Principles of Environmental Justice

Environmental justice advocates, scholars, lawyers, empowered communities, and advocacy groups agree that the core of disproportionate risk that low-income areas and communities of color experience hinges on two things: classism and racism. Despite existing legislation, everyday life for millions of Americans is still a struggle for basic rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, several Native American treaties, the Civil Rights Act, the National Environmental Protection Act, and the Fair Housing Act. In light of these issues, legislators considering environmental justice legislation for their state will want to keep in mind the following points made by the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit:

• Environmental justice affirms the fundamental right to political, economic, cultural, and environmental self-determination of all peoples.
• Environmental justice demands the cessation of the production of all toxins, hazardous wastes, and radioactive materials, and that all past and current producers be held strictly accountable to the people for detoxification and the containment at the point of production.
• Environmental justice demands the right to participate as equal partners at every level of decision-making including needs assessment, planning, implementation, enforcement, and evaluation. As a legislator, you need to make it the first priority to contact and include the constituency you wish to assist.
• Environmental justice affirms the right of all workers to a safe and healthy work environment, without being forced to choose between an unsafe livelihood and unemployment. It also affirms the right of those who work at home to be free from environmental hazards.
• Environmental justice calls for the education of present and future generations emphasizing social and environmental issues, based on our experience and an appreciation of our diverse cultural perspectives.
• Environmental justice calls for redress of disproportionate impact through “targeted” action and resources.
• Environmental justice restructures complaints to allow for disparate impact and statistical weight, as opposed to “intent,” to infer discrimination.

The above principles have been extracted from the “Principles of Environmental Justice,” written at the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in 1991.