EXPLAINER: The environmental justice movement and the fight against environmental racism

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website states that environmental justice “is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies.”  

Environmental Justice Movement

The EPA website also states that the environmental justice movement was started primarily by people of color during the Civil Rights Movement. Activists such as Reverend Joseph Lowery and former delegate of the US House of Representatives, Walter Fauntroy, worked to tackle the environmental discrimination in their communities.

How it started

The Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (NRDC) website states that the environmental justice movement arose in 1982 in Warren County, North Carolina, a predominantly Black community. 

Protests arose after the county’s plan to release toxic polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) into a landfill constructed in the county. The protesters lost their fight, but this event sparked a movement throughout the country because of the national attention. Civil Rights activists saw this as an addition of the racism they had endured for years.

Environmental racism

Environmental racism refers to the disproportionate impacts that environmental policies and decisions have on communities of color. The term was coined by Civil Rights Leader Benjamin Chavis in 1982.

Zip codes are a factor in determining whether or not environmental racism is prevalent. Not all zip codes are located in areas prone to this discrimination.

• Hispanic populations have been exposed to chlorine about more than twice the amount of non-Hispanic white populations.
• Communities with 80% or more of a minority population were more likely to have wastewater wells compared to communities with 20% or less of a minority population.
• The rates of Black children having asthma are double than the rates in white children.

Environmental racism is an international problem, including some major instances in the US.

Major US instances

Dakota Access Pipeline

The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) extends from North Dakota to Illinois and was proposed to carry fracked oil. A part of the pipeline flows under the Missouri River where the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is found downstream. Concerns from the tribe were raised because of contamination of the water as well as for the reservation and sacred sites. The Intercept reported that there were around five spills from the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2017.

Asthma Alley

Mott Haven in South Bronx, N.Y. is nicknamed “Asthma Alley.” Asthma-related hospitalizations are five times the national average which the community thinks is related to the high levels of air pollution because of the three major highways enclosing the neighborhood. The mostly Black and Hispanic neighborhood is located in New York’s 15th Congressional District, the poorest congressional district in the country.

Cancer Alley

Reserve, La. is known as “Cancer Town” because the residents have the highest risk of cancer, 50 times the national average. The majority-Black town is situated near the 85-mile strip of land, nicknamed “Cancer Alley,” extending from New Orleans to Baton Rouge that is home to manufacturing and chemical plants.

Groups working towards environmental justice

Different organizations are working toward helping the planet and combatting this issue. They dedicate their time and resources to help others gain the knowledge to protect their communities.

• Green Action for Health and Environmental Justice is a grassroots organization working to combat environmental racism in low income, urban, indigenous and rural communities.
• Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (T.E.J.A.S.) is an organization dedicated to educating and empowering community members to make their communities environmentally healthy.
• The Louisiana Bucket Brigade works with communities neighboring oil refineries and chemical plants and works toward holding the companies and the government accountable for the air quality.
• The Indigenous Environmental Network is a network of Indigenous environmental activists dedicated to spotlight environmental and economic injustice in Indigenous communities.

The #JobsAndJustice Act of 2020 includes a provision for $7.5 billion to help specifically upgrade water infrastructure and ensure clean drinking water for families. #environmentaljustice #cleanwater pic.twitter.com/PjhK7Xg5l6

— The Black Caucus (@TheBlackCaucus) September 23, 2020

For more information

 Books

• “As Long as the Grass Grows” by Dana Gilio-Whitaker
• “Climate Change from the Streets” by Michael Méndez
• “A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind” by Harriet A. Washington
• “Poisoned Water: How the Citizens of Flint, Michigan, Fought for their Lives and Warned the Nation” by Candy J. Cooper and Marc Aronson
• “Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal: The Hidden Dangers of C8″ by Callie Lyons

 Movies

• “Flow: For the Love of Water”(2008)
• “Gasland” (2010)
• “Come Hell or High Water: The Battle for Turkey Creek” (2013)
• “Asthma Alley” (2018)
• “The Condor & The Eagle” (2019)
• “Flint” (2020)