Confronting Ecological Crisis in Appalachia and the South: University and Community Partnerships

” Confronting Ecological Crisis is a comprehensive look at the citizens and organizations that have emerged to fight the continued destruction of Appalachia.” — Southeastern Naturalist

“”Each of the 11 short chapters chronicles a collaborative project, is extensively documented, and is well written by both activists and academics, making for interesting reading.” — A.A. Hickey, Choice” —

“It should be required reading for faculty and students contemplating doing participatory research…. Highly recommended.” — Choice Magazine

“The authors reflect very honestly about their experiences working together across overlapping academic, Appalachian, and Southern communities in their efforts to promote environmental justice and community well-being. Academic scholarship has too often been one more extractive industry in these regions. Residents of historically marginalized communities, or “subjects,” have been more or less patiently educating academics for decades across a class divide that has widened. This book bridges that divide, acknowledging the diversity of contributions individuals participating in various communities (sometimes simultaneously) bring to documenting and addressing environmental injustice. It is a useful text in working toward more sustainable partnerships.” — Ann Kingsolver, Director of the Appalachian Center and Appalachian Studies Program, University of Kentucky

“This book should be required reading for all faculty, especially at Appalachian college and universities.” — Appalachian Heritage

“This book […] inspires because it brings together accounts of effective citizen action and productive partnerships with academic institutions and personnel in response to environmental assaults and degradation; corporate greed and irresponsibility; and bureaucratic and regulatory collusion, neglect, and inaction.

[…] This volume makes a strong case for democratic participation in all arenas, whether in the community or the university, with activism not relegated to one or the other.” — Journal of Appalachian Studies

This provocative and inspiring book contributes to a growling line of inquiry about the nature and value of higher education’s public mission, purposes, and work; it deserves a wide audience of readers, within and beyond higher education.Scott J. Peters, Cornell University, author of Democracy and Higher Education: Traditions and Stories of Civic Engagement

Stephanie McSpirit is Professor of Sociology at Eastern Kentucky University. She is the author of several articles that have been published in journals such as the Journal of Appalachian Studies, Southern Rural Sociology, and the International Journal of Society and Natural Resources. Lynne Faltraco is the program coordinator for The Concerned Citizens of Rutherford County in North Carolina and the recipient of a Rockefeller Humanities Fellowship. She has written and been featured in numerous articles, editorials, and regulatory publications such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency Region IV’s Performance Partnership Agreement Conner Bailey is professor of rural sociology at Auburn University and has published in various journals such as Rural Sociology, Society & Natural Resources, Marine Policy, the Journal of Development Studies, and World Development.