By Ilka Vega
“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can,
In all the ways you can, in all the places you can,
At all the times you can, to all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”
—John Wesley
I’ve always felt both inspired and challenged by this quote. It challenges us to situate ourselves in our present realities while simultaneously pushing the horizon of what our commitment as Christians in the world is. Part of our advocacy work is constantly discerning the means, ways, places, times, but also what “good” means and for whom. This discernment does not occur in silos, but through dialogue and relationship with people and creation.
The environmental justice movement along with the traditions it has emerged from, has had an important role in bringing a critical justice lens and accountability into the environmental advocacy arena. For a longtime, the disproportionate vulnerability of black, indigenous, and peoples/communities of color (BIPOC) all around the world to environmental risks was not seen as a systemic issue and was often ignored or took second place in the agendas advancing environmental conservation efforts.[1] This caused not only increased tensions between stakeholder groups, but also exacerbated the negative impacts of environmental degradation and climate change impact of BIPOC communities by leaving them out of decision making processes that involved them.
The Love Canal toxic tragedy in New York State showed the human cost of one of the most horrifying stories of environmental disasters in the United States. The Love Canal neighborhood was used as a dump site by Hooker Chemical Company to dispose of chemical byproducts from the manufacturing of solvents, perfumes, and other synthetic products during the 1940s. Ten years later the dumpsite was closed and covered with clay, the property was sold to a school district, and housing developments began in the vicinity. During the following decades, neighbors faced health problems due to toxic waste including low blood cell counts and leukemia.[2] In 1988, David Axelrod, New York State Department of Health Commissioner called the Love Canal tragedy a “national symbol of a failure to exercise a sense of concern for future generations,”[3] further highlighting the need to bring attention to the social toll of environmental disasters particularly that of disenfranchised communities and the urgent need for justice.
Frameworks of Environmental Justice
In 1991, Delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit drafted and adopted 17 Principles of Environmental Justice. This document was key in defining the environmental justice grassroots communities. It stated:
“WE, THE PEOPLE OF COLOR, gathered together at this multinational People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, to begin to build a national and international movement of all peoples of color to fight the destruction and taking of our lands and communities, do hereby re-establish our spiritual interdependence to the sacredness of our Mother Earth; to respect and celebrate each of our cultures, languages and beliefs about the natural world and our roles in healing ourselves; to ensure environmental justice; to promote economic alternatives which would contribute to the development of environmentally safe livelihoods; and, to secure our political, economic and cultural liberation that has been denied for over 500 years of colonization and oppression, resulting in the poisoning of our communities and land and the genocide of our peoples.” —Principles of Environmental Justice, 1991
In the early 2000s, the United Nations with the efforts of indigenous groups recognized the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). This right enables indigenous peoples to be consulted by states on any measures affecting them, have more sovereignty over projects that may affect their territories and make effective their right to self-determination by including them in decision making processes.[4]
Another important framework through which United Women in Faith engages in climate action collaborations includes the Jemez Principles for democratic organizing.[5] These principles were developed during the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (SNEEJ) in Jemez, New Mexico, in 1996 by multi-racial participants from different cultures with the purpose to create a common understanding of environmental organizing. These principles include: 1. be inclusive 2. Emphasis on bottom-up organizing 3. let people speak for themselves 4. work together in solidarity and mutuality 5. build just relationships among ourselves 6. commit to self-transformation.
The Jemez Principles guide the work of United Women in Faith and other UM entities engaged in climate and environmental justice efforts. They also play a key role in United Women in Faith’s Just Energy 4 All’s collaboration with the US Climate Action Network (USCAN) and the Breathe Again collaborative campaign. In these efforts we work to bridge the information and policy gaps between healthcare and air quality to protect the health of communities affected by greenhouse gas emissions and other toxic air pollutants.
While there’s still a long way to go, the environmental justice movement has helped center marginalized voices and bring people together to define key issues and fair practices that are not only relevant to environmental and climate action but can be applied to other areas of our advocacy, missions, organizing, and programing.
So what now? Last year, Congress introduced two related bills in the House and Senate to increase protections to frontline communities impacted by pollution and negative environmental impacts. The Environmental Justice for All Act (H.R.2021 and S.872) bills would allow for the National Environmental Policy Act to require federal entities to take into consideration the disproportionate impacts on communities of color and low-income and fund restorative investments in these communities.[6]
In January, United Women in Faith joined over 170 environmental justice and allied organizations in a letter of support for the Environmental Justice for All Act.
Join us in standing in solidarity with frontline environmental justice communities by all the means you can, at all the times you can, as long as ever you can.
- Environmental Justice Atlas https://ejatlas.org/
- New York State Department of Health—Love Canal https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/investigations/love_canal/lctimbmb.htm
- New York Times—Love Canal https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/05/nyregion/after-10-years-the-trauma-of-love-canal-continues.html
- OHCHR—Consultation and free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) https://www.ohchr.org/en/indigenous-peoples/consultation-and-free-prior-and-informed-consent-fpic
- Jemez Principles for democratic organizing—This and other environmental justice documents can be downloaded from: www.ejnet.org/ej/
- Earth Justice—https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2022/175-environmental-environmental-justice-civil-rights-and-allied-organizations-send-letter-to-house-natural
Ilka Vega is United Women in Faith’s new Executive for Economic and Environmental Justice. She has a B.A in Sustainability, Culture, and Social Justice and a B.A. in Business and is currently completing a M.Sc. in Innovation, Human Development, and Sustainability.