Acknowledgments

This collection is a bricolage of the efforts, resources, and care of a series of kindred folk who are concerned about environmental violence and advocate for a future without it. Acknowledging here the good work all have offered and gifted us in the process is admittedly a small gesture in comparison with the value of what they have given, but we hope these notes of thanks and the end result of our collective efforts are sufficient to make our shared journey worth it.

This collection began in earnest through a participatory workshop hosted at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. Many thanks are owed to Asher Kaufman, Director of the Kroc Institute, and Erin Corcoran, Executive Director of the Kroc Institute, for their initial and enduring support for the workshop and throughout the process of developing this collection. Special thanks also to Lisa Gallagher, Jeanine Dziak, and Hannah Heinzekehr for their diligent efforts in bringing the workshop to fruition. The workshop was a process of engagement, learning, and growth kindly led, facilitated, or contributed to by a tremendous group of allies in the work against environmental violence, including Maya Soetoro-Ng, Kealoha Fox, and Zelda Keller – all from the Institute for Climate and Peace – as well as Polly Walker, Cindy Cohen, and Justin De Leon. And finally, we express deep appreciation for the extraordinary song opening to the conference from longtime civil rights musicologist Jane Sapp. It was from these initial seeds, planted with immense authentic care, that the collection budded and bloomed to full creation. Thank you.

The participatory workshop and the ability to make this collection accessible and open to all would not have been possible without the support of Humanity United, with special thanks to Melanie Greenberg. We are immensely grateful to you for providing the resources necessary to bring together our crew of contributors and friends and for removing barriers so that this collection is more easily accessible to the folks most likely to be impacted by environmental violence.

From the initial workshop through the process of completion, the incredible cohort of authors to this volume has tended diligently, and thankfully with persistent kindness, to this collection and their contributions to it. It is only through your efforts that this shared treasure has come to life and is certainly greater than the sum of its parts. You are the heart of this creation and gave it its soul through your collective offerings. Thank you.

To the team at Cambridge University Press, most especially our editor Matt Lloyd, thank you for your support and confidence throughout this process together. Your flexibility, direction and attentiveness made this journey seamless throughout and we are grateful for the opportunity to make this together.

Finally, each of us recognizes that we were only able to bring this together because of the enablement of our respective institutions and, most importantly, our respective partners and caregivers. Thank you.