Lois Marie Gibbs (1951 – ) American Environmentalist and Community Organizer

An activist dedicated to protecting communities from hazardous wastes, Lois Gibbs began her political career as a housewife and homeowner near the Love Canal, New York. She was born in Buffalo on June 25, 1951, the daughter of a bricklayer and a full-time homemaker. Gibbs was 21 and a mother when she and her husband bought their house near a buried dump containing hazardous materials from industry and the military, including wastes from the research and manufacture of chemical weapons.

From the time the first articles about Love Canal began appearing in newspapers in 1978, Gibbs has petitioned for state and federal assistance. She began when she discovered the school her son was attending had been built directly on top of the buried canal. Her son had developed epilepsy and there were many similar, unexplained disorders among other children at the school, yet the superintendent was refusing to transfer anyone. The New York State Health Department then held a series of public meetings in which officials appeared more committed to minimizing the community perception of the problem than to solving the problem itself. The governor made promises he was unable to keep, and Gibbs herself was flown to Washington to appear at the White House for what she later decided was little more than political grandstanding. In the book she wrote about her experience, Love Canal: My Story, Gibbs describes her frustration and her increasing disillusionment with government, as the threats to the health of both adults and children in the community became more obvious and as it became clearer that no one would be able to move because no one could sell their homes.

While state and federal agencies delayed, the media took an increasing interest in their plight, and Gibbs became more involved in political action. To force federal action, Gibbs and a crowd of supporters took two officers from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hostage. A group of heavily armed FBI agents occupied the building across the street and gave her seven minutes before they stormed the offices of the Homeowners' Association, where the men were being held. With less than two minutes left in the countdown, Gibbs appeared outside and released the hostages in front of a national television audience. By the middle of the next week, the EPA had announced that the Federal Disaster Assistance Administration would fund immediate evacuation for everyone in the area.

But the families who left the Love Canal area still could not sell their homes, and Gibbs fought to force the federal government to purchase them and underwrite low-interest loans. After she accused President Jimmy Carter of inaction on a national talk show, in the midst of an approaching election, he agreed to purchase the homes. But he refused to meet with her to discuss the loans. Carter signed the appropriations bill in a televised ceremony at the Democratic National Convention in New York City, and Gibbs simply walked onstage in the middle of it and repeated her request for mortgage assistance. The president could do nothing but promise his political support, and the assistance she had been asking for was soon provided.

Gibbs was divorced soon after her family left the Love Canal area. She moved to Washington D.C. with her two children and founded the Citizen's Clearinghouse for Hazardous Wastes in 1981 (later renamed the Center for Health, Environment and Justice in 1997). Its purpose is to assist communities in fighting toxic waste problems, particularly plans for toxic waste dumping sites, and the organization has worked with over 7,000 neighborhood and community groups. Gibbs has also published Dying from Dioxin, A Citizen's Guide to Reclaiming Our Health and Rebuilding Democracy. She has appeared on many television and radio shows and has been featured in hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. Gibbs has also been the subject of several documentaries and television movies. She often speaks at conferences and seminars and has been honored with numerous awards, including the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in 1991. Because of Gibbs' activist work, no commercial sites for hazardous wastes have been opened in the United States since 1978.

Lois Gibbs at her desk during her fight to win permanent relocation for the families living at Love Canal. (Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.)

Gibbs, L. Love Canal: My Story. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1982.

Wallace, A. Eco-Heroes. San Francisco: Mercury House, 1993.