Demand Environmental Justice for All! February 7, 2024

This Black History Month, we at PSR are prioritizing environmental justice, and we want to see Congress do the same.

For far too long, Black Americans have borne a disproportionate burden of air pollution, environmental health impacts, and resource scarcity due to environmental racism. The “A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice for All Act” is a comprehensive piece of legislation that was developed with key environmental justice organizations and communities to address these inequities. Unfortunately, it has been stuck in committees in both the House and Senate for nearly a year.

All the while, environmental disparities have continued on their devastating trajectory despite particulate pollution decreasing overall. In 2016, a Harvard study found that “the average PM_2.5 concentration for the Black population was 13.7% higher than that of the white population.” It also noted that PM_2.5 concentrations increased substantially where over 85% of the population was Black. The opposite was observed where a community was overwhelmingly white.

Tell your Members of Congress to prioritize the “A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice for All Act.”

We cannot stand idly by while polluters continue to harm our friends, families, and neighbors. There is no time like the present to call for environmental and climate justice. Tell your Members of Congress to prioritize the A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice for All Act so that we may all reap the benefits of its future passage.