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Human Rights and the Environment

Developing Christ-Like Outrage at Environmental Injustice

God loves every person on this planet regardless of their culture and race -- God calls humans to love each other in the same way. Yet, we have been unable to live up to God's command to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Mark 12:31). Instead of loving those who are different from us, we have institutionalized racism and prejudice in the cultural, religious, and political structures of our world.

This institutional racism plays itself out in environmental decisions such as where to build landfills, site hazardous waste dumps, and which environmentally degraded sites receive funding for clean-up. People of lower incomes and people of color are disproportionately affected by environmental degradations all over the world. Let's develop Christ-like outrage at this injustice and channel our righteous anger to serve the oppressed.

Biblical Basis

Mark 13:31
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Galatians 3:28
There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no linger slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Acts 10:34
Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God show no partiality."

1 Thessalonians 5:15b
You must all think of what is best for each other and for the community.

The Birth of the US Environmental Justice Movement

1979	Dr. Robert Bullard's study, Solid Waste Sites & the Black Houston Community, connects toxic waste siting to communities of color.
1979	Bean vs. Southwestern Waste Management Corp.is the first case to challenge the siting of a waste disposal facility on grounds of a civil rights violation.
1982	Rev. Ben Chavis, director of the United Church of Christ's Commission for Racial Justice (CRJ), coins the phrase Environmental Racism.
1987	CRJ's study, toxic Waste and Race in the United States,concludes that the main factor in locating hazardous waste sites is race.
1990	The 10 major U.S. environmental groups (Group of Ten) receive a letter signed by hundreds of activists charging them with: failing to recognize environmental racism; a lack of diversity in their organizations; and making policy decisions without including those affected in the process.
1991	The first People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit is held in Washington, DC, where they adopt the Principles of Environmental Justice.
1998	EPA head Carol Browner issues an unprecedented order overruling Louisiana's approval of a PVC plant in Convent, Louisiana. This predominately African-American area is already home to 12 toxic waste producers.

International Environmental Injustice

NIGERIA -- Since 1958, Shell Oil has extracted $30 billion worth of oil from beneath the land of the Ogoni, an impoverished indigenous people in Nigeria. After decades of seeing their farmland, water, and air degraded by Shell's polluting operations, the Ogoni organized to demand that Shell clean up over 300 contaminated sited on Ogoni land and share profits equally. The leader of the movement, Ken Saro-Wiwa, proclaimed, "Shell has turned Nigeria into a waste land of acid rain, polluted waters, and infertile lands." He was executed in 1995 by the Nigerian government, along with eight other peaceful Ogoni acticists.¹

GUINEA -- In 1998, a Norwegian ship dumped 15,000 tons of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's, toxic ash (labeled "raw material for bricks") in a quarry on Kasai Island off the mainland capital of Canabry, Guinea. The U.S. is the only industrialized county that has refused to ratify the Basel Convention, which makes it illegal for industrialized countries to send their toxic waste to the developing world. (118 countries adopted the Convention.)²

Poisoned Lake, Poisoned People

When U.S. environmental regulations became too strict for Philadelphia-based Pennwalt Corp., they decided to build their polluting chlorine-processing plant on the shores of Lake Managua in the nation of Nicaragua (today the second-poorest county in the western hemisphere). During 22 years of operation, the plant released more than 60 tons of mercury into Lake Managua, turning it into one of the world's most contaminated bodies of water. The lake is unsafe, even for swimming, yet tens of thousands of desperately poor people living near the lake depend on fish from the lake for sustenance. "It's a very complex problem," said Mauricio Lacayo of the Nicaragua Ministry of the Environment, "There is no doubt that eating the fish is harmful... but how do you explain that to someone who is hungry right now?"³

Environmental Injustice

71% of African-Americans and 50% of Latino American live in areas with the worst air pollution. Only 34% of Euro-Americans live in these areas.⁴
96% of black children and 80% of white children of poor families in inner cities have unsafe levels of lead in their blood -- amounts sufficient to reduce IQ, harm hearing, reduce the ability to concentrate, and stunt physical growth.⁵
More than 300,000 farm workers suffer pesticide-related illnesses each year. People of color make up 80 to90 percent of all migrant farm workers.⁶
The U.S. exported 139,000 tons of toxic waste in 1990 alone.⁷

Toxic Waste and Race

3 out of 5 Americans of color live in communities with uncontrolled toxic waste sites.⁸
Abandoned hazardous waste sites in minority communities take 20% longer than those in Euro-American areas to be placed on the national priority list for cleanup.⁹
Penalties under hazardous waste laws at sites having the greatest Euro-American population were 500% higher than penalties with the greatest minority population. The fines averaged $335,566 for Euro-American areas: %55,318 in minority areas.¹⁰

GOOD NEWS!!

Residents in a north Denver neighborhood won a $28 million jury award against Asarco (a multinational producer of high purity and non ferrous metals) for poisoning their community.⁶

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Boycott companies like Shell and Monsanto (produces NutraSweet, Equal), which have poor human rights and environmental records.
Plan environmental justice education and awareness events.
Organize a service project for one of your school breaks where you and others from your school can work to serve the earth and the poor instead of lounging on the beach or shopping in a mall.
Get you church involved -- ask your pastor to preach about environmental justice: encourage your church leadership to form inter-racial partnerships with other churches in you area.
Write letters to your lawmakers -- encourage them not to take money from corporations that abuse the earth and the poor; ask them to support such things as universal health care and stricter penalties for polluters.
Share this factsheet with your friends. Pray for those affected by environmental racism.
Purchase coffee from Equal Exchange (www.equalexchange.com), a co-op of farmers who share profits equitably.
Get involved with organizations like:
Co-op America (www.coopamerica.org) -- publishes a quarterly containing a guide to corporate boycotts
Earth Island (www. earthisland.org) -- Publishes a quarterly covering global environment and justice issues.

References
1.	Vince Bielshki, "Shell's Game," Sierra,Mar/Apr 96, pg.30-36.
2.	Rachel's Environmental & Health Weekly#595 April 23, 1998.
3.	Edward Hegstrom, "Poisoned Lake in Nicaragua Food Chain," San Francisco Chronicle, n.d.
4.	Luke Cole, "Empowerment as the key to Environmental Equity," The Environmental Justice Project(Lawyer' Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law: Washington, D.C., 1993).
5.	Karen Florini and others, "Legacy of Lead: America's Continuing Epidemic of Childhood Lead Poisoning," (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Defense Fund, Mar,1990).
6.	"Environmental Justice at Home and Abroad", People of Color Environmental Groups, 1994-5 Directory,(Flint, MI: Mott Foundation).
7.	"International Toxics Trade," People of Oclor Environmental Groups, 1994-5 Directory,(Flint, MI: Mott Foundation).
8.	Lester Brown, State of the World(Norton: New York, 1994).
9,10.	Robert Bullard, "Environmental Justice Project"(Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law: Washington D.C., 1993). Scripture taken from NIV, RSV, NASB translations. Verses have been rendered gender inclusive.

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