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Co-Creation versus Co-Optation: How Institutions Can Address Environmental Justice without Undermining the Movement

Written by Amaris Renee Norwood | June 9, 2023

 

The environmental justice movement in the United States spans decades. In the early 60s, Cesar Chavez led Latino farm workers to advocate for protection against the effects of pesticides. In the late 60s, African Americans in West Harlem fought against the development of a sewage treatment plant in their neighborhood. In 1982, African Americans in Warren County protested the dumping of toxic soil in the county; this was the first environmental protest of its kind that gained national attention¹. Robert Bullard, known as the father of environmental justice, defines environmental justice as “the principle that all people and communities have a right to equal protection and equal enforcement of environmental laws and regulations².” This movement works to address how most of the population living in America’s most polluted areas are people of color³.

Over the last few years, environmental justice has increasingly become a point of focus for institutions. In July 2021, President Biden launched the Justice40 initiative to address environmental justice at the federal level4. Following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, a shareholder advocacy non-profit named As You Sow developed a Racial Justice Scorecard to assess companies on racial issues5. Environmental justice is one of the points of criteria in this survey6. The organization examined each of the Russell 1000 companies and found that only 49 publicly made statements on environmental justice.

In May 2022, a PR agency named Golin conducted a survey to see how the American public and C-suite executives view the importance of environmental justice7. Some of the key results from this study showed that 94% of the surveyed executives believe environmental justice is viewed as a “priority for their companies” and 83% of consumers believe companies need to address environmental justice. Though addressing environmental injustices at a cross-sector, the institutional level is important, there’s a need to acknowledge, understand, and collaborate with the environmental justice movement and not undermine it by way of misunderstanding or intentional co-optation.  

DEFINING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

The EPA defines environmental justice as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies8.” As You Sow defines environmental justice as a racial issue and sees a need to combat the unequal environmental impacts on people of color9. Golin defines it as “a type of discrimination where people of low-income or minority communities are forced to live close to environmentally hazardous conditions10.” Though these definitions have their similarities, they vary in terms of what communities and impacts on these communities fit under environmental justice, which generates confusion.

Within the Golin survey, despite the strong positioning of both executives and the public on supporting environmental justice, there seems to still be a lack of understanding of the topic.