Book Review by Greg Kearney, DrPH

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Bridging Silos: Collaborating for Environmental Health and Justice in Urban Communities, by Katrina Smith Korfmacher. 2019. Cambridge, MA; London, England: The MIT Press. ISBN: 978-0-262-53756-8

In her timely new book, Bridging Silos: Collaborating for Environmental Health and Justice in Urban Communities (MIT Press), Dr. Katrina Smith Korfmacher offers refreshing insight and social guidance for communities seeking help at a time when government programs are slow to respond to environmental injustices. Korfmacher provides the reader with a brief, but excellent backdrop of the origins of the environmental justice movement. However, the aims of the book are really focused on the importance of building and strengthening local collaborative relationships while underscoring the critical role they play for bringing attention to resolving environmental injustices in urban communities.

To illustrate, the author provides 3 excellent, relevant and in-depth case study reviews of local environmental health initiatives, including (1) a housing-based approach to lead poisoning prevention in Rochester, New York; (2) efforts to promote a healthy built environmental in Duluth, Minnesota; and (3) an initiative targeted at making local community health a key priority in decision making about transporting goods imported through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach California.

Read the full review in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice here.

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Dr. Greg Kearney is an associate professor of public health at East Carolina University, Brody School of Medicine, Department of Public Health. As an applied environmental public health researcher, he focuses on relevant environmental and occupational health concerns, issues, and threats that impact vulnerable and marginalized populations.