Joyce Elaine Roop (1952–1995) was an attorney and environmental activist. Born in Chicago, Roop attended the

University of California at Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joine ...

, where she helped found the Isla Vista Recreation and Park District and was then elected to the initial board of directors. In 1976 she moved from Isla Vista to Massachusetts, where she studied at

Northeastern University School of Law The Northeastern University School of Law is the law school of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. History Northeastern University School of Law was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in 1898 as the f ...

. While a high school student in 1967, Roop joined a nationally publicized protest and marched from California's border with Oregon down the length of the state to a defense plant near Los Angeles to protest the US war in Vietnam. After law school, Roop worked for

Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American lawyer and political activist involved in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. He is a Perennial candidate, perennial presidential candidate. His 1965 book '' ...

Public Citizen Public Citizen is an American non-profit, Progressivism in the United States, progressive consumer rights advocacy group, and think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1971 by the American activist and lawyer Ralph Nader. Lobbying e ...

Congress Watch organization and the

Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG) is a non-profit organization that is one of the largest of the state PIRG organizations. It works on a variety of political activities, including textbook trading on college campuses. They a ...

, where she spearheaded litigation to stop

acid rain Acid rain is rain or any other form of Precipitation (meteorology), precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists b ...

from

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

-fired power plants.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roop, Joyce Elaine 1952 births 1995 deaths University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Northeastern University School of Law alumni 20th-century American lawyers People from Isla Vista, California 20th-century American women lawyers