Environmental Justice
Definitions
US EPA (2021) (last accessed September 4, 2025): “The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, culture, national origin, income, and educational levels with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of protective environmental laws, regulations, and policies.”
WE ACT for Environmental Justice (last accessed September 4, 2025)(a New York City-based environmental justice group): “Environmental justice is a civil rights analysis of environmental decision-making…to address the disproportionate exposure to pollution and other environmental hazards that people of color face across this country, along with the resulting adverse health impacts…”
Early Milestones in the History of the U.S. Environmental Justice Movement
- 1982: Protest against hazardous waste site in majority-Black Warren County, N.C.
- 1987: United Church of Christ, Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States
- 1991: The First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit
- 1994: President Clinton signs Executive Order 12898: “each Federal agency shall make achieving environmental justice part of its mission…”
The Latest:
- January, 2025: President Trump signs Executive Order rescinding Executive Order 12898