History
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH HAZARDS AREN’T SHARED EQUALLY
Historically, minority and low-income communities have suffered disproportionately from environmental burdens including heavy industry, high truck traffic, toxic facilities, and contaminated abandoned land—and much more.
Because of this, delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C., drafted and adopted 17 principles of Environmental Justice. Since 1991, these principles have served as a defining document for the growing grassroots movement for environmental justice, and have informed DWEJ’s work on every level.