areas with combined sewer systems—single pipe drainage systems that collect, combine, and transport rainwater runoff, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater to the nearest sewage plant—that overflow during heavy rain events.25,26 Concerns about inadequate sanitation and stormwater infrastructure continue to impact Atlanta communities that have faced decades of exposure to pluvial floodwaters combined with sewage.27,28 For generations, majority Black metro Atlanta communities primarily within Fulton and DeKalb counties have suffered from inadequate water infrastructure resulting in watershed degradations and increased flood risks that disproportionately impact low-income, minority communities. 29
Although the disproportionate exposure of minority communities is increasingly acknowledged by scholars, advocates, and officials, little action has been undertaken to address the disparate impacts of environmental hazards. These injustices gained media attention following a rain event in September 2009, during which Atlanta experienced prolonged rainfall that lasted for seven days 30 . Property damage was estimated to be $500 million due to the destruction of residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. 31 In addition to economic devastation, flooding resulted in 10 fatalities. Among those most impacted were several of Atlanta’s urban and marginalized communities.
In response to the 2009 flood event, Atlanta city officials and organizations, including the City of Atlanta’s Mayor’s Office, Renew Atlanta, Invest Atlanta, Trust for Public Land, and the National Monuments Foundation, collaborated with the Atlanta Department of Watershed Management to identify a long-term solution to reduce flooding using a phased approach that encouraged the implementation of green infrastructure. 32 The resilient strategies defined and set forth by this collaboration gained international recognition from the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient City (100RC) network supporting the adoption of urban resilience strategies. 33 Atlanta was selected as a member of the 100RC Network, which funded the development of the city’s resilience strategy, Resilience Atlanta: Actions to Build an Equitable Future. 34 Resilience Atlanta faced criticism from advocates for failing to address prominent environmental injustices including disproportionately high flood risk as well as water pollution including sewage spills for Black communities.35,36,37
In addition to water quality degradation, increased flooding due to inadequate stormwater infrastructure amid rapid development, and disproportionate urban flood risk for racial minorities in Atlanta, 38 environmental gentrification also exacerbates environmental inequities within communities of color. 39 In Atlanta, threats of environmental gentrification and residential displacement have become a growing concern for families living in the city’s urban core. 40 For example, due to the implementation of green infrastructure, dozens of impacted families were asked to sell properties to the city as part of a remediation effort. 41 Research in Atlanta has demonstrated how such large-scale “sustainable” urban development projects produce environmental gentrification and present few opportunities for inclusionary outcomes that would benefit the marginalized.42,43
Decades of impacts from inadequate sewage and stormwater infrastructure have disproportionately impacted Black communities in metro Atlanta. Even as segregation patterns have changed and Black suburbs have greatly expanded, a downstream relation to unwanted flows for Black communities has only intensified. Although governance institutions have increasingly recognized these disparate impacts and adopted resilience models to address them, water justice organizers continue to struggle for meaningful remediation.
METHODS
In this study, we examine how five African American-led organizations address urban water injustice in Atlanta: Environmental Community Action (Eco-Action), West Atlanta Watershed Alliance (WAWA), Proctor Creek Stewardship Council (PCSC), South River Watershed Alliance (SRWA), and Atlanta Watershed Learning Network (AWLN). These organizations were selected due to their prominence and impact in addressing water justice in Atlanta. We sought to understand these organizations’ (1) strategies to advance water injustice; (2) efforts to expand concern and capacity of mainstream environmental governance to address environmental racism; and (3) the challenges faced by African American-led community-based organizations when collaborating with mainstream environmental governance institutions. The qualitative research for this case study involved three phases: (1) Archival and background research examining the organizational histories and advocacy frameworks; (2) Participant observation conducted at meetings and events organized by these entities; and (3) Semi-structured interviews with leaders and organizers from these organizations conducted from August 2017 to April 2019. We approach this research as engaged scholars who each live and work in the impacted areas. Three of the four authors are Black women, one is a white man, and three of us have longstanding engagement, participation, and collaboration with these organizations, cumulatively, over 40 years of scholar activism for EJ in Atlanta. Thus, our research represents participatory and community-engaged scholarship, and we built from these years of engaged scholarship to develop the research questions and methods.
Data collection
Archival and background research
To understand the history of urban water pollution in Atlanta’s environmental landscape, we examined a wide range of journalism, government and non-government organization (NGO) reports, consent orders, and policies addressing urban water pollution and flooding. In addition, we examined records of each organization's advocacy efforts, initiatives, and missions.
Participant observation
Participant observation was conducted to develop an understanding of how these organizations work with communities to address water injustices, and to better understand how their work is integrated into Atlanta’s urban environmental landscape. From 2018 to 2019, we attended and participated in a total of 25 events with more than 100 participants involved. These events ranged from monthly meetings, Service Saturday events, water quality monitoring through community science, and community learning sessions. Community concerns, including pollution, flooding, sewer overflows, displacement, and barriers to engagement in environmental governance, were identified during these events. In addition, organizational practices and initiatives were documented through active participation in the activities, the collection of meeting notes, and reflection on notes and experiences from this engagement and participation.
Semi-structured interviews
A snowball sampling approach was utilized to recruit semi-structured interview participants by attending community events and recruiting based on organization leaders’ recommendations. The interview guide was designed to gather an extensive range of perceptions about water justice issues in Atlanta. A total of 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted with organization members and leaders to understand: their perceptions of issues, organizing and advocacy practices, and strategies for advancing water justice. Given the nature of the organizations, cross-collaboration often takes place, with community members participating in multiple organizations. Therefore, several interviewees were involved with more than one organization, providing multiple perspectives on water justice advocacy efforts. In addition, organization leaders from two of Atlanta’s majority white, mainstream environmental organizations were interviewed to understand their perspectives on environmental injustice and address concerns of minority exclusion in environmental decision-making processes. Interviews were conducted by the lead author, an African American woman, and analyzed by the two leading authors. Interview questions are displayed in Table 1 (Organization leaders, n = 6) and Table 2 (Organization members, n = 6). Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed using the Express Scribe Transcription foot pedal and audio player software. Transcription errors and personal identifiers were removed from each transcript. Ethical approval for human subjects’ research was provided by the Institutional Review Board at the lead authors’ institution. A thematic analysis was conducted by the lead author to identify patterns and themes with coding at the sentence level using NVivo 12 Plus Software (QSI International).
Organization Leader Interview Questions
Organization Member Interview Questions
RESULTS
Archival and background research
Atlanta is home to the headwaters of several creeks and rivers, which rise from highly urbanized sections of the downtown region.44,45 Six watersheds have their headwaters in or near downtown Atlanta: Proctor Creek, Utoy Creek, the South River including Intrenchment Creek, the Flint River, and Peachtree Creek. Here, we document a brief history of key activities of five African American-led environmental groups that share a common interest in advancing water justice in these watersheds.
Founded in 1989, Eco-Action is committed to addressing environmental problems for communities vulnerable to political, social, and economic inequalities. 46 Eco-Action has assisted in organizing more than 140 community groups across Georgia and has played a prominent role in developing responses to water justice issues ranging from stormwater flooding and sewage overflows to green gentrification stemming from green infrastructure projects to address inadequate stormwater and sewage infrastructure. For example, in 2010, Eco-Action was a partner in a year-long study led by the nonprofit Park Pride to develop a green infrastructure vision for the Proctor Creek basin around North Avenue. 47 Subsequently, Eco-Action has played a leading role in a collaboration with several historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs)—Clark Atlanta University, Morris Brown College, Morehouse College, and Spelman College—along with the Atlanta Housing Authority to develop a green infrastructure conceptual plan to address pluvial flooding and inadequate stormwater management in neighborhoods around the Atlanta University Center. 48 In community organizing and building capacity around water justice issues, Eco-Action played a crucial role in organizing the Turner Field Community Benefits Coalition that sought to center communities impacted by stormwater flooding stadium development. 49
Since 1995, the WAWA has partnered with Atlanta residents in their fight against environmental injustice and the protection of green space and water quality. 50 Although WAWA developed as a result of community efforts to end disproportionate burdens of combined sewer overflows in West Atlanta, this organization expanded its mission by developing a broader mission of environmental education, greenspace wellness, forest ethnography, EJ, and climate justice. 51 Much of WAWA’s programming is centered in the Outdoor Activity Center, a 26-acre urban nature preserve. 52 In stewardship of Sandy, Utoy, and Proctor Creeks, WAWA has partnered with multiple city, state, and federal agencies as well as numerous NGOs, preserving 400 acres of green space in Southwest Atlanta. 53
The SRWA, established in 2000, was formed to protect and restore the water quality and biodiversity of the South River watershed. SRWA leads paddle trips, river cleanups, and water quality monitoring events in the upper South River watershed, which rises from downtown Atlanta and runs through predominantly Black suburbs of south DeKalb County. 54 Since 2011, SRWA has advocated for remediation of frequent sanitary sewer spills, the focus of a consent decree for violations of the Clean Water Act by DeKalb County. 55 In addition to implementing a rivercane restoration project funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, SRWA has also worked to transform local ordinances and water quality governance practices both on the local and state levels, leading efforts to develop a water trail featuring canoe and kayak launches, and advocating for a change of designation, from fishing to recreation, resulting in higher standards for water quality. In partnership with students and researchers at Georgia State University, SRWA has developed community science monitoring to detect sewer spills and oblige municipal governments to repair degraded water infrastructure.
The PCSC, established in 2013 through a collaboration between WAWA, Eco-Action, and the Community Improvement Association, a community-based, EJ organization educating marginalized communities on watershed and waste management and political advocacy, 56 aims to address the water quality issues taking place in the Proctor Creek Watershed. 57 PCSC is led by residents who were recruited because of their involvement in EJ-focused training sessions. The PCSC has been central to work in the Proctor Creek Urban Waters Federal Partnership, a federal initiative to address impaired urban watersheds involving over a dozen federal agencies, several NGOs, and more than 20 stakeholders in addition to WAWA, Eco-Action, and PCSC. 58
The AWLN, which was piloted in 2016, is a cross-collaboration to strengthen community organizing across multiple watersheds co-founded by leaders of Eco-Action, WAWA, and American Rivers, and supported by several other groups.59,60 This network is unique because it brings residents together across issues and contexts in the West Atlanta Watersheds of the Chattahoochee River, Upper South River, and Upper Flint River Watersheds. This program allows residents the opportunity to engage in learning sessions to equip communities with skillsets for water justice, enhance knowledge on urban flooding, and address water quality issues from a community-organizing perspective. Furthermore, the AWLN provides residents with the tools and resources needed for sustainable solutions. In addition to educating community residents, these organizations have been successful in preserving greenspace and protecting water quality by providing learning sessions, green infrastructure tours, and training workshops.
Based on our review of archival and background information about these five organizations, we documented a variety of initiatives and strategies to engage community members (Table 3). The most common initiatives were community empowerment meetings, public notices and hearings, and EJ workshops. The most common organizing strategies were local ordinance advocacy meetings, municipal planning meetings, and learning sessions.
Community-based Organizations, Initiatives and Organizing Strategies
Participant observation and semi-structured interviews
Building from background analysis, we engaged with each organization to learn more about strategies and perspectives through participant observation at 25 meetings and 12 semi-structured interviews. Participant observation identified the primary issues of concern as water pollution, sewer overflows, residential displacement, and exclusion from water governance. In addition to understanding community concerns, we observed how these organizations engage community members in the urban environmental landscape through practices of outdoor interaction, environmental education, and community science monitoring through creek cleanups, restoration, and recreational events. In addition, we conducted 12 interviews addressing topics including water governance and lack of minority representation; environmental advocacy, collaboration, and community engagement; environmental inequity and injustice; and green infrastructure and resilience strategies. Below, we elaborate on four themes that emerged through coding and analysis of transcripts.
Redefining traditional environmental advocacy
The community-based focus of these five African American-led organizations centers on listening and building trust in communities. By understanding the value of community members’ concerns and their lived experiences, these organizations can better address the root causes of injustices. One interviewee shared their perspective, “…We are listening to the communities about their concerns, the issues. Through the process of listening, we are able to help them [the community members] analyze the problems into the point of getting to the root cause…it is our root cause that helps us to help them come up with organizing strategy.” Intentional listening also fosters community empowerment, pushing back against ways in which community knowledge has been devalued, discredited, and ignored. An interviewee expressed the importance of acknowledging community knowledge, “…Our organization has worked to deploy strategies…by using a grassroots collaborative approach…that values the knowledge and expertise of community residents. It is about using an approach that values the process just as much as we value the outcomes…but it also is a process that values the knowledge that community residents have.” Through this shared focus, these organizations can use a collaborative approach responsive to community needs. This community-focused approach aids in developing strategies that not only address environmental disparities but also allow communities to create long-term training and learning exchanges.
Counteracting exclusions from mainstream environmentalism
In order to counter an initial lack of collaboration and support from mainstream environmental organizations, African American community-based leaders saw the need to develop organizations that center the needs of marginalized communities and create platforms to increase minority participation in the urban environmental landscape. One interviewee provided insight on the historical absence of minorities in the mainstream environmental movement, “…historically mainstream environmentalism has been a movement that as excluded the participation of minorities… twenty years ago…mainstream environmental organizations did not even consider many of these issues that we are dealing with now with respect to environmental injustices and equitable development.” Through empowering minority communities, organization leaders gained recognition from mainstream organizations, resulting in invitations to collaborate on community-focused projects and initiatives. In efforts to increase minority participation, mainstream environmental organizations look to African American-led community-based organizations when learning strategies to enhance community participation and grassroots efforts. A staff member of one of Atlanta’s largest mainstream environmental organizations shared, “Working with these community-based groups and seeing them in action has helped me see how deeply important it is to connect with people, to meet people where they are, and truly engage in the environmental issues that we are seeking to address.”
Increasing minority participation in the urban environmental landscape
Several interviewees shared the use of place-based learning as a tool for developing cultural connections to the great outdoors. In order to increase minority participation in environmental-related activities, organizers use place-based learning to promote environmental engagement and the value of urban environments, even as they face challenges. As one interviewee stated, “If we want to help protect, revitalize, and restore these natural resources then they [community members] have to feel some type of connection to those resources…we have an ethic around caring for the land and helping people to understand how the land cares for us.” Through the practice of place-based learning, community-based organizations have expressed success in introducing community members to various realms of environmental interaction, cultivating ecocentric connections to familiar spaces. According to group leaders, this approach has a 2-fold aim—increasing community participation in environmental activities, and destigmatizing myths about marginalized communities and outdoor recreation, as if only white faces belong. 61 As one organization member described, “When I got involved, that was the real door opening to me and the greater outdoors. During my time, that is when I took my first hike…I experienced by first camping trip…being in these organizations especially since they are Black-led I think I have seen familiar faces that has helped me transition to the outdoors and help me appreciate it more.” Through their collaborative advocacy framework, interviewees expressed how their organizations are making significant strides in drawing connections to community members and the greater outdoors.
Genuine diversification NOT tokenization
Challenges of inequitable resources coupled with the implications of tokenized relations amount to barriers even as inclusion has become central. As a result of historically being excluded from the mainstream environmental movement, minority-led community-based organizations suffer from the unequal distribution of resources needed to sustain their work. The continued lack of funding limits the capacity necessary to maintain the operations of many community organizations. As one community-based organization leader expressed, “…initially the competition for financial resources was very much siloed… it was a very competitive process to seek funding, to stay operational, and to get your programs out there.” As diversity has become more central to funding competitions, community-based EJ organizations are often stigmatized with the assumption that all communities share the same experiences and have often felt tokenized by mainstream environmental organizations. As one interviewee stated, “I think environmentalism is definitely exclusionary. I think that the Proctor Creek Stewardship Council, WAWA, Eco-Action, AWLN… these are all organizations that kind of stand as the poster child… mainstream environmental groups turn to them to diversify.” Another interviewee expressed, “We don’t want to just be a token. Don’t use us strictly for diversity…What you [mainstream groups] can’t do is move in on a community and act like you know what is going on when you don’t.” These continued assumptions elicit frustration among minority-led community-based organizations and constrain progressive action toward transforming the environmental context. As one organization leader expressed, “…big mainstream environmental organizations could get money to do a project in X community, and then they come to a group like [us] and say “Hey, can you help us do this?” …but there would be no resources for that work as if the end goal of what they were trying to do was the primary thing of importance.” Tokenizing these community-based organizations prohibits them from contributing their thoughts toward environmental challenges and potential resolutions.
Community members and organization leaders shared concerns about exclusion regarding the resilient strategy and implementation of solutions aimed towards mitigating urban flooding. As one community organization participant stated, “So, there are [green stormwater infrastructure] installations… in areas where we are seeing gentrification is on the rise…that whole effort is a gentrifying effort. Or at least right now it is a gentrifying effort. That is not to say that the city is doing that purposefully, but I do think that these strategies aren’t inclusive… they are not taking into account community residents.” Although the city has implied that the resilient framework encourages community empowerment, residents believe this strategy promotes adverse impacts that perpetuate environmental and social threats.
DISCUSSION
Exclusion from environmental decision-making is a paramount concern of organizations addressing urban water pollution and flooding in Atlanta. For example, when developing many of Atlanta’s climate-resilient strategies and frameworks, many African American-led community-based organizations examined in this case study were not included in the development and drafting of the strategy, even though their communities bear the brunt of environmental issues. In order to redress this concern, it is vital to explore the drawbacks of developing these strategies without the input of communities most impacted by the root cause.
The community-based organizations in this case study differ from traditional mainstream environmental organizations by appreciating and understanding the value of communities that are often isolated and suffer from perpetual neglect. Finney argues that the dominant environmental paradigms of the United States are primarily constructed and instructed by white voices. 62 Historically, the lack of African American involvement has led to environmental advocacy that does not address inequity and disproportionate environmental burdens. By narrowly conceptualizing environmental concerns, mainstream environmental organizations often neglect the critical impacts of environmental threats and their impact on social and cultural systems. 63 In addition to redefining environmental advocacy, organizations in this case study are cross-collaborating to both address environmental concerns and effectively produce equitable outcomes in Atlanta. Organizations in this study have developed advocacy frameworks to address water injustices, deconstructing barriers to inclusion and challenging the limitations of mere recognition and models of resilience.
Although these African American-led community-based organizations have made significant strides, diversifying mainstream environmentalism, and making the environmental governance landscape more accountable to EJ communities remain challenging. Mainstream environmental organizations often assume that the concerns of African Americans are limited to EJ-related concerns. 24 Though African Americans are involved in EJ work; the work being done by minority communities expands far beyond the EJ spectrum. As a result of continued assumptions that African Americans share a monolithic environmental experience, community-based organizations have often felt tokenized by mainstream environmental organizations.
In addition to tokenism, many of the interviewees in our case study expressed concerns about exclusion from the environmental decision-making process and the unequal distribution of resources. Among the five organizations in this case study, exclusionary practices were identified as the primary hurdle toward addressing water pollution concerns and engaging in the water governance process. However, many interviewees reported that through collaborative approaches, mainstream environmental organizations have learned from community-based organizations by acknowledging the importance of people-based methods and promoting diversity in the mainstream environmental sector.
Bullard and Wright (1986) argue that African American communities are drawn to interests centered around issues that focus on equity frameworks, endorse political direct action, and seek empowerment of marginalized groups. 64 In addition to addressing EJs, the community-based organizations in this case study use their platform to introduce marginalized communities to environmental education and environmental-related outdoor activities. These organizations also implement place-based learning strategies that encourage connections between communities and the greater outdoors. Furthermore, these community-based organizations help to create the conditions needed to facilitate self-empowerment among community members by equipping them with the strategies and tools needed to recognize and effectively combat environmental injustices.
Although vulnerable communities are said to be the focus of resilient strategies, such as the strategies proposed by the city of Atlanta, 65 many community-based organizations do not have a seat at the decision-making table, and when recognition does come, it can often be tokenistic. When developing future strategies, it will be vital to adopt approaches that are inclusive in nature and promote progressive action. For example, MacKinnon and Derickson developed the concept of resourcefulness—an alternative to resilience that amplifies the injustice of redistribution. 66 Resourcefulness advances the vision of transforming marginalized communities into resourceful communities in which residents have the capacity to engage in the decision-making process while working to develop alternative agendas that address existing challenges. By adopting a resourcefulness framework, marginalized communities in Atlanta, and in other U.S. cities, can challenge exclusionary and unjust water governance practices. Most importantly, the resourcefulness concept emphasizes forms of learning and social mobilization based on the local needs identified by community activists and residents.
Reflecting on what we have gleaned from the groups we have studied, it is clear that their work rejects tokenistic recognition and the limitations of resilience; instead, this water justice organizing can be understood through a resourcefulness framework defined by four key elements: emphasizing the importance of resources, advancing skillsets and technical knowledge, promoting folk knowledge, and recognizing cultural significance. The combination of these four dimensions elicits wider connections and continuous forms of skills that allow marginalized communities the opportunity to challenge traditional decision-making practices. Furthermore, the adoption of this relational approach by city and state officials helps community members to empower themselves to expand past the traditional dependence on local and state governance. From this vantage point, resiliency concepts such as those advanced by Atlanta’s plan should be reconsidered and transcended by a resourcefulness approach that embraces a dual effort to address environmental challenges and promote community empowerment. By fostering this approach, forms of local community activism can overcome barriers when working to transform water governance and decision-making processes.
CONCLUSION
In this case study, we examined efforts to address watershed injustice among five African American-led community-based organizations in Atlanta. Through archival research, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews, we found that these community-based organizations are redefining traditional forms of environmental advocacy by valuing community knowledge and civic engagement. Their cross-collaborative structure and community empowerment frameworks, coupled with a watershed, distinguish their efforts to advance water justice. The work of these organizations has also been pivotal in destigmatizing the assumed relationship between African Americans and the environment. In addition to adopting resourcefulness practices, these organizations work through multi-scalar partnerships to combat environmental racism and empower communities to redefine long-established environmental governance practices—rejecting tokenistic recognition without real remediation and questioning resilience paradigms. This case study is limited to Atlanta’s African American-led environmental groups that focus on water justice including unequal distributions of urban flooding and pollution. Future work in other urban waterscapes and comparisons across cities could advance more generalizable results. Examining community-based organizations across the national and global scale would enrich existing research that addresses environmental injustices that have plagued marginalized communities excluded from water governance processes.
CROSSREF SIMILARITY CHECK
This case study is derived from a thesis project conducted at Georgia State University. “Diversifying Environmental Advocacy in Atlanta: A Case Study of Atlan” by Tamara Marie Spikes (gsu.edu).
Footnotes
DATA AVAILABILITY
Study data are available upon request from the authors, although some data will not be available to protect participants’ anonymity.
AUTHORS’ CONTRIBUTIONS
T.M.S.: Conceptualization (lead); writing—original draft (lead); formal analysis (lead); data curation (lead); formal analysis (lead); investigation (lead); methodology (lead) writing—review and editing (equal); project administration (lead). R.A.M.: Supervision (lead); conceptualization (lead); methodology (lead); writing—original draft (lead); writing—review and editing (equal). N.O.J.: Conceptualization (supporting); writing—review and editing (equal). C.C.E.: Writing—review and editing (equal); supervision (supporting).
AUTHOR DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
C.E. has no conflicts of interest to disclose. T.S. has no conflicts of interest to disclose. At the time of this study, R.M. served as thesis advisor. N.O.J. is a guest editor of the special issue and a co-author of this article.
FUNDING INFORMATION
This work was supported, in part, by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P30ES019776.