Steve Lerner Papers

The 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, popularly known as the Rio Earth Summit, was a seminal moment in the development of international environmental diplomacy and coordination. Lerner studied this meeting of international policy makers and activists from its inception, taking detailed notes on the preparatory committees in New York City and Geneva as well as the Summit itself. The result of his research and prolific interviewing were his books Earth Summit: Conversations with Architects of an Ecologically Sustainable Future (1991) and Beyond the Earth Summit: Conversations with Advocates of Sustainable Development (1992). Both works examined the significance and legacy of the Summit, as well as the attitudes of its many delegates toward environmentalism on the international stage. Series 1 includes transcripts of interviews with committee and summit attendees, transcripts of those interviews, several of Lerner’s notebooks used during the preparatory committees and the summit, correspondence related to both books, and materials on book promotion. Recordings of his interviews for the books can be found in Series 8.

Inspired by the work he saw beginning at the Rio Earth Summit, Lerner spent the next four years travelling across the United States seeking out what he called “practical visionaries”. These were men and women working to find new ways to innovate and build in a more environmentally conscious world. Putting his interviewing skills to work, Lerner captured the spirit and substance of many exciting new projects that began with sustainability in mind. The culmination of this was his book Eco-Pioneers: Practical Visionaries Solving Today's Environmental Problems. Series 2 consists of the various resources Lerner used to write Eco-Pioneers, including edited drafts, interview transcripts, literature on various environmental innovation projects, and background materials that provide context for his interview subjects. Also includes computer disks with drafts of the book. Recordings of his interviews can be found in Series 8.

Throughout his career, Lerner has been concerned with how environmental and societal issues intersect. His work reporting on one particularly disastrous example became his book Diamond: A Struggle for Environmental Justice in Louisiana's Chemical Corridor, an in-depth interview-based study of how under- regulated oil and chemical production affected the neighboring Diamond subdivision of Norco, Louisiana. The book lays out the horrifying health implications of Shell’s environmental degradation of the area and the community’s fight for justice. The series includes edited drafts, materials on book publishing and promotion, transcripts of interviews with Diamond residents, and photographs of Lerner’s human, environmental, and industrial subjects. It also includes background materials on the Diamond controversy such as journal and newspaper articles, case studies, reports, webpages, and campaign literature. Recordings of his interviews for the books can be found in Series 8.

In his provocatively titled Sacrifice Zones: The Front Lines of Toxic Chemical Exposure in the United States Lerner employed his journalistic skill to expose a nationwide crisis. His work showed that across the United States there are communities, usually poor and minority, poisoned by the environmental repercussions of neighboring under-regulated industrial development and resource extraction companies. In addition to book drafts and promotional materials, this series includes the various sources Lerner used to expose the many tragedies of environmental contamination. These consist of research reports, case studies, articles, and an impressive number of transcribed interviews with pollution experts and with people who live in "sacrifice zones". Recordings of his interviews for the books can be found in Series 8.

After completing Sacrifice Zones Lerner turned his attention to another site of environmental racism: suburban sprawl. Through an expansive interview process as well as web and print based research, Lerner gathered information on sprawl, affordable housing, racism in housing, environmental redevelopment and anti-sprawl projects, and levels of access to public services. All of these materials, as well as relevant correspondence and several drafts of the related paper "The Economic Benefits of Open Space", can be found in Series 5 and went into Lerner’s currently unpublished work, Fair Growth. The series also includes several drafts of the book. Recordings of his interviews for the books can be found in Series 8.

Even before the publication of Earth Summit in 1992, Lerner was deeply involved in environmentalist activism and scholarship. This series includes a collection of articles Lerner wrote for the journals Common Knowledge and Working Papers. It holds several freelance writing samples and papers on environmentalism. This series also includes 3.5" computer disks with drafts of various writings.

Lerner and his wife Mary Ellin Barrett collaborated to write a study of Roop Kanwar and the controversy surrounding her called Murder or Miracle: The Story of Sati Roop Kanwar. A young girl living in rural India, Kanwar became a “sati” after she died in ritual suicide by fire after her husband passed away. In the years that followed, she became the center of a massive cultural debate in India concerning the morality and nature of sati. While the book was not published, this series includes a full draft of Murder or Miracle as well as material on women’s rights and cultural conflicts taken from books and contemporary magazines that formed the basis of the couple’s research.

Series 8 consists of over 400 taped interviews on compact cassettes. It includes interviews for each of his books, with the exception of the unpublished Murder or Miracle Other interviews in series 8 contributed to Lerner’s articles, both published and unpublished, covering the topics of pollution, child and domestic abuse, the criminal justice system, false accusations of shoplifting, and more. The series also includes several video tapes and DVDs about environmentalism and housing.