Environmental Justice: What Does That Mean?

by Tom Remington

June 2, 2009

One of the new environmentalist’s eco-movements has been titled “Environmental Justice”. And just what is environmental justice? That’s a good question and one you won’t find a ready and easy answer to and that’s just how it’s intended to be.

The environmental justice movement claims that all the bad things about the environment have disproportionately fallen on the poor and minority groups and because of that they “should enjoy some of the environmental benefits of publicly funded production activities.” - whatever that means.

CNS News is reporting on a conference on environmental justice, a conference that has its roots from the days of the Clinton administration. Lisa P. Jackson, Obama’s selection to head up the Environmental Protection Agency and a product of New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine’s socialist/Marxist regime, stated that there are too many places where pollution has hurt the poor and minorities.

“There are too many places in this country where pollution and environmental degradation fall disproportionately on low-income and minority communities,” Jackson said via video at the third annual State of the Environmental Justice in America 2009 conference in Arlington, Va., on Friday.

“People have fallen ill with diseases like asthma and cancer. Businesses won’t set up shop in those neighborhoods, and good jobs are hard to find,” she said.

“We can’t stand by and accept those disparities.

We all want to clean up our environment and certainly we don’t want people to suffer disease and illness because of environmental neglect. This is a complex, socioeconomic issue. One that can’t be resolved simply by shutting down industry and throwing money at it, believing that somehow this is environmental justice.

When government begins flexing its muscle saying it will move into these areas and do whatever is necessary for the sake of “environmental justice”, we should all be concerned.

Tom Remington