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13 Sustainable Dev. L. & Pol'y 14 (2012-2013)
On Diversity and Public Policymaking: An Environmental Justice Perspective

handle is hein.journals/sdlp13 and id is 14 raw text is: ON DIVERSITY AND PUBLIC POLICYMAKING: AN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PERSPECTIVE by Patrice Lumumba Simms* INTRODUCTION Over the course of the Twentieth Century, the environ- mental movement and the resulting adoption and implementation of increasingly protective environmen- tal laws have literally changed America's social, political, and physical landscape.I However, the character of our policymaking institutions - how they both perceive and fulfill their responsibil- ities - profoundly affects the nature of the benefits they produce for society. In this regard, it would be a mistake to assume that the personalities, family histories, ethnic and linguistic back- grounds, genders, moral values, sexual orientations, social envi- ronments, spiritual or religious traditions, life experiences, and cultural perspectives of the decision-makers themselves do not affect the character of these institutions and therefore the nature and quality of their work. As many have observed, the environmental movement and the institutions responsible for environmental policymaking have been historically and overwhelmingly the province of the white middle class.2 While some have argued that diversity is a fad - or worse, a disingenuous aesthetic adornment3 - a wealth of research suggests otherwise.4 Indeed, in this author's view, the chronic lack of diversity among environmental policymakers has defined the evolutionary path of the institutions that have sprung to life in the United States over the past century. And the ongoing homogeneity of the environmental policy leadership continues to stand as a significant barrier to the important objec- tives of current environmental justice efforts. To be sure, the concerns about diversity among environ- mental policymakers are far from the only challenge facing the environmental justice community.' It is, however, a critical structural failing that will inhibit both the rate of progress and ultimately the ability to achieve environmental justice goals. Accordingly, achieving real diversity within the ranks of environmental policy decision-makers, especially at the federal and state level, is absolutely essential to true-up the structural failure that stands in the way of genuine progress toward envi- ronmental justice. Part I of this article will briefly describe the history and objectives of the environmental justice movement. Part II will examine the classic approach to assessing and addressing environmental concerns and discuss a few of the sub- tle but inherent and invidious biases that historically have gone unrecognized by classic environmental policymakers. Part III will describe how a more diverse body of decision-makers, who more vividly conceptualize environmental issues at a multidi- mensional level, can lead to better decisions. Part IV will briefly describe the trajectory of Environmental Protection Agency 14 (EPA) efforts to address diversity and environmental justice. Finally, Part V concludes with a call to accelerate the pace of workforce diversification, to explicitly confront the persistent structural biases of U.S. environmental policy, and to actively pursue forward-looking intentional multidimensionality. SOME PREFATORY OBSERVATIONS It is important to clarify two points at the outset of this analysis. First, references to diversity in this article do not relate merely to race. While race is an especially important aspect of diversity in the context of environmental protection - due largely to its historical relationship to environmental burden' - it is by no means the only one. As the introduction above suggests, a host of other aspects of diversity are also important and should be integral to any efforts to diversify the ranks of environmental public policymakers. Because the goal of this article is to illu- minate the connection between leadership diversity and environ- mental justice, however, much of the discussion herein focuses on racial, ethnic, and economic diversity. Second, it should be clear that low-income and non-white are not synonymous.7 Indeed, there are relatively wealthy black communities that have very much fallen victim to neglect or worse,8 and there are many poor white communities that suffer under the yoke of dispro- portionate environmental burdens.9 Moreover, my references to non-white communities are by no means a euphemistic allu- sion to communities of people of African descent alone. It is true that members of the African Diaspora in the United States have suffered an especially brutal and repressive brand of injustice.'o However, across the U.S., Spanish speaking communities, Asian American communities, and Native American communities (to name a few) have each experienced their own species of social injustice, elements of which clearly resonate as environmental justice issues.'1 I. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE -A SEARCH FOR RESPECT As many have observed, the civil rights and environmen- tal movements have strong genealogical ties and, at least to some degree, share a common foundation based on principles of human rights and social justice.'2 As Professor Richard J. *Patrice Lumumba Simms is an Assistant Professor at Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C. Professor Simms has practiced extensively as an environmental attorney and policy-maker in government and in the environ- mental non-profit community, and currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for Earthjustice. For their unwavering courage in the face of tremen- dous adversity I thank those many communities under siege who fight in proxy for the rights of each and every one of us for a safe and healthy environment in which to live, work, learn and play. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT LAw & PoLIcy

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