Free Soil: For the book you have been doing a lot of fieldwork, and have been working in Environmental Justice organizations. You describe this as participatory research. Can you tell about you research methodologies?
Our goal as participatory researchers was to collaborate with activists to produce new knowledge that would also be of potential use to those pursuing an agenda for social change. Our work was reviewed not only by academics but also activists. Personally, I was more nervous about the activists’ response given their “on-the-ground” expertise. In the end, it worked out well and this research project has helped us develop strong, continuing relationships with people we respect.

Free Soil: The book puts emphasis on docu- menting and describing the often dangerous conditions in which people work and live. At the same time, you make an effort to talk about what there is to fight for, i.e. environmental justice. Can you describe this concept?
Environmental justice is a goal, a vision in which all communities have the right to live, work, play, pray, and learn in environments free of toxics; these are environments characterized by democratic governance and accountability. In other words, environmental justice is the combination of social justice and ecological sustainability. As we investigate this concept further, we find that where there is oppression there is always resistance. Frequently, resistance manifests in hidden ways that are not always self-evident. You have to look for it and we believe that documenting these activities is an important tool for understanding the politics of environmental justice.

Free Soil: Can you give an example of how the high-tech industry has endangered the environment and peoples working conditions- an example of environmental injustice in Silicon Valley/San José area, and where it is most evident?
The electronics industry is a chemical intensive industry, which means that environmental injustices are par for the course, rather than accidental occurrences or aberrations. The chemicals being used in this industry are inherently dangerous, and have been linked to a wide range of health impairments that disproportionately affect immigrant women and other workers of color. There is still much work to be done in Silicon Valley to ensure better, safer working and living conditions.

Free Soil: There has been some efforts to clean up after pollution made by the high-tech industry. What is your view on the Superfund program?
There has been little progress in this regard. The Superfund program itself has been effectively dismantled and defunded by the Bush regime and the most toxic operations in Silicon Valley have not been cleaned up; instead, the toxics have been shipped abroad to places in Latin America and Asia, as the electronics industry globalizes.

Free Soil: There are some organizations working with the issues you are dealing with in your book; Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, and the Basel Action Network to mention two. Can you give examples on how grassroot organizations have shaped the agenda or contributed to change.
Grassroots organizations have not only contributed to the social change agenda but formed and lead the movement. There wouldn’t be a story without them. From the media campaigns that first exposed the environmental issues in the high-tech industry to the on-going worker safety and leadership training programs, community organizations have kept the issue in the public eye and forced the government and corporations to at least pay some attention to environmental and worker hazards.

Free Soil: What are in your view the most effective strategies for change, and what would be the most important steps in bettering the condition?
Social change in this field requires collaborative transnational strategies. In 2002, the International Campaign for Responsible Technology was launched in San Jose. This is a solidarity network comprised of activists and scholars supporting environmental justice and labor rights campaigns around the world where electronics industry clusters are found. As a result of legislative and corporate campaigns, many states in the US, the EU, and companies like H-P, Compaq, Dell, and Apple all have adopted more environmentally friendly approaches to electronics production and disposal as a direct result of the pressure that the ICRT and its member groups have applied.

Free Soil: Since you have written the book, the industrial production of computer parts are increasingly being moved to Mexico and Asia. Can you talk about the global perspective in this, because it seems that when production moves it is often to areas that haven't got environmental standards in place and have little or no tradition for environmental activism?
These transnational movements of production are not happenstance. Hazardous technologies and toxic wastes from high-tech production move to those countries with weak environmental regulations. But as we noted earlier, we often must look deeper to find resistance practices, including environmental activism. Judging by recent campaigns against the electronics, timber, mining, petroleum, and hydropower industries, we think it’s safe to say that Latin America and Asia both have impressive environmental justice movement networks operating within indigenous and working class communities. But even these home grown movements must reach out transnationally to create a true global grassroots resistance force, and this is why the ICRT and related global networks have formed in recent years. Global problems require global solutions.

Environmental Injustice, Immigrant Workers, and the High-Tech Global Economy
David Naguib Pellow and Lisa Sun-Hee Park
New York University Press, 2002