Investor Presentaiton
How Did the Environmental Justice Movement Arise?
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⚫ June 1983. General Accounting Office Conducts the study "Siting of Hazardous Waste Landfills and Their
Correlation with Racial and Economic Status of Surrounding Communities". This study is said to have
"galvanized the environmental justice movement and provided empirical support for the claims for
environmental racism."
• 1987. The United Church of Christ Commission on Racial Justice released the study "Toxic Waste in the
United States". Study found that over 15 million African Americans, 8 million Hispanics, and half of all
Asian/Pacific Islanders and Native Americans resided in communities with at least one abandoned or
uncontrolled toxic waste site and that race was the most significant factor among the variables analyzed
in identifying a location of hazardous waste sites.
• March 1988. West Harlem Environmental Action was founded. WE ACT is New York's first environmental
justice organization created to improve environmental and health quality in communities of color.
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