How Change Happens: A Reminder from Lois Gibbs

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By Lois Gibbs.

As we sit back and ponder yesterday’s election results, it seems like a good time to pause and reflect on how lasting change happens. One valuable lesson is that long-term change, a cultural shift in society, begins at and grows from local communities to the national level. Peter Montague, a scholar of the grassroots environmental health movement who has written about lasting change talks about changing the climate of opinion. He wrote that, “today slavery is not only illegal, it is unthinkable. The climate of opinion would not allow a serious proposal to bring back slavery or allow a public debate over a proposal to prohibited women from voting.” Once a climate of opinion victory has been achieved, it is difficult to reverse.

When Lois Gibbs began her struggle at Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York, she set out to protect her children from the leaking 20,000 tons of toxic wastes buried in the center of her neighborhood. Like many people, Lois believed that government would protect her and her family if there was a problem that required its intervention. She also believed that science was pure and never used politically against innocent families. Yes, she was naïve when she first got involved.

In her own words, “What I learned is that every struggle, every victory counts. Science and laws are tools in our tool box, in our efforts to win change. At Love Canal, it was shocking to hear that the state health department agreed that 56% of our children were born with birth defects. But it was more shocking to learn that the health authorities believed this rate was due to a random clustering of genetic defect people – not the 20,000 tons of chemicals leaking into our homes, air and neighborhood. And the burden of proof, beyond the shadow of doubt, was thrust upon our shoulders.

“With this new understanding of how science was used against us in the political arena, our community worked to win over public opinion to obtain justice. Mothers with sick children were creditable messengers as they pointed to the governor as responsible for the cover up. Moreover, state health authorities looked foolish with their “cluster of genetically damaged people” statement. Essentially, we changed the public opinion of how our health department was behaving. They were not protecting public health at Love Canal, rather they were protecting corporate profits and government resources from being used to resolve the problem and protect innocent people.

“Our story went national and then international. Suddenly women and men stood up worldwide to say they too have been harmed by environmental chemicals. You couldn’t open a newspaper anywhere that was not covering a story about ‘another Love Canal.’ People nationwide were educated and felt strongly that innocent people harmed by pollution should absolutely be helped. A movement was born of ordinary people, many of low wealth and of color, standing together to demand protection.

“The ‘climate of public opinion’ shifted dramatically. The Superfund law was passed that provided federal funds to address other Love Canal-like situations. The Right-To-Know law was passed to give both workers and the community the right to information about chemicals used, stored or disposed in their community. A federal health agency was established under Centers for Disease Control to assess environmental chemical risks. And equally important, not one new commercial hazardous waste landfill has been built since 1984. Although it is still legal to build such facilities, it’s no longer acceptable to the American people.

“Why is all of this important? Because it is important that people understand that every victory, no matter how small or local, will add voice and power to change the climate of public opinion, making certain actions unacceptable. Local victories in which citizens tackle a problem will improve the local environment. Local victories have other benefits as well — they give people real experience in making democracy work, they create connections between strangers, and they can even seed the idea that the community should be planning ahead to take control of its own destiny.

“After a series of local fights has highlighted a problem, government policy becomes ripe for change. Local fights are the basic engine for identifying problems, inventing solutions, and eventually changing government and corporate policies. Local fights ‘trickle up’ to higher levels of government where they generate new policies. Unfortunately, policy victories are rarely permanent and must be defended again and again. They are just important steps along the way. The victory of a change driven by the climate of opinion is much more difficult to reverse than a policy victory. The climate of opinion determines what kind of behavior is unthinkable. Climate of opinion changes are so big that often we aren’t even aware of them.

“So, the question for all of us as, we move forward, is how can we create the climate of public opinion that demands the prevention of harm, protects our forests, mountains and rivers, our air, water and communities and stop contributing to climate change? This is a big question that can only be answered when leaders have a focused inclusive conversation, across issues and geographical lines.”

This article was edited from an earlier article written by Lois Marie Gibbs, the founding director of the Center for Health, Environment & Justice.  

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