Agyeman: Ch.4: Just Sustainability in Practice

Summary: I chose to read this chapter because for me, it is most interesting to know what other people and organizations are DOING. For me the theory is not too difficult; it is putting this or that theory into practice that is most challenging.
Agyeman wants to provide the reader with examples of organizations who are really taking action in a successful and sustainable (?) way. In order to do this, he develops a Just Sustainability Index (JSI) by which he reviews and categorizes organizations who propose to do environmental work. Agyeman wants to know if what they're as committed to saving the environment as they are to serving humans equitably as well. Whether his index answers this question, I'm not sure.
The chapter centers around the JSI as the author gives a short summary of the practices and mission statements of three organizations per five categories. The categories are: land-use planning, solid waste, toxic chemical use, residential energy use, and transportation.
The chapter is less than inspiring in the beginning: Agyeman, as he researches for his index, finds that hardly any organizations show a commitment to his search terms of equity, justice, and/or sustainability.
Critique:
There is not too much to criticize in this chapter as Agyeman does exactly as he proposes to do. I would wish for a few changes, however. I was hoping for a little more than a simple summary of these organizations who seem to be doing really interesting things: maybe fewer summaries and more meat in each one? For instance, in the category "Toxic Chemical Use," he talks about the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition and their celebration of Earth Day in which they encourage marginalized community to take responsibility for the planet. Now, maybe I am wrong, but it seems that especially people who have resources available should be taking responsibility. It just feels like saying, well, we tossed you into this mess, and now you ought to dig yourselves out. Maybe this isn't what the author or the organization was trying to portray. I hope not. I guess I was looking for some more of his opinion, to dig a little deeper and ask the how and why questions, rather than simply what.
Usefulness:
There is a man called Paul Ray who wrote a book called "Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World." He writes that in reality there are literally millions of people who are socially aware, and creatively working to change and reshape the world--but hardly anyone know each other. I thought the chapter I read was useful and interesting for two reasons. Not only was the author making an effort to connect people with movements happening across the country, but within each vignette he clearly shows that in almost every one, half the battle of the work they were doing was to create coalitions, connect people--to join together and have a strong base and a holistic approach.

This clearly connects to the reading form Ken Reardon who, very helpfully I thought, goes through step by step the process he's followed in participatory planning. (In order to have participation, we better be able to connect to one another!)