Abstract
No universal definition for a sacrifice zone exists, but it is a label commonly applied to irreparably polluted communities across a variety of geographical contexts. Much work remains, however, to understand the conceptual and material import of sacrifice zones. To sacrifice means giving something up now for the promise of something better in the future, but who makes the decision to sacrifice, who or what gets sacrificed, and toward what end, are open questions. While socioecological factors work intersectionally to underpin sacrifice zones everywhere, the answers to these open questions are likely unique to situations of severe environmental degradation anywhere they occur. Common factors that produce sacrifice zones are documented, but important questions are largely unaddressed, such as the complexity of their spatiality, the universal applicability of the term, the gendered dimensions of livelihood and resistance, and the implications of a green economic transition on the production of new sacrifice zones.