Ted Smith was an environmental justice activist in Silicon Valley from 1962 to 2000. He attended Wesleyan University, and went on to graduate from Stanford Law in 1972. In his early practicing law years he worked on police abuse, workers rights and occupational health and safety issues before starting the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) in 1982. Here he focused on developing a Hazardous Materials Model Ordinance in the first year and later lobbying, the National Toxics Campaign and the campaign for Proposition 65 in 1986. Starting in '86, Smith began focusing on cleanup in the area such as Moffett Field cleanup efforts, the Ban Toxins Not Workers Campaign and ground water cleanups. In the 90s, the coalition moved on to regional, national and local campaigns as well as attempting to connect local and international groups for pollution prevention. In this interview, Smith discusses his early years, volunteering for VISTA in D.C., race and the environmental movement, Stanford Law, funding for SVTC, various campaigns, disillusionment with lobbying and the legislative process, Campaign for Responsible Technology, relations between grass-roots and national environmental groups, the future of the environmental movement, and Clarence Darrow, Eugene Debs and Paul Robeson. This interview is part of a group of interviews documenting environmental justice and grassroots environmentalism om the San Francisco Bay Area.