Environmental Justice Should Be Central to our Work to Advance Climate Solutions Every Day

Earlier this month, federal judges handed the residents of Union Hill, Virginia, a big win when they rejected a permit for a national gas pumping station in the historic African-American community. According to the Washington Post, the judges concluded that, “environmental justice is not merely a box to be checked, and the [Virginia Air Pollution Control] Board’s failure to consider the disproportionate impact on those closest to the Compressor Station resulted in a flawed analysis.” 

Unfortunately, as Union Hill residents can attest, both low-income and minority communities across the country continue to suffer disproportionately from negative environmental impacts, ranging from closer proximity to hazardous waste sites and fossil fuel facilities to less tree cover in certain urban areas. Union Hill was settled by freed slaves after the Civil War, long before anyone ever imagined a natural gas pumping station, but their voices were not heard and their welfare was not given due consideration according to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The sooner we treat these communities fairly and embed environmental justice in our work to address the climate crisis, the sooner we can right wrongs and ensure that the transition to a decarbonized, clean energy economy leaves no one behind. 

At EESI, whether through our briefings, fact sheets, or direct engagement with leaders on Capitol Hill, we have a platform for sharing the most up-to-date data and policy analysis on climate, environment, and clean energy issues. While quality data and thoughtful analysis are central to our work, sometimes it helps the most to hear the stories from those directly involved in the environmental justice movement. These are inspiring stories of perseverance, and neighbors looking out for neighbors, that help our briefing audiences better understand the interconnectedness of climate change, environmental degradation, and justice.

Green Door Initiative Chief Executive Donele Wilkins speaking at EESI's July 31 briefing.

For example, in July 2019, EESI hosted a briefing on workforce development that featured Donele Wilkins, president and chief executive of Green Door Initiative in Detroit, Michigan. Ms. Wilkins discussed the profound challenge faced by her community when, after designating 40,000 brownfield sites within Detroit city limits, the government determined that the entire city was a brownfield site. She explained, “We come from the city of Detroit. We put the world on wheels and because of that legacy and that history, when the world rolled away and decided they were going to produce and manufacture automobiles somewhere else, the waste and the toxins were left behind.”

Under the leadership of Ms. Wilkins and her team, Green Door mobilizes residents in the communities most impacted by waste and toxins, gives them comprehensive training, and helps them find employment cleaning up the pollution. Ms. Wilkins said:

I like to say that we are creating environmental heroes. And our motto for our training program is, we restore hope to the people while we provide help to the planet. And we really believe that as we look at these two issues in our communities—high unemployment and high consistent pollution in our communities—some work needs to be done. And oftentimes the people bearing the greatest burden of those exposures and experiences are not really enjoying the economic opportunities that can come along. They are often sitting on the sidelines watching people that are not living in the community, who are not burdened with those issues, get the work and get paid to do the work. We believe we have an opportunity to address two things creating that environmental hero by restoring the city of Detroit.

Dr. Justin Kozak, Elder Donald Bogen, Jr., Liz Williams Russell, and Mathew Sanders at EESI's November 6 briefing on community-centered resilience in Louisiana.

In November 2019, EESI brought together community leaders from coastal Louisiana for a briefing on community-centered resilience. One panelist, Elder Donald Bogen, Jr., an organizer with Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing, shared his leadership experience as part of the Louisiana Strategic Adaptations for Future Environments program (LA SAFE). Elder Bogen, as if he were addressing his flock, held the room in rapt attention:

I have been organizing for well over a decade, and often times it might be a journalist, it might be a university that might want to come and have me fill out a survey and give me a $25 gift certificate or card, it might be a university after the BP oil spill that might want to draw blood from our pregnant women or take hair samples so they can be studied long-term. These people come into our communities, they take our stories, they take our data and then they leave…

I was a bit skeptical about this [LA SAFE] process. I thought it was just another person or another group of people approaching my community looking to take from it. But I am pleased to say that they did not fly in, kiss babies and shake old people’s hands, they stayed on the ground, they continue to be on the ground. They help us deepen our relationships, and go back into the community and weave those broken relationships, mend them back again. [They] put us into a room where we can debate, put us into a room where we can highlight our issues…

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Coastal land loss threatens my whole community. This process highlights what we have in common. I am going to say this again; this process highlights what we have in common. And so, if we are looking for good jobs, good schools, good education for our kids, then we have to look at those maps [of coastal land loss projections] …where are you going to live? [LA SAFE] didn’t make me a liar. I told my community that they were here to help and they stayed there to help.

These are just two stories from two places that have seen more than their fair share of environmental injustice. But Ms. Wilkins and Elder Bogen embody the energy and commitment to their communities that drive many more to engage in climate action and in turn encourage their neighbors to do the same. There is so much to do to reach our climate goals. We stand a much better chance of success if we work together, care for our neighbors most immediately impacted by climate change, and change our ways to ensure environmental justice is a core value in our efforts going forward.

 

Daniel Bresette, EESI Executive Director