A review by kt0914
The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet by Leah Thomas

3.5

3.5 stars. I applaud Leah Thomas for taking on the task of describing effectively ALL facets of an intersectional environmentalist worldview and perspective. With that, the book felt like it was missing a clear throughline and target audience: it was too nuanced and terminology-laden to be for true newcomers, while too basic to push the bounds for someone who has spent any time focused on environmental justice. I felt like the author could have pushed the reader to think more critically about certain points. For example, one of the most compelling stat lines in the book was about how white people breathe significantly less polluted air than the pollution they produce while BIPOC breathe in more polluted air than the pollution they produce. Diving deep into that would have been interesting to start getting philosophical and also come to some ways of thinking about solutions, but instead, like much of the book, this was glossed over as fact after fact was presented at a rapid clip. I understand this book is meant to be a "primer" rather than the final say on environmental justice which is why I still give it some stars, but I can't say it would be the first book I recommend to either newbies or more seasoned environmentalists.