Environmental Justice

The Social Movement

When the environmental justice movement began is uncertain. Some commentators suggest that the movement began in the late 1960s. What is clear [Page 960]is that by the early 1980s the movement had noticeably mobilized around two concerns: (1) getting law makers and decision makers to recognize that so-called minority groups and the poor were disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards and (2) developing effective remedies for these problems.

During the 1980s, groups of concerned citizens in the Southern United States, accompanied by religious leaders and politicians of color, mobilized to help vulnerable people combat toxic landfill facilities, hazardous industries, and other locally unwanted land uses within their communities. The movement has since expanded from a series of disparate grassroots initiatives to a recognizable collective with an international agenda.

Originally, environmental justice activists asserted that mainstream environmental groups such as Greenpeace, Sierra Club, and the Wilderness Society had ignored the plight of socioeconomically marginalized and vulnerable communities, focusing solely on nonhuman species. The movement's initial purpose was therefore to develop an alternative environmentalism, one based on direct action, social inclusiveness, and human concerns. More recently, many mainstream environmental groups have assisted in environmental justice struggles.

Early examples of successful campaigns include a predominantly African American community's fight against the siting of a PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) landfill in Warren County, North Carolina; a battle by Latino mothers of East Los Angeles to prevent the construction of a waste incinerator in their community; and campaigns by Latino farmworkers against poisoning from toxic agricultural chemicals. The early 1980s to the early 1990s was a decade of progress for the movement. Activists garnered increasing publicity and leveraged local, state, and federal action against practices of intentional targeting of socioeconomically marginalized and vulnerable communities for toxic and unwanted land uses. They achieved this through multiple actions including lobbying, political incorporation, forced buyouts and relocations, and lawsuits. By the early 1990s, the movement spanned the United States and encompassed issues as diverse as industrial “cancer alleys,” uranium enrichment facilities, biotechnology labs, brownfield redevelopment, “transit racism,” lead paint in old houses, and radioactive waste sites. With the rapid expansion of the movement came formal organizations, such as the Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste, that served to distribute information, enhance communication between groups, and promote collective action.

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