Dr. David N. Pellow is the Dehlsen Chair and Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Director of the Global Environmental Justice Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he teaches courses on social change movements, environmental justice, human-animal conflicts, sustainability, and social inequality.
He has published a number of works on environmental justice issues in communities of color in the US and globally. His books include: Handbook of Environmental Sociology (co-editor, with Beth Caniglia, Andrew Jorgenson, Stephanie Malin, Lori Peek, and Xiaorui Huang, Springer 2021); What is Critical Environmental Justice? (Polity Press, 2017 and 2nd edition in 2025); Keywords for Environmental Studies (editor, with Joni Adamson and William Gleason, New York University Press, 2016); Total Liberation: The Power and Promise of Animal Rights and the Radical Earth Movement (University of Minnesota Press, 2014); The Slums of Aspen: Immigrants vs. the Environment in America’s Eden (with Lisa Sun-Hee Park, New York University Press, 2011); The Treadmill of Production: Injustice and Unsustainability in the Global Economy (with Kenneth Gould and Allan Schnaiberg, Paradigm Press, 2008); Resisting Global Toxics: Transnational Movements for Environmental Justice (MIT Press, 2007); The Silicon Valley of Dreams: Environmental Injustice, Immigrant Workers, and the High-Tech Global Economy (with Lisa Sun-Hee Park, New York University Press, 2002); Garbage Wars: The Struggle for Environmental Justice in Chicago (MIT Press, 2002); Urban Recycling and the Search for Sustainable Community Development (with Adam Weinberg and Allan Schnaiberg, Princeton University Press, 2000); Power, Justice, and the Environment: A Critical Appraisal of the Environmental Justice Movement (editor, with Robert J. Brulle, MIT Press, 2005); and Challenging the Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global Electronics Industry (co-editor, with Ted Smith, David Sonnenfeld, and Leslie Byster, Temple University Press, 2006). His work has been reviewed, referenced, or quoted in the L.A. Times, the New York Times, NPR, the Chicago Tribune, the Denver Post, Mother Jones, U.S. News & World Report, the Seattle Times, and ABC News.com.
He has consulted for and served on the Board of Directors of several community-based, national, and international organizations that are dedicated to improving the living and working environments for people of color, immigrants, Indigenous peoples, and working class communities, including the Central Coast Climate Justice Network, Community Environmental Council, Global Action Research Center, the Center for Urban Transformation, Greenpeace USA, International Rivers, the Fund for Santa Barbara, and the Prison Ecology Project. He earned his BA in Sociology and Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1992. He earned his MA and PhD in Sociology from Northwestern University in 1998.
Contributions to Humans & Nature Press:
• Soil and Toil, Pain and Joy (coming soon)
An essay and conversation in response to “What can we learn from the soil about our fundamental interconnectedness?”
Additional Noteworthy Links:
• David Pellow at University of California, Santa Barbara
Learn more about David N. Pellow’s research and teaching.
• Roots Watering Hole Podcast
Listen to a conversation with David N. Pellow, hosted by Orrin Williams and Dr. Akilah R. Martin.
• What is Critical Environmental Justice?
A book by David N. Pellow.
• Books by David N. Pellow
View more books by David N. Pellow.
Photo credit: Image courtesy of David Pellow.
