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Environmental Justice

Environmental Justice

​Environmental problems have an outsized effect on poor people in our country and across the world.  Everyone has a right to equal environmental protection under the law. And we all deserve to live, work and play in communities that are safe and healthy. However, environmental impacts disproportionately result in poor people being more likely to be exposed to environmental hazards and related health burdens. In addition, past policies based on race or ethnicity have had a lasting adverse impact on communities and people of color. 

Environmental educators can help students recognize the disparities; learn about environmental impacts scientifically; understand the factors that contribute to disproportionate health burdens, including economics and public policy; and provide opportunities for student problem-solving and decision-making that can make a difference in the world. 

To learn more, read "Race, Class, Gender and American Environmentalism" by Dorceta E. Taylor.

 Disproportionate Impacts of Pollution  
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People of color are exposed to more air pollution, in part due to the proximity of segregated neighborhoods to industrial areas, but also across all income levels.

Housing load policies once limited where people of color could live (a practice known as redlining) and still affects those neighborhoods through the urban heat island effect.

 

From coal ash to mine tailings to asphalt shingles, poor communities have often become dump sites for toxic waste created elsewhere.

Resources for Teaching Environmental Justice 

Whether you identify as an environmental educator, classroom teacher, naturalist, professor, or ranger, environmental justice is relevant and appropriate to teach. This interdisciplinary topic includes elements of social studies, policy, and science. To help your students become "JEDI warriors," who can recognize and analyze Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion issues in the context of environmental problem-solving, consider engaging students in collecting and analyzing data for themselves, using tools provided in the next section, or teaching these lessons.

Lessons from Teaching Tolerance

• Analyzing Environmental Racism in an Oil Spill Clean-Up  
• Analyzing Environmental Justice in Pollution Impacts

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​You can also check out EEA's instructional strategies for culturally responsive teaching or sign up for one of our workshops on this topic. ​

Tools for Examining Evidence of  Environmental Injustice

The Mapping Inequality Project: Redlining in New Deal America provides access to the actual maps and underwriting guidelines that were used by the federal government to limit where federally-backed mortgage loans could be used to buy houses, starting in the 1930s. The maps and loan guidelines excluded industrial areas and neighborhoods where "infiltration of inharmonious racial groups ... tend to lower the levels of land values and to lessen the desirability of residential areas." Although racially discriminatory lending guidelines are no longer in use, areas that were "redlined" decades ago still have more pavement, fewer trees, and hotter temperatures than other neighborhoods. These "urban heat islands" contribute to adverse health impacts for residents. And many of the neighborhoods are in close proximity to current or legacy sources of industrial pollutants.

​EPA's EJ Screen provides a way to create and overlay maps that show low income or minority communities, industrialized areas, waste disposal or chemical release sites, and other sources of pollution. Created as a tool for staff of the Environmental Protection Agency to use,  EJ Screen is available to the public as a screening-level tool with the caveat that it does not constitute an official risk assessment and is an unofficial indicator of the need for further investigation.
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EPA's TRI Explorer offers a way to retrieve data from the EPA Toxics Release Inventory and sort it by facility, chemical, geographic area, or industry. This inventory was ordered by Congress to inform the public of their exposure to substances that cause environmental health problems.

​​EPA's My Environment is a searchable database that enables users to find out about the quality of air, water, land, climate, energy and health associated with a particular location. Students can enter a zip code, city name, community, or park to learn about environmental quality in the vicinity.

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