Seeking environmental equity

Yesterday, we took a look at communities on the East and West coasts (Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Port Townsend, Washington) where citizens are working to build sustainability and curb greenhouse gas emissions. Today, we focus on the Heartland, where an inner-city neighborhood is focused on environmental justice. From our website:

What began as a few people talking in a church-based dialogue has grown into a widening campaign for environmental justice in Indiana. The last two Saturdays of this month, the Martindale-Brightwood Environmental Justice Collaborative (EJC) will mark Earth Day with two mini-environmental conferences to help residents learn about ongoing toxic hazards in the community.

Martindale-Brightwood is a neighborhood in central Indianapolis with about 10,000 residents, most of them African American. As reported last year on our website, Scott United Methodist Church became a center of environmental justice activism when its minister, the Rev. Ray Wilkins, learned through an environmental analysis that a nearby business had improperly disposed of trichloroethylene, a toxic chemical that had possibly seeped into subsurface water flowing beneath the church property. The issue was discussed in a study circle, and participants went on to form the environmental group.

Now – as the “Voice to Action” conferences are held April 19 and April 26 – the EJC is working with a growing list of partners to raise awareness of the continuing toxic threats in their neighborhood. For example, the Indiana Black Expo and Marion County Health Department will be at the conference to test children for lead poisoning in a neighborhood where contaminated toys from China may be the least of parents’ worries.

Read more here. Also, have a look at the article "Environmental Justice for All" on the Utne.com website, which tells more about the emerging environmental justice campaign that leading activists are calling the civil rights movement of the 21st Century.