The word "volunteer" is defined as "a person who voluntarily offers himself or herself for a service or undertaking" or "a person who performs a service willingly and without pay." Environmental organizations rely heavily on local volunteers from all walks of life, spanning the spectrum of age, race, class and ethnicity. These people are widely different but are unified in their desire to give back to their community, their towns or cities, or their...

"Using a social ecological lens, this exploratory study attempts to understand a little known, but growing popular movement: the community rights movement. Little literature exists on this movement outside of the writings put out by the main national lead organization, The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. Through questionnaire research of twelve participants from seven different communities in four states, data was gathered on how these...