Embedded Files
Environmental Justice
Environmental Justice
"Environmental justice (EJ) 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 Protection Agency)
What Environmental Justice Looks Like:
What Environmental Justice Looks Like:
Economic
Economic
Public Health
Public Health
Political
Political
Educational
Educational
Clean water and air
Menstruation products
Counseling and psychological services
Polling and voter-information
Representation at the local, state, and federal levels
Safety from militant groups and forces
Environmental literacy programs
Higher education
Educators and men/femtors of color
Faces of the Environmental Justice Movement
Faces of the Environmental Justice Movement
An important part of resolving environmental injustice is ensuring that the people who are impacted are equipped with the right to be seen and speak for themselves. Click through the slideshow to meet some of the numerous groups making up the environmental justice movement and to hear from some of its representatives.
Note: There are many other identities not listed above and many of those listed are intersectional. To learn more about the core principles of uplifting these communities, read the manifesto from the People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit.
Note: There are many other identities not listed above and many of those listed are intersectional. To learn more about the core principles of uplifting these communities, read the manifesto from the People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit.
Consumerism and Environmental Injustice
Consumerism and Environmental Injustice
The real cost of production
The real cost of production
As the supply for new products in the western world continuously increases, companies move their manufacturing overseas for cheaper labor. The majority of goods are produced in third world countries such as China, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. The laborers, often women and children, in these countries are exploited for their labor are paid far below a living wage, while exposed day in and day out to hazards working conditions affecting their health. Additionally, the factories are placed in marginalized, often low income or communities of color. This system of production intentionally keeps their workers marginalized, trapping them in a system of oppression.
Get Involved with Environmental Justice!
Get Involved with Environmental Justice!
General steps to practice EJ:
General steps to practice EJ:
Become cognizant of where your resources comes
Shop local (food and other goods) & secondhand to avoid the labor violations associated with producing new items
Buy new from places that are transparent about their profits, practices, and/or donate proceeds to just causes
Educate yourself about environmental justice by reading through the Sustainable Future DeCal modules, the SERC EJ page, and other information online (always being aware of the sources)
Get involved with or support local community efforts to protect the rights of individuals who are impacted
If you possess the right to vote, support candidates who promote EJ
UC Berkeley
UC Berkeley
Mauna Kea Protectors at UC Berkeley is the campus hub of the worldwide Mauna Kea Protectors movement. They are working to achieve the University of California's full divestment from the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) set to be built atop Mauna Kea.
Petition in Support of The Immediate Halt to the Construction of the TMT telescope on Mauna Kea
GRID Alternatives' Solar Spring Break program provides UC Berkeley students with the opportunity to build and install solar panels for low-income and marginalized communities in the Bay Area. Because environmental sustainability is often a luxury, GRID Alternatives is working to break down that barrier through this program. Applications for Spring 2020 have closed, but are available in Fall 2020 for the following Spring!
Students of Color Environmental Collective exists as a healing space for students of color interested in environmental and social justice, hosts a Students of Color Environmental Conference, and has launched an #EnvironmentalismSoWhite campaign.
SCEC's History
SCEC's Demands
Located in MLK behind the Amazon Lockers and coffee shop, the Multicultural Community Center has a small garden dedicated to feeding the community and fostering a connection between students of color and nature. Visit the MCC for more information on how to get involved.
"The Student Environmental Resource Center at UC Berkeley cultivates a collaborative space to strengthen the collective effectiveness of the sustainability community, and provides resources for students to actualize their visions of a more equitable, socially just, and resilient future."
A student-led campaign dedicated to end PepsiCo Pouring Rights at the University of California, Berkeley for environmental, ethical, and health reasons.
UC community members are campaigning for the University of California to adopt its own Green New Deal that uplifts UC students' and workers' rights while championing environmental justice in the face of the climate crisis.
Environmental Justice Related Courses
Environmental Justice Related Courses
ESPM 163AC/SOC 137AC Environmental Justice: Race, Class, Equity, and the Environment
ESPM 163AC/SOC 137AC Environmental Justice: Race, Class, Equity, and the Environment
Overview of the field of environmental justice, analyzing the implications of race, class, labor, and equity on environmental degradation and regulation. Environmental justice movements and struggles within poor and people of color communities in the U.S., including: African Americans, Latino Americans, and Native American Indians. Frameworks and methods for analyzing race, class, and labor. Cases of environmental injustice, community and government responses, and future strategies for achieving environmental and labor justice.
E 157AC/ IAS 157AC Engineering, The Environment, And Society
E 157AC/ IAS 157AC Engineering, The Environment, And Society
This course engages students at the intersection of environmental justice, social justice, and engineering to explore how problems that are commonly defined in technical terms are at their roots deeply socially embedded. Through partnerships with community-based organizations, students are trained to recognize the socio-political nature of technical problems so that they may approach solutions in ways that prioritize social justice. Topics covered include environmental engineering as it relates to air, water, and soil contamination; race, class, and privilege; expertise; ethics; and engaged citizenship. This course cannot be used to complete any engineering technical or unit requirements.
GEOG 31 Justice, Nature, and the Geographies of Identity
GEOG 31 Justice, Nature, and the Geographies of Identity
The intersection of nature, identity, and politics pepper the pages of newspapers almost every day from stories of toxic waste sites, crime, genetic engineering to indigenous struggles, and terrorist tendencies. In all these and many other cases, ideas of race, class, and gender intersect with ideas of nature and geography in often tenacious and troubling ways. Our approach will be to understand these traditional ideas of environmental justice as well as to examine less traditional sites of environmental justice such as the laboratory, the war zone, the urban mall, and the courtroom.
SOC 115G Global Health and Social Justice
SOC 115G Global Health and Social Justice
This course examines the social forces that promote and sustain illness throughout the globe and contribute to illness outbreaks becoming epidemics and pandemics. Emphasizing the central roles of poverty and politics in shaping health risks, disparities within and across nations are explored. With the understanding that health is, at core, a social justice issue, this course reviews policies and programs that attempt to address health problems, some of which have helped to alleviate suffering and some of which have caused additional harm.
Bay Area
Bay Area
A developer has plans to build a housing complex on sacred Ohlone land in West Berkeley. This environmental justice issue has caused the voices and wills of the Ohlone people to be silenced. Get involved with the campaign to Save Berkeley Shellmound by contacting City of Berkeley officials and ask that Berkeley's commitment to the Ohlone community is honored, spreading the word, and showing up for the Ohlone community. Information about this campaign and ways you can get involved are available on the website to the right.
Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice
"We are a multiracial grassroots organization founded by, lead by, and working with low-income and working class urban, rural, and indigenous communities to fight for environmental justice and build a clean, healthy and just future for all.
We believe we can achieve environmental and social justice by working with frontline communities and building a strong grassroots movement to create real solutions that ensure our human right to a healthy and livable environment with justice for generations to come."
A grassroots organization working to decolonize diets by growing indigenous crops and empowering community members to learn about the origin of their ancestral foods as well as modern staples that exploit the environment and marginalized people. They have gardens located in North Berkeley and Oakland. They are always looking for garden volunteers and regularly host free or low-cost workshops.
GreenLife supports individuals impacted by incarceration by providing community development through environmental literacy. A small class of individuals from San Quentin State Prison convene for peer-led learning about environmentalism. In 2018 the Environmental Leadership Training and Education Program for Formerly Incarcerated Adults was launched to support re-entry and advance environmental justice.
Southern California & Central Valley
Southern California & Central Valley
California Environmental Justice Alliance
"The California Environmental Justice Alliance is a statewide, community-led alliance that works to achieve environmental justice by advancing policy solutions. We unite the powerful local organizing of our members in the communities most impacted by environmental hazards – low-income communities and communities of color – to create comprehensive opportunities for change at a statewide level. We build the power of communities across California to create policies that will alleviate poverty and pollution. Together, we are growing the statewide movement for environmental health and social justice. We represent approximately 20,000 Asian Pacific American, Latino, and African American residents in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley, Los Angeles, Inland Valley and San Diego/Tijuana area. We combine organizing, movement-building, and strategic policy advocacy."
Communities for a Better Environment
"The mission of CBE is to build people’s power in California’s communities of color and low income communities to achieve environmental health and justice by preventing and reducing pollution and building green, healthy and sustainable communities and environments.
CBE provides residents in blighted and heavily polluted urban communities in California with organizing skills, leadership training and legal, scientific and technical assistance, so that they can successfully confront threats to their health and well-being."
Center on Poverty, Race, and the Environment
"Our work is rooted in California's San Joaquin Valley. The Valley is home to the worst air pollution in the nation, some of largest waste dumps west of the Mississippi, intense oil and gas production, and a dense agricultural landscape that has complex air and water issues. It is also the nation's poorest region, according to the Congressional Research Service, which means it lacks the resources to fight these issues. The Valley counties of Kern, Kings, and Fresno rank last in the nation in income, education, and health outcomes. But, it is also home to people with a robust vision for change and the willpower to make it happen. The Valley has a history of resiliency, culture and power. It is where the farmworkers movement originated, which resounded across the nation and had tremendous impact. CRPE builds on this rich tradition and it allows us to scale up our work at the state and national levels. "
Environmental Health Coalition
"Environmental Health Coalition is dedicated to achieving environmental and social justice. We believe that justice is accomplished by empowered communities acting together to make social change. We organize and advocate to protect public health and the environment threatened by toxic pollution. EHC supports broad efforts that create a just society and fosters a healthy and sustainable quality of life. " They organize in the San Diego area.
East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice
"East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice (EYCEJ) is a community-based organization that works to facilitate self-advocates in East Los Angeles, Southeast Los Angeles and Long Beach. By providing workshops & trainings, EYCEJ prepares community members to engage in the decision-making processes that directly impact their health and quality of life."
Physicians for Social Responsibility - Los Angeles
"PSR-LA advocates for policies and practices that improve public health, eliminate nuclear and environmental threats, and address health disparities.
At PSR-LA we recognize that the physical and social environment often determines health status – we are committed to addressing that reality. Our work is grounded in science, and the lived experiences of health professionals and their patients. We are guided by the precautionary ideal to forsee and forestall damage to human health and the environment. Within our work we focus on health, the environment, social justice, and public policy."
Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE)
"Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE) builds grassroots power to create social and economic justice for low-income, immigrant, woman, femme, black, and brown communities in Los Angeles. To do this, SCOPE organizes communities, develops leaders, collaborates through strategic alliances, builds capacity through training programs, and educates South L.A.’s residents to have an active role in shaping policies that affect the quality of life in our region. Justice, respect, responsibility, integrity, and voice: These are our core values. "
Out of State
Out of State
For more organizations in other parts of California and out of state, explore the network of communities linked below.
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