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Among those now working to oppose the long-term release of more than 1.3 million tons of Fukushima’s radioactive wastewater, contemporary activists can draw inspiration and perspective from an earlier transnational movement during the 1970s, when Pacific Islanders were central to stopping a plan by the Japanese government to dump 10,000 drums of nuclear waste into the Mariana Trench (Branch, 1984; Avenell, 2017). The mobilization of Pacific activists significantly contributed toward achieving the suspension and eventual cancellation of the ocean-dumping plan by taking their stories to audiences in Japan while working in collaboration with Japanese activists. In a strategy that proved crucial for influencing changes in Japanese attitudes toward ocean dumping, Pacific activists shared moving accounts of the environmental and historical injustices to which the Pacific Islanders had been subjected. They gave witness to the harm caused by 67 nuclear weapons tests between 1946 and 1979, which had resulted in the loss of homelands as well as higher rates of leukemia, lymphatic cancers, and genetic defects. These powerful testimonies challenged Japanese audiences to oppose the committing of further aggressions against those with whom they could identify as fellow atomic victims. In “Pacific Solidarity and Atomic Aggression” (2017), historian Simon Avenell writes, “This Pacific iteration of environmental injustice opened the eyes of many antinuclear advocates to the ways Pacific activists connected the radioactive waste issue to a longer struggle for independence and the obliteration of nuclear neocolonialism.” That in turn complicated the victim consciousness which had long informed antinuclear protest in postwar Japan. The activists' intervention made plain the moral case for Japanese people to act in solidarity with their counterparts in the Pacific Islands, who had similarly suffered from the lethal toll wrought by the use of nuclear technology in ways that devalued human life and the natural world. Given the breakthrough achieved through transnational activist solidarity, this historical precedent serves as a reminder that the nuclear wastewater issue must not be relegated to the politicized nationalist frameworks that have become common in contemporary media accounts. Notably in 2021, the unilateral decision to release Fukushima's radioactive wastewater alienated not only residents of neighboring countries but also many of Japan's own citizens, resulting in a breach of public trust which needs to be addressed by stopping the release and pursuing a sincere dialogue with stakeholders - not simply a campaign to attempt persuasion - according to nuclear engineer and Nagasaki University professor Tatsujiro Suzuki (2023). To attain public trust and to honor the moral and ethical legacies surrounding questions regarding nuclear waste and the Pacific Ocean, such a dialogue must extend to transnational stakeholders, and Indigenous knowledge must factor highly into the debate over an issue with vital transboundary and transgenerational consequences. 

Image: GRID-Arendal, www.grida.no/resources/7365.

Kim, Nan. 2023. "A Precedent of Success: Pacific Islanders' Transnational Activism Against the Ocean Dumping of Radioactive Waste." In 4S Paraconference X EiJ: Building a Global Record, curated by Misria Shaik Ali, Kim Fortun, Phillip Baum and Prerna Srigyan. Annual Meeting of the Society of Social Studies of Science. Honolulu, Hawai'i, Nov 8-11. 

It would be great to interview current and former staff members of CBE to gain insight into what it is like to work on major campaigns and among a team who is victorious in practical issues. I would ask what are the most impactful strategies in community organizing that have proven effective in various campaigns facilitated by the CBE.

CBE’s mission focuses on the belief that everyone has the right to live in a healthy environment, free from the harmful effects of pollution and other environmental hazards. They also believe mobilizing community engagement leads to their empowerment and includes them in critical policy and decision-making conversations. Finally, by holding polluters accountable and promoting environmental regulatory laws, the CBE can ensure that polluters abide by necessary restrictions.

1. The CBE is regarded as one of California's most important and influential environmental justice organizations and the nation. Given the victories in critical cases throughout the years, it has a solid reputation for its advocacy work and is well respected by policymakers, environmental advocates, and community members. 

2. Within the media, CBE has been covered extensively in credible local and national media outlets. The organization is often quoted and featured as a credible and effective EiJ org. Its work has been recognized and celebrated.

1. Communities for a Better Environment functions within the nonprofit sector, specifically within social justice and advocacy subsectors. 

1.  Among the CBE’s board of directors sits Caroline Farrell, the Executive Director of the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment (CRPE)

2. The CBE collaborates with other local, state, and national grassroots organizations. 

3. Additionally, the CBE has a history of working with labor unions representing workers closely tied to environmental issues, such as employees from refineries and power plants.

1. Climate Justice – CBE efforts are focused on the intersection of environmental issues, emphasizing the significance of the disproportionate impacts on low-income communities of color.

2. Racial Justice – The CBE is committed to amplifying the voices of Black and Brown communities in their work. Their work can be considered an effort to dismantle systems of oppression and inequality.

3. Corporate Power – CBE can be seen as a counterbalance to corporate interests and is proactive in holding polluters accountable by promoting policies that prioritize public health and environmental protection over corporate profits.

1. Community-led initiatives emphasize the importance of community members providing input central to their needs. 

2. Intersectionality is also key to describing the interconnectedness of environmental and social injustices.

3. At times they focus on narrow and specific issues such as air pollution or toxic waste disposal.

1. Given the difficulty in addressing environmental pollution and the health implications from exposure is often invisible and difficult to measure, it is challenging to identify the sources of pollution and, thus, hold polluters accountable. Working closely with predominantly low-income communities of color located near industrial facilities and other sources of pollution, they often lack the necessary political power and resources to advocate effectively against government and regulatory institutions.

2. As mentioned previously, applying an intersectional approach is also critical to the conversations concerning environmental justice. Often, these communities face a multitude of inequities that add complexity to the social, economic, and political factors contributing to environmental pollution and injustice.

1. The CBE works closely with impacted communities to identify their needs and priorities. They support them further by developing strategies tailored to meet the specific concerns of the local stakeholders first. This is different because they do not approach solely from a top-down perspective that emphasizes the needs of policymakers and outside organizations over the voices of the impacted communities themselves. 

2. In the research CBE conducts, they emphasize the significance of intersectionality in their discourse around environmental justice. This means recognizing and addressing the ways that environmental and social injustices intersect. Many present issues include things that cannot be discussed in isolation. The work CBE does highlights the links between poverty, racism, and other underlying social determinants of health-related to environmental justice.