An article from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) acknowledges the historic issues of environmental racism within environmental justice, where environmental justice here “essentially means that everyone—regardless of race, color, national origin, or income—has the right to the same environmental protections and benefits, as well as meaningful involvement in the policies that shape their communities.” According to the American Public Health Association (APHA), environmental racism refers to the “disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on people of color,” when intentional decisions are made to target communities of color, especially manifesting with undesirable land uses. This leads to increased risk of exposure to air pollution, hazardous waste, and damaging health issues, such as various cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. This is a human rights issue that affects us all, and some more than others. Turning a blind eye only encourages health inequity, systemic racism, and more. Climate change only serves to worsen environmental impacts and health risks, such as heat waves. If we are to be successful at fighting such injustice, we must come together as a global society to address environmental justice “as a structural public health issue” (APHA).
Offering a historical perspective, an article from the Sierra Club explains that the environmental justice movement is considered to have officially begun in the late 1980s, although the first lawsuit directly addressing environmental justice was filed in 1968. Moreover, environmental justice was a component of the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. However, in 1982 and 1983 respectively, environmental disparities facing minority and low-income communities were revealed in studies by Dr. Robert Bullard, considered the Father of Environmental Justice by many, and by the U.S. Governmental Accountability Office (GAO), conducted at the request of Congress. Both studies found that “Black persons made up the majority of the population in communities surrounding three quarters of the hazardous waste landfills in eight southeastern states.” Similar issues encouraged research into environmental injustice and health inequities, with the study Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States published in 1987, which found that race was the most significant factor analyzed in the location of hazardous waste sites. Moreover, it was found in a 2007 follow up report, that the concentration of people of color around hazardous waste facilities had increased.
In the 1990s, the environmental justice movement gained momentum and began to seek governmental action, while staying true to its grassroots beginnings. In 1990, the Indigenous Environmental Network was formed to “build the capacity of indigenous communities to protect their land, resources, health, and sacred sites.” In 1991, the first People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit was held in Washington D.C., where The Principles of Environmental Justice were created. To this day, this remains an important guiding document for the environmental justice movement. In 1994, Executive Order 12898 established environmental justice offices in federal agencies such as the EPA and the DOJ. In 2023, Executive Order 14096 was issued, and it functions as an update to EO 12898, specifically defines environmental justice, and focuses on revitalizing the commitment to environmental justice for all. However, both were rescinded in late January 2025 by “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions” for EO 14096 and “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” for EO 12898.
In present times, environmental justice is intimately connected with more social justice topics than this article is presently prepared to handle. But, some lesser-known examples include unethical whale shark tourism in the bays of Sumbawa, a largely mountainous island in southern Indonesia. There are no regulations for this tourism, with many of the whale sharks, which are endangered, bearing propeller scars from boats they’ve learned to approach for food. These animals are being fed and lured with splashing, which is the same method used in Oslob, Philippines, one of the most unethical whale shark sites in the world. This particular site is being portrayed as a “magical experience” for tourists to touch, swim with, and get pictures of these creatures. However, there is nothing ethical or natural about this experience, and many do not even know the reality. Additionally, there are no articles being published about this issue, and rather many are learning about this from Instagram or Facebook posts.
Or, consider, the climate refugees from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, and Alaska as a whole, where many Indigenous people are being forced to leave their ancestral homes due to erosion, flooding, and permafrost thaw. This displacement is causing a housing shortage, and increasing overcrowding. Sea-level rise and storm surges are intensifying due to climate change which leads to the damaging of homes, or renders them uninhabitable, and melting ice cover raises river levels and heightens the risk of flooding. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region is inhabited by Yupik people. In the summer of 2025, nearly 300 people from the village of Newtok moved 9 miles across the Ninglick River to a new village called Mertarvik. However, this “stepping-stone” way of moving was not very successful, since Mertarvik’s infrastructure was already failing. Additionally, these people were so closely tied to their ancestral homes, and this place was so integral to their being. The very moving of their village ecosystem creates enormous challenges that urban dwellers find hard to grasp. Neither the state of Alaska nor the federal government is taking the kind of interest this situation deserves, and only minor coverage is coming out.
Ultimately, it is time we all work together and do something. It is our Earth, and we only get one. Read those news articles and do your research. Do not turn away from the suffering, and please speak up if it is safe for you to do so. You can make a difference.
Meghan Elliott is a Sophomore Writing and World Languages and Cultures double major with a Religious Studies minor, who understands that much of the news these days is heavy, but she thinks we should read it anyway if we are able. She can be reached at melliott1@ithaca.edu