Environmental Justice
Learn about environmental justice, which advocates for equal protection and participation in environmental decisions for all communities. Discover ways to address systemic injustices and promote safe living conditions.
Learn about the impacts of environmental justice
What is Environmental Justice?
Environmental justice is the right of all people and communities to equal environmental protection under the law and equal involvement in environmental decision-making processes. It is the right to "live, work, and play in communities that are safe, healthy, and free of life-threatening conditions."
Whether by conscious design or institutional neglect, commercial, industrial, and governmental policies or actions have resulted in the disproportionate exposure of poor communities and people of color to environmental hazards and environmental health burdens. The environmental justice movement seeks to promote economic alternatives that contribute to the development of environmentally safe livelihoods for all and address systemic environmental injustices.
Delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held in 1991 drafted and adopted The Principles of Environmental Justice, which have served as a defining document for the environmental justice movement.
Environmental Justice Toolkit*
How does the EPA define environmental justice?
The Environmental Protection Agency defines EJ in the following way:
"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 will be achieved when everyone enjoys:
- the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and
- equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work."
Critiques of the EPA’s definition of Environmental Justice
Some activist circles in the environmental justice movement take issue with aspects of the EPA’s definition. They note that, in their eyes, the goal is not to have the same degree of protection from health hazards, but to build a system that does not accept health hazards as a byproduct of operation. In other words, the goal is not to redistribute environmental harms, but to abolish them.
- A Brief History of Environmental Justice
- The Environmental Justice Movement: Facts, Allies, History and the Future
- An Overview of Environmental Justice: A comprehensive resource created by students at University of Connecticut
- The EPA’s Environmental Justice Timeline
- United States Environmental Justice Timeline
Our Home? What is Home?: Student Environmental Justice Stories by Gabriella Robinson
- Minnesota: Line 3 Pipeline ft. Gabriela Batinich
- Hawai'i: Protecting Mauna Kea, ft. Jaina Galves
- Hawai'i: Food Injustice, ft. Taylor McKenzie
- North Carolina: Floods and Hurricane Matthew, ft. Trisha Brownlee
Environmental injustice in some of SU students' hometowns:
- Tacoma, WA: Near and far, Tacoma’s natural gas plant is bad for human health
- Seattle, WA: How the Duwamish River defined Seattle
- Southern California: Los Angeles County, A story of Environmental Racism
- Hawai'i: Why Native Hawaiians are fighting to protect Maunakea
- Illinois: Air pollution crisis exposes more environmental racism in Illinois
- Texas: Arlington Takes on Fracking as a Racial Justice Issue
- Minnesota: Five Conversations with the Crew from Appetite for Change
Lead Contamination in Flint, Michigan
- As Water Problems Grew, Officials Belittled Complaints from Flint
- The Flint Water Crisis: Systemic Racism Through the Lens of Flint
Louisiana’s Cancer Alley
Louisiana’s Cancer Alley
- Why This Town is Dying From Cancer
- Cancer Alley Residents Haven't Given Up the Fight Against Polluters
Water Resources in Indigenous Communities
- What to Know About the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests
- Many Native American Can’t Get Clean Water, Report Finds
- The Wet’suwet’en Fight Against New Pipeline Spreads Across Canada
For more case studies:
Climate Justice Definition
While climate change affects people globally, its impacts are not felt equally. Climate change, like pollution and environmental degradation, disproportionately affects communities of color and low-income communities, as well as persons with disabilities, women, and children.
Climate injustice acknowledges that certain populations and countries:
- Are the least responsible for, yet the most affected by, the climate crisis
- Have fewer resources and capacity to deal with the impacts of the climate crisis
- Will face the environmental, social, health, economic, and cultural consequences of the climate crisis for generations
- Have less representation in environmental decision-making at local, national, and international levels
Resources
- NAACP Environmental & Climate Justice Overview & Resources
- The Green New Deal & The Red New Deal and a Just Transition
- CEJS Media Resources
- Native Land: A map of Indigenous lands, treaties, and languages across the world
- Washington State Environmental Public Health Disparities Map
- Global Atlas of Environmental Justice: A collection of case studies around the world
- Global Climate Dashboard: A site by NOAA that tracks various indicators of climate change over time
Federal
- Laws and Executive Orders
- EPA EJ Action Agenda 2020
- President Biden's Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad
Washington state
- Senate Bill 5489: Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act Task Force
- Senate Bill 5141: Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act
- Washington Environmental Council Bill Tracker
King County and City of Seattle
*Disclaimer:
The resources on this page were compiled by CEJS as examples of groups and initiatives working toward environmental justice. Seattle University is not affiliated with any of the groups and expressly disclaims all responsibility for any content provided and all liability that may arise out of participation in any organization, program, or activity.
Contact Us
Center for Environmental Justice & Sustainability
901 12th Avenue, Bannan Center BANN#480