SLOW HARMS AND CITIZEN ACTION

Environmental degradation is not new yet the impact of pollution on human health and wellbeing is growing According to the World Health Organization 12 6 million people die annually from living or working near toxic pollution amounting to one quarter of global deaths Ninety two percent of these deaths occur in middle or low income countries where the majority of the global population lives For the millions of communities around the world where pollution is a slow moving long standing problem residents born into toxic exposure often perceive pollution as part of the everyday landscape particularly in low resource settings Local communities may also be both victims of pollution and complicit in perpetrating it themselves When and how do people mobilize around slow harms Moreover when does citizen action around slow harms unlock policy action In Slow Harms and Citizen Action Veronica Herrera chronicles the struggle against toxic exposure in urban Latin America Comparing advocacy movements for river pollution remediation in the capital regions of Argentina Colombia and Peru Herrera explains how citizen led efforts helped create environmental governance through networks that included impacted communities bonding mobilization and resourced allies bridgi