Waste is a fascinating book - I enjoyed getting to know more about Catherine Coleman Flowers and her work as an activist, as well as the dirty secret in the South. I found the commentary on the intersections between race, poverty, and health to be incredibly timely in today's political climate. What I enjoyed about this book was its memoir/narrative and its political expose. However, I don't like the combination of the two because I felt like they got lost in one another. I wish this book would've focused more on the politics and policy issues affecting people of color in the South, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy learning about Catherine - I just wish they had been separate books.

The intro was very strong in the way that Flowers combines memoir and exploration of the issues at hand (raw sewage, disease, poverty (& the criminalization thereof), structural racism). Unfortunately I felt like I could've stopped there as I felt like I read the sentence: "I was born in Lowndes County" 35,439 times. Also, there are a lot of "then I met this person, and this person" rather than what I'm a little more interested in-the wastewater problems in a variety of communities in the USA. I was expecting more non fiction and got memoir instead. Not putting Flowers down (she's amazing) and the behind-the-scenes of garnering support and raising awareness are super useful to activists, just personally, wanted more investigative journalism I guess. Definitely recommend if you consider yourself an activist or environmentalist!

Author Catherine Flowers latest work 'Waste' is a must read. The author has shared some truly valuable insights through real life examples that will shoock you to the core. As far as the writing style and narration is concerned, it is absolutely fantastic. Overall, it was a great eye-opening read. I give it full 5 stars and recommend it to all. Happy Reading.

Waste, One Woman's Fight Against America's Dirty Secret
Author, Catherine Coleman Flowers

Publisher: The New Press
Pub date: November 17, 2020

A Smithsonian Magazine Top Ten Best Science Book of 2020
Wow! Flowers exposes the true injustice regarding the lack of access to basic sanitation in parts of the United States- everywhere shockingly. From Alabama, Appalachia, Central California, coastal Florida, on Native American reservations, to Alaska! In her powerful non- fiction book, Flowers tells the heart- breaking, eye- opening story of systemic class, racial, and geographic prejudice that too many people here in America experience causing them to be simply unable to dispose of their own waste. Her moving and inspiring story is a fight to ensure human dignity and how it can be remedied. It feels long overdue and makes you want to stand with this brave activist and fight for these people- Americans, neighbors, friends- in our very own states. Her book unveils America's "dirty secret" and exposes a truth that not many of us are even aware of. It is a powerful read that I highly recommend.

Thank you Netgalley, The New Press, and Catherine Coleman Flowers for the e- advanced reader copy of this powerful book. I appreciate the opportunity to share my review.

The subject matter of this book is so important, and I hope everyone reads it, watches or listens to an interview with Flowers, and shares Flowers's important activism. Rural water systems are a beast and a problem throughout the US, from the nitrate-contaminated small water systems in California's Central Valley to the broken or nonexistent septic systems in the Black Belt, plagued by the very soil that gives the region its name, that cause raw sewage to flood back into homes.

Flowers, to me, is the definition of an activist. Her parents were activists as well, veterans of the Civil Rights movement (her dad was also literally a military vet himself), impressing the importance of fighting for what's right, no matter how difficult it is, upon Flowers even at a young age. Many other reviews have complained that this book is more of a memoir than what was advertised on the cover, a story about rural waste and environmental justice. But I'm fine with that. To get the full picture of Lowndes County and Flowers herself, you need to understand the multilayered, rich background, set against the urban-rural divide, with the Selma to Montgomery March a major shaper of the history and culture of the area.

You learn that Lowndes County is directly between Selma to Montgomery, and those making the pilgrimage in tribute to MLK and the other organizers pass directly through it. But the contrast between these two cities and this intermediary rural area couldn't be more stark. You need to understand that Flowers was an activist since she was knee-high, fighting segregation in schools and universities, attacks on affirmative action, racial disparities in school disciplinary actions. She endured a hell of a lot of hardship and racism, from her mother being forcibly sterilized to her Army husband getting injured and suffering from major amnesia just two years after they were married. (Flowers had to fight for years against gaslighting, medical and institutional racism, and bureaucratic red tape in order to get her husband the medical discharge he deserved.) Maybe I would object to this personal history if it ballooned the story into some massive tome, but this book still sits at a slim 208 pages.

The second half of the book turns to the issue at hand: rural wastewater and all of the environmental and social justice issues that she uncovered digging into this problem. Homes in rural areas aren't connected to municipal sewage systems like in cities, so each home (home, shack, trailers, etc.) needs to have its own septic tank. The soft, permeable soils in the Black Belt mean that wastewater can't percolate as it normally does, and septic tanks fail very, very often. Bizarrely, Alabama laws are set up so that not having a functioning septic tank translates to heavy fines and arrests for homeowners. Soil studies, septic tanks, and installation are prohibitively expensive for these folks, many of whom don't make even close to living wage, and these fines and arrests are completely counterproductive - just another way of criminalizing poverty.

Flowers was born and raised in Lowndes County, and was probably one of the first true-blue activists to plant her feet on this issue and get significant stakeholder engagement on it, drawing names from Bryan Stevenson to (yes, you're reading it right) Jeff Sessions. Some reviewers expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Flowers hasn't seemed to make much headway on this issue by the end of the book - other than the utterly tragic story of her organization raising funds to buy a new house for one of the Lowndes County residents only for her to pass away of COVID-19 related symptoms before she could move in. I don't share this view at all. Anyone familiar with organizing knows that these issues are marathons, not sprints, and you can't expect progress on some of the toughest environmental and social issues our country faces in the span of even ten years.

I so admire Catherine Coleman Flowers, her writing, her activism, and her ceaseless, persistent sense of righteousness and the need to work towards what is right, even when faced with issues that may seem insurmountable. I have a feeling that she agrees with the classic MLK quote: "We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice." I highly recommend this book and hope you open your horizons to read it.

Disclaimer: I received this as an eARC free of charge from the publisher via NetGalley for a fair review.

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While the structure of this book could use some work, it was much more coherent the last handful of chapters. The history, details of livelihoods, and humility can’t be beat. While I was aware before that I “don’t know what I don’t know” about environmental justice, this book makes it abundantly clear that I’ve been barely scratching the surface. The author takes what you think you know about poverty in the U.S., to a new depth. Her track record is long, but the fruitful (monetary) outcomes and investments are few – which is no surprise given the bureaucracy of the United States government. As a woman that has always lived in a suburban or urban area, the vastness of this issue is...breathtaking; especially when the only personal comparisons I could make from my life are anecdotal camping experiences, and extremely minor plumbing inconveniences that can often be resolved within days and without a professional plumber.

I would love to hear this topic take center stage in a national debate. Acknowledgement of and commitment to eradicate plumbing and sewage issues would radically change how we discuss infrastructure in the political realm. Catherine has been able to meet so many powerful people over her decades of work. Honestly, I’m a little baffled that some of the wealthy folks haven’t outright paid for what needs to be done for people (surely there’s a way to write it off!). One could say this book adds to the case for reparations in multiple ways, including as a way for companies that have been enriched at these peoples’ expense, as recompense.

I loved and hated this book. I loved the book but hated that it needed to be written. I grew up in Alabama and unfortunately, that is the truth. With everything that has happened this year, this book needed to be written.

A hard hitting book that asks and answers some tough questions on what is happening on our planet. Definitely one to read. It took me a bit to get into it but was really good when I did.

I am very interested in reading "Waste" by Catherine Coleman Flowers. I unfortunately wasn't able to get to it before the archive date. I have added it to my TBR list and hope to pick it up soon from my local library.

It's a very intriguing premise.

I finished reading Waste, as received by @netgalley, and it's a solid 3.5/5⭐

The story begins by discussing Flowers' current work on wastewater justice, which is fascinating. It shifts to more of an autobiography, which is also fascinating, before coming back to her current work. While interesting and engaging, it's a tad disjointed. I would have loved to see either a full telling of her work on wastewater justice marketed differently, or this book marketed as a memoir. However, if a story of activism and the biography of an activist interests you, I'd still recommend it!

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. I had no idea that such horrid conditions existed in the southern United States. The author clearly did her research and is passionate about this injustice. Her writing partly reflects her life as well as the lack of sanitation for so many people. Sometimes that worked. Sometimes it did not. I look forward to hearing more from this author.

Thank you Netgalley for sharing this book in exchange of honest review.

Just as the title, this book is about the activist's fight in raising awareness and finding solution for the neglected people in poverty that live in poor infrastructure.

Most of us don't think about where the waste goes after we flush the toilet. However, there are people that do not have have a septic system and practically live with pooling wastewater.

The author goes into more details in discussing why there is poor infrastructure in areas of low income, real stories that exposes living conditions, and consequences of living near wastewater.

This book got me thinking of the little things should be grateful for.

Waste by Catherine Coleman Flowers is a hard one for me to rate. It is one of those books that the content itself was meaningful and a must read, but the presentation and lack of clear focus made it far less enjoyable.

Pros:
Its utterly eye opening. Waste covers a crisis of lack of fresh running water and working sewers in Lowndes county Alabama. It depicts many unlivable situations that are simply the “normal” for those forgotten people of Lowndes County. This is an issue I had never heard of, and was SHOCKED to read had been covered locally, nationally, AND internationally. National Geographic even went to the site to showcase it, The Obamas walked in a mark to support it, Yet most people still are unaware that children are literally playing in their waste in their own yard.

Cons:
Unfortunately Catherine Flowers isn’t as powerful of a writer as she is a woman. She has accomplished SO MUCH in the name of activism over her decades fighting the cause, but it simply didn’t covert well to paper. Many of the chapters seemed like lists upon lists of people she knows and who she’s talked to. Its very confusing to keep it all straight, when many of them don’t directly pertain to the book.
Also, from chapters 2-6 there is literally no talk about the waste problem, or Lowndes County. Those many chapters are a personal memoir covering her time in high school, going to (many many many different) colleges, getting married, and then becoming a teacher. While it was interesting enough, I thought I was reading a book about a waste problem, not her personal story.

Lastly, and my biggest deterrent was how repetitive it was. She mentioned that same study, with the same stats, over 3 times as if she didn’t cover it before. Then when it was summarized it was laid out as if it was a larger study than it was. You simply cannot test 54 people in a county, have 34% test positive for hookworm, and then paraphrase by saying “over 30% of residence tested positive” when the county is made up of 9,700+ residents as of 2019. While yes, it is correct that of who was tested it was 30%, its leading the reader and makes me feel duped.

I’ll end by saying I think this information NEEDS to be published, I just feel like it would be better done by an investigative journalist along side Flowers.

Catherine Coleman Flowers is a truly remarkable woman with a lifetime of stories and then some. Born to community leaders and activists in Lowndes County, Alabama, Flowers took on the injustices around her, beginning with educational inequalities. Over time and through engagement in a variety of public actions, she built up her network and became an international voice for change on behalf of neglected rural communities. In the book, she talks about coordinating the study that exposed the existence of hookworm in Alabama. She uses her passion and connections (some seriously big names like Cory Booker, Rev. Barber, and Jane Fonda) to shed light on the devastating, persistent issue of wastewater injustice that she has now witnessed across the country. Many poor, rural homes do not have functioning septic systems and are prevented from installing them due to soil challenges and prohibitive cost. Flowers rightly calls this out as an environmental justice issue that entrenches poverty and will only worsen with climate change.

While Flowers’s story was moving and her fight is exceptionally important, I have two criticisms of the book. Primarily, I think it was mis-marketed. The first half is dedicated to Mrs. Flowers’s background in activism and would be better named a memoir rather than an “exposure” as the subtitle suggests. In and of itself, the story of her life is worthy of telling! Second, I thought the writing was a bit lackluster and had a bit of an “and then and then and then” quality, verging on plodding. I would have enjoyed some variation and a bit more depth.

*Many thanks to Catherine Coleman Flowers, The New Press and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
The dirty secret of which I was unaware, that is thousands of households with no proper sanitation across The South, was a total surprise to me, hence, this book opened my eyes to America I never knew existed in the 21st century. Ms Flowers is an activist who grew gradually to fight for the underpriviledged with regard to their basic needs and commodities, and for this she should be applauded.
The downside was the writing quality, however, the book is worth reading as it tackles an issue of the poverty and inability to shake it off.

Sometimes this book feels like a plea for help, sometimes a history of civil rights, and sometimes the type of biography you tend to get around election season. And it fulfills all of those missions. The author is a civil rights activist from Lowndes County, along the famous Civil Rights March between Selma and Montgomery, and Black, and from a community where sewage in yards and backing up into houses is unfortunately common. Catherine Flowers took her racial justice background, which was extensive, and rolled up her sleeves to take care of a different problem as dirty as racism - the unequal wastewater and sewage treatment for poor communities. The first half of the book is a background of her home town, and a biography. Then she gets to business talking about the problems, the efforts they've already made, and what needs to be done. Flowers detours through Centreville, Missouri and Allentown, California among other places that have the same waste & water problems with different climates and different causes. She decries the criminalization of impoverished families who can't afford septic systems, and the undue burden of wastewater fees for people who are not getting the services that should go with it. She talks of the partnerships she made across the aisle and the people who've been helping her cause.

Waste is an important lesson in inequality and a humbling picture of an America that fails to provide basic sanitation and clean water for our minority communities, rural communities and those who don't have the political power to get those strings pulled. I'm glad to know of the issues, and am reminded to pay attention to the problems here in California and support equitable and safe utilities for all.

I was disappointed in <i>Waste</i>. The initial chapter grabbed me: I couldn't wait to learn more about what Catherine Coleman Flowers describes as America's dirty secret--that there are thousands of citizens living without adequate septic systems. It was an eye-opener for me and I'm sure will be for many other readers (welcome to liberal privilege). While <i>Waste</i> does describe the abominable circumstances, it does so in a meandering way. <i>Waste</i> reads part memoir, part investigative journalism and I think both would have been better written as separate books.

Catherine Coleman Flowers is an incredible activist. Learning her history, from childhood in rural Lowndes County, Alabama, through her education, and moves to different parts of the country is a fascinating journey. I have no doubt that Flowers is a force and a beacon, but the writing is simplistic and not always linear, which made for a lackluster reading experience. A lot of the book felt like a name-drop fest; you know that person who annoys you because they always want to tell you which famous person they just met? Flowers irritated me in this way. And I feel badly about it because it is <i>so cool</i> that she has interacted with so many politicians and activists, but the style grated. It all followed the same formula: <i>I informed so-and-so that the issue existed and that Lowndes County needed help. They didn't believe me. Then, I brought them on a tour of Lowndes County, they saw how truly deplorable the conditions are, and I had their support.</i>

I have a hard time rating nonfiction like this poorly. I feel like I'm rating the person and they'll take it personally (and, honestly, it's possible they will), but I want to be very clear: the content here is essential reading; the delivery was poor. Everyone should know about Flowers and her unique history of activism from high school till current day. I'd like to read a biography of Flower, written by someone else. And I'd like to read about Flowers's wastewater work, either by someone else or in a long article/essay form. The combined narratives didn't work for me and the writing wasn't strong enough to pull it together.

Thank you to the publisher for a NetGalley ARC.

I consider myself to be an environmentalist, so that is why I requested this book. I did not expect to be told there is a link between literal waste and the cycle of poverty that keeps so many people down, especially in Alabama, where the book is set. I do love seeing different ways that life happens to people outside my circle, as this is the only way to learn. I hope upon publication that people pay attention to this book, as it is important for understanding why the cycle of poverty is impossible for some people to break.

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<p>Review copy provided by the publisher.</p>
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<p>Clean water is a cause very dear to my heart; it was my late father's field. As a result, I know quite a bit more than the average person about water treatment, and I expected that to come into play in this book. And it did--but not in the way I expected.</p>
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<p><em>Waste</em> is not a book about clean water. It's the activism-focused memoir of an activist whose long career has led her to fight for clean water and safe sewage treatment for some of the poorest people in America. Her personal journey has brought her to many famous politicians, celebrities, and activists--and not always the ones you'd expect.</p>
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<p>There are some terms--"perc test" comes to mind--that go sweeping past that <em>I</em> know, because of my family background, but I don't expect a casually interested reader to know them. Despite that, this is very much not a technical book, so if you come in wanting to know why some soils are more prone to drainage difficulties than others, how different diseases of untreated sewage spread differently with environmental factors, how climate change will only hasten this spread--this is not the book to explain any of that to you. What it is: a book that gives one woman's road map to awareness, activism, and real change.</p>
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<p>It also is a book that does not flinch from the present day. There is an epilogue that was written after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and puts the rest of the book in that context. If you're not ready for that on a given day, that's not the day to read <em>Waste</em>.</p>
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An instant classic that belongs aside works like Carson's Silent Spring.

Flowers is a true crusader, and this book outlines just how her discipline, drive, and heart have brought to the forefront the needs of those who don't have the means and/or power to speak to the right set of ears. Call it true Christianity, if you will, but it's also what should pass for the bedrock-level of empathy we should all have toward our fellow people.

It's a special kind of poverty that we force people into when we expect them to foot bills for luxuries and amenities that they cannot receive. Sewage-soaked back yards and the presence of certain parasites thought virtually impossible to be found within US borders is a reality for some, and that in and of itself makes this an exceptionally sobering read.

Despite the dour subject matter, Flowers writes fluidly so that the pages fly by, her interesting and event-filled life notwithstanding, which further adds to the accessibility of this work's content and allows it to be easily digestible for readers who might feel intimidated by a book that dips in and out of civil rights and environmental justice.

I'm admittedly low-hanging fruit for subjects such as this, but I'm forever changed by Catherine's book. A stellar book, and I hope that I remain keenly aware of others as she appears to do.

Many thanks to NetGalley and The New Press for the advance read.