The Environmental Justice Movement

The history of the Environmental Justice Movement

Mid- 1800s:   In the field of public health, the Sanitary Movement begins, championed by Edwin Chadwick

Early 1900s:  Progressive Movement, City Beautiful Movement, Urban Housekeeping Movement, Smoke Prevention Movement all brought attention to inequalities faced by the poor.   Mental health is recognized as a public health issue in the early 20th century. 

1970s, 1980s: Environmental Justice Movement takes shape. 

Delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held on October 24-27, 1991, in Washington DC, drafted and adopted 17 principles of Environmental Justice. Framework for social change included: 

1.        The principle of the right of all individuals to be protected from environmental degradation

2.      A public health model of prevention (elimination of the threat before harm occurs) as the preferred strategy

3.      Shirt the burden of proof to polluters and dischargers who do harm or discriminate or who do not give equal protection to racial and ethnic minorities and other “protected” classes

4.      Allow disparate impact and statistical weight, as opposed to “intent” to infer discrimination

5.      Redresses disproportionate risk burdens through targeted action and resources

Specific groups and actions:

·         Anti-Toxics or Citizen-Worker Movement organized in white working-class communities

·         Environmental Justice Movement or The People of Color Environmental Movement in communities of color

·         Networks have formed such as the Citizen’s Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste or the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice

Source:  http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~brullerj/Annual%20Review%20of%20Public%20Health%20Brulle-Pellow.pdf

More detailed  Timeline of Environmental Justice Events 1972-1999 

Some heroes of the movement:

Hazel Johnson

              "mother of the environmental justice movement." 

Robert Bullard

 

"father of the environmental justice movement." 

Words from Robert Bullard
 For more than two decades, he has championed environmental protection as a civil rights and social justice issue. As global climate change poses special challenges for communities of color and the poor, the commitment to environmental justice is a value that can unite us all, across boundaries of race, class, gender, age, and geography.