Environmental Justice

Environmental justice (EJ) is one of those terms that have five or six definitions. The leading writer on the topic, Robert Bullard, considers the chief problem to be racism, tracing the origin of the terminology to a 1982 protest in Warren County, North Carolina, where African-American protested the placement of a dump concentrating PCBs from 14 other counties around the state. This rural county is 84 percent Black.

Bullard maintains that African-Americans suffer disproportionally. Partly because they are more likely to live in the inner city or rural South, to have lower incomes due to discrimination and to have fewer resources for mobilization due to less education and wealth. But he argues that even controlling for these variables, racism makes the situation worse. Besides exposure to toxics, he points to lead paint and polluted air. Bullard advocates that all people should be protected against environmental degradation, the prevention principle, and shifting the burden of proof to the polluters.

The strongest definition of EJ comes from the 1991 People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, which adopted 17 principles to protect Mother Earth. These apply in particular to discrimination against people of color. Number 4 calls for protection against toxic and hazardous wastes, and Number 6 “demands the cessation of the production of all toxins, hazardous wastes. . . .”  Number 9 calls for compensation for victims. Perhaps surprising considering its origin, only one principle specifically mentions people of color and one principle mentions Native Peoples. Nevertheless the preamble and tone point to concern about racial discrimination. According to the preamble, the purpose is “to secure our political, economic and cultural liberation that has been denied for more than 500 years of colonization and oppression, resulting in the poisoning of our communities and land and the genocide of our peoples.”

The Sierra Club offers a different definition of environmental justice, never mentioning race. Its 1993 statement of principles preferred to guarantee rights to “all people.” Indeed, its justice principles are indistinguishable from its general principles. Number 1 A says “Corporate influence over governments must be constrained.” Principle 2 advocates zero waste, zero emissions and zero discharge. Six years later it addressed more directly the problems of communities suffering due to racism and poverty, promising to consider the wishes of the residents. Since then not much has changed in their policy.