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, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

, 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 Isla Vista is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Barbara County, California in the United States. As of 2020 census, the community had a population of 15,500. The majority of residents are college students at t ...

to Massachusetts, where she studied at

Northeastern University School of Law Northeastern University School of Law (NUSL) is the law school of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded as an evening program to meet the needs of its local community, NUSL is nationally recognized for its cooperative legal ...

. 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 political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. The son of Lebanese immigrants to the U ...

Public Citizen Public Citizen is a non-profit, Progressivism in the United States, progressive consumer rights advocacy group and think tank based in Washington, D.C., United States, with a branch in Austin, Texas, Austin, Texas. Lobbying efforts Public Citizen ...

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 Public Interest Research Groups, PIRG organizations. It works on a variety of political activities, including textbook tra ...

, where she spearheaded litigation to stop acid rain 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 elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

-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