Social Movement: The African American Environmental Justice Movement

Started from the 1970s, American environmental justice movement is a social movement stimulated by the waste dumping problem of African American. The public and scholars threw themselves into the movement and put forward the concept of “environmental equality”,which contends the fair distribution of environmental risks and benefits regardless of races and economic status. The term was replaced by another comprehensive term “environmental justice”. In 1992. many organizations have defined “environmental justice”, among them, the definition made by The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the most authoritative one, “Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color,

It insists to resolve environmental rights and obligations by using the principle of “equality” and contends that government shall protect people from environmental pollution and health hazard to improve the living condition and quality of people. Besides, Everyone deserves the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal distribution of environmental burdens, in spite of the races, nationalities,color or other

Since then, lots of bills and regulations are enacted to protect public’s environmental benefits. Environment movement promoted government’s regulation on hazardous wastes. In 1886, Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act passed by the 99th United States Congress encouraged emergency planning efforts at the state and local levels, and provides the public and local governments with information concerning potential chemical hazards present in their communities. In 1992, the congressman John Lewis and Albert Gore submitted their draft of “Environmental Justice Act” to the Congress. In 1994, president Clinton signed Executive Order 12898, that is “federal actions to address environmental justice in the minority populations and low-income populations”, into law. Three years later, another administrative order “Protection of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks” was signed by president to require federal organization to make children’s health risks a priority.

To sum up, the rise of the environmental movement is based on the fight for environmental benefits of vulnerable groups. The development of environmental movement symbolizes “American are no longer limited their understanding of environmental problems on the level of human with nature, but to expand their concern on the human relationship within environmental problems” (Juan Long