Natural Attachments - by Pollyanna Rhee

About the Book

"A massive oil spill in the Pacific Ocean near Santa Barbara, California, in 1969 quickly became a landmark in the history of American environmentalism, helping to inspire the creation of both the Environmental Protection Agency and Earth Day. But what about Santa Barbara itself? As Pollyanna Rhee shows, that city's history and demographics played crucial roles in making the oil spill so iconic. Moreover, well-off and influential Santa Barbarans subsequently "domesticated" the larger environmental movement by arguing that individual homes and families-not society as a whole-needed protection from environmental abuses. This put environmental rhetoric and power to fundamentally conservative-not radical-ends"--

Book Synopsis

A nuanced analysis takes a California oil spill as its point of departure to show how affluent homeowners pushed for an environmentalism that would protect not only the earth but also property and community norms.

A massive oil spill in the Pacific Ocean near Santa Barbara, California, in 1969 quickly became a landmark in the history of American environmentalism, helping to inspire the creation of both the Environmental Protection Agency and Earth Day. But what role did the history of Santa Barbara itself play in this? As Pollyanna Rhee shows, the city's past and demographics were essential to the portrayal of the oil spill as momentous. Moreover, well-off and influential Santa Barbarans were positioned to "domesticate" the larger environmental movement by embodying the argument that individual homes and families--not society as a whole--needed protection from environmental abuses. This soon would put environmental rhetoric and power to fundamentally conservative--not radical--ends.

Review Quotes

"While Natural Attachments is a deeply researched academic book, it's written clearly enough to be accessible to a general reader. Rhee's conceptualization of 'ownership environmentalism' speaks to the central conundrum we face in our efforts to slow the negative effects of climate change: who's willing to sacrifice? Who's willing to moderate their consumption and use of resources? Who deserves or is entitled to a liveable environment?"-- "California Review of Books"

"Natural Attachments is an original exploration of the United States environmental movement through a case study of Santa Barbara, California, site of the iconic 1969 oil spill. Rhee turns our attention to domestic spaces--and the affluent citizens who wanted to improve and protect them--and suggests that postwar environmentalism was not, in fact, driven solely by reform-minded radicals nor primarily engaged with the protection of distant, monumental landscapes. In shining a spotlight on the home, Rhee provides a compelling explanation for why affluent whites became engaged in environmental issues and makes a critical contribution to the scholarship on the American environmental movement."--Connie Y. Chiang, author of "Nature Behind Barbed Wire: An Environmental History of the Japanese American Incarceration"

"Countless scholars have pointed to the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill as a pivotal moment in the rise of modern environmentalism but few have asked how and why this small city assumed a starring role. Rhee looks past the discolored beaches to consider the ways that gardens, domestic space, homeownership, and community aesthetics shaped an environmental outlook bred in leafy neighborhoods and projected nationwide. The story she tells reframes environmentalism's origins and commitments; by zooming in on a particular place and its most intimate spaces, she broadens the scope of how we should think about environmental politics. This is a compelling and vital book."--Keith Makoto Woodhouse, author of "The Ecocentrists: A History of Radical Environmentalism"

"Natural Attachments rewrites the history of environmentalism as the history of privilege. In this innovative and important book, Rhee brilliantly places architecture and the built environment at the center of a narrative that features an unexpected cast of characters. Rhee convincingly moves across multiple scales of analysis to expose the exclusionary vision of home and civic identity promoted by affluent groups in Santa Barbara and beyond. A local history with national implications, Natural Attachments reveals the powerful links between race, class, and property values in the making of American environmentalism."--Finis Dunaway, author of "Seeing Green: The Use and Abuse of American Environmental Images"

About the Author

Pollyanna Rhee is assistant professor of landscape architecture at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and affiliate faculty in history, sustainable design, and theory and interpretive criticism.