A Guide to Environmental Justice

Today we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King's legacy lives on today in the work of environmentalists and activists. His words and actions continue to inspire people to fight for environmental justice and to create a sustainable, equitable world. Dr King recognized that social justice can't be achieved without environmental justice including universal access to clean water, air and soil. 

"MLK Jr. understood that you could not get civil rights and equal rights as a citizen if you didn’t have environmental rights. They go together."  - Dr. Dorceta Taylor. Yale University

It is undeniable that these ideas make  Dr. King one of the earliest leaders of environmental justice. His actions not only lead to the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, but along with these monumental changes came the Clean Air Act in 1963, the Clean Water Act of 1972, and the Endangered Species Act of 1973. 

Today we celebrate Dr. King, but we also celebrate the organizations that are committed to this work everyday*

• We Act for EJ empowers and organizes low-income, people of color to build healthy communities for all.
• Black Millennials for Flint Is a grassroots organization that aims to take action and advocate against the crisis of lead exposure specifically in American & Latino communities throughout the nation.
• Deep South Center for Environmental Justice Partners with communities harmed by racially disproportionate pollution burdens and attendant climate vulnerabilities.
• NAACP Environmental & Climate Justice Program was created to support community leadership in addressing environmental injustice.
• Think 100% for Climate uses podcasts, films, music, and activism to draw inspiration in the climate justice movement.
• Alliance to Save Energy Is a bipartisan alliance of business, government, environmental, and consumer leaders advocating for enhanced energy productivity to achieve economic growth, a cleaner environment, and greater energy security, affordability, and reliability.
• Corazon Latino Aims to generate social, environmental, and conservation initiatives that foster natural resource stewardship.
• Center for Earth Ethics works at the center of social equity and the ecological crisis by raising public consciousness.
• Intersectional Environmentalist provides resources, information, and action steps to support intersectional environmentalism.
• EPA Legal Tools is a source for information on the latest wave of funding from environmental justice initiatives passed in 2022. 

Please take a moment to ponder what a greener future looks like, how we can all contribute to it. 

*List compiled from The Aspen Institute.