How Affluent Communities Shaped Modern Environmentalism
In a new book, Natural Attachments: The Domestication of American Environmentalism, 1920–1970, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign landscape architecture professor Pollyanna Rhee explores how environmental concern has often been shaped by wealth and privilege—especially in places like Santa Barbara, California.
Rhee traces how the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, a major catalyst for the modern environmental movement, spurred action not toward systemic change but toward protecting local property values and community aesthetics. In contrast to equally dire events like the Cuyahoga River fire, Santa Barbara’s affluent, predominantly white residents helped define a version of environmentalism she calls “ownership environmentalism” — one rooted in personal interest rather than environmental justice.
“Environmentalism is a pretty effective weapon… to use the protection of green space or nature preserves as a way of limiting a certain type of development,” Rhee notes.
The book connects today’s debates over housing, equity, and environmental justice to historical patterns in which preservation efforts prioritized private interest over public good. But Rhee also sees potential in reexamining how daily life shapes environmental values and how the movement might be reimagined for broader inclusion.
Read the full article in the Illinois News Bureau to dive deeper into Rhee’s research and the complex roots of American environmentalism: “Book explores how ‘domestication’ of environmentalism limits who it protects” by Jodi Heckel.