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18 EPA J. 25 (1992)
The Mainstream Environmental Movement

handle is hein.journals/epajrnl18 and id is 26 raw text is: minorities will find these organizations attractive enough to join. A few predominantly white environmental organizations, like Greenpeace and the Center for Environmental Intern Programs (CEIP Fund, Inc.), have taken up the challenge from minority environmental activists and have collaborated on many projects with minority groups or have worked on the issue of job preparation and placement. For the most part, however, most environmental organizations not a part of the environmental justice sector are devoid of minority members, staff, or board members. They complain that they can't find qualified minorities to fill positions in their organizations. However, such claims have to be questioned because there seems to be no shortage of such minorities in the environmental justice sector. Although there has been some unease between minorities and the traditional and well-established sectors of the movement, there are signs that both groups might be able to work together in the future. Many nonminority environmental groups sent observers to the First National People of Color Leadership Summit last October, and the number of collaborative projects is growing. Both minority and nonminority environmental groups have strengths that each can benefit from, but if these two different groups are to develop a meaningful relationship, many radical changes are required. 0 THE MAINSTREAM ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT by John H. Adams Predominately White Memberships Are Not Defensible T he statistics are plentiful and they are frightening. Three out of four toxic waste dumps are sited in predominantly African American or Latino communities. Two million tons of radioactive uranium tailings have been dumped on Native American lands. Three hundred thousand Latino farm laborers suffer from pesticide-related illnesses. This is a national disgrace. Statistics like these reflect a nationwide pattern of disproportionate environmental impact on people of color and the poor. This pattern stems from a profound flaw in the structure of the U.S. economy: Polluters do not absorb the costs of the environmental degradation they create, and society as a whole does not confront the problems and solve them. Instead, the problems are displaced. It is easier for a company to locate its factory or waste facility in eastern St. Louis than in the Upper East Side of Manhattan; it is cheaper for state governments to disregard the lead poisoning of poor children than to test and treat them as federal law requires. What this means (Adams is Executive Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, headquartered in New York City.) is that we are building our economy on the backs of people of color and the poor. Not to recognize this syndrome is to ignore one of the driving forces of environmental degradation in this country. The fact of disproportionate impact demands a disproportionate effort. Federal and state governments must direct a disproportionate share of clean-up funds and other environmental funding to these communities. The national environmental organizations must devote a disproportionate share of their resources to the public health problems affecting them. But this alone is not enough. The environmental justice movement that has arisen to address the concerns of these communities is one of the strongest new forces for environmental reform to emerge in years. If we are to remain truly effective, the national environmental groups must strive to become allies of this movement and of the communities it represents. This alliance will not take place overnight. It will require a great deal of work on the part of the national groups, We have been criticized by environmental justice activists, and there is much to criticize-the predominantly white staffs, the cultural barriers that have damaged and impeded joint efforts with activists MARCHIAPRIL 1992

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