What is Environmental Justice? (pgs

The exact start of the Environmental Justice Movement in the US is unclear—the need for environmental justice was certainly discussed during the Civil Rights Movement. Historians consider the sit-in and protest in 1982 in Warren County, North Carolina (NC) the official start of the movement…

In 1978, the Ward Transformer Company began dumping toxic waste illegally along the shoulders of NC roads. The oil was laced with hazardous chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) which are known to cause birth defects, liver problems, and cancer. They contaminated 240 miles of highway—approximately the distance between San Diego and Las Vegas.

The state government conducted a cleanup, and decided to put the hazardous waste in a dump in Warren County, which was was a small, low-income, and predominately African-American community in North Carolina. They attempted to justify their decision by arguing that Warren County had a low GDP, which only proved they were discriminating against a low income community.

The community organized a resistance against the state. Organizations including the NAACP mounted a lawsuit against the state and were able to delay the project for a few years. However, in 1982 the state began to build the dump. Protests culminated with a six-week-long sit-in, and over 500 arrests (even though the protesters had been peaceful).

Though the protests, unfortunately, did not stop the construction of the hazardous waste dump, they did lead to the election of Black officials to state government, and sparked the EJ movement nationwide. 6

1982: Warren County Protests

1990: EPA commission of Environmental Equity was established

1994: Executive Order 1298 was signed by President Clinton to address EJ in the US 1987: Toxic Wastes & Race in the US Report finds evidence of environmental racism

1988: The first EJ organization was formed: WEACT in NY READ MORE HERE

1991: Delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in DC Drafted 17 Principles of Environmental Justice READ MORE HERE

You can read more about the history of the Environmental Justice Movement at the EPA website HERE

The Toxic Wastes and Race report found that 3/5 African-Americans and Latinx lived in a community housing toxic waste (1987). This was evidence of environmental racism: People of Color are not afforded equal rights when it comes to living in a safe and healthy environment.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE MAINSTREAM ENVIRONMENTALISM

• Social movement positing that neither people NOR the planet are disposable—and they are interconnected. So, the wellbeing of one affects the wellbeing of the other • Takes a more holistic approach to the environment by stressing that the places people spend the most time such as their homes, work, school, parks, and churches must safe and healthy environments • Focuses on seeking environmental restoration and justice for environmentally marginalized groups • Focuses on centering the needs of marginalized communities • Focuses on community-based organizing rather than just individual action • Pushes us to hold corporations and governments accountable rather than just focusing on individual responsibility • Focuses on making environmental information and educational resources public—all people’s voices should be heard, and space needs to be made for marginalized people to participate in every aspect of policy • Social movement focused on the welfare of the environment • Has problematic racist origins, and has historically excluded people of color: READ MORE HERE • Focuses on protecting the natural world or “great outdoors,” and its protection and conservation • Focuses on individual action rather than necessarily holding corporations and the government accountable for environmental destruction

Image By: Priscila Barbosa

Wildlife conservation, ending deforestation, and fighting climate change are important issues that we need to address within our society—but not at the expense of taking away land from indigenous people, excluding people of color from policy making, or places the majority of environmental hazards and burdens on communities of color.