Grassroots organizations and frontline activists are the reasons we’ve seen a positive change in regard to environmental justice over the past few decades. Why? Because environmental racism impacts these fenceline communities at a substantially higher rate than other communities.
For Andrea Vidaurre, Senior Policy Analyst at People’s Collective for Environmental Justice (PC4EJ), environmental racism is something that her community has always dealt with, and now she wants people to know why it’s so important to address it:
“[Environmental racism] impacts so many in our community! The industry plagues our homes by putting our families in dangerous working conditions, creating a toxic dependency on the low wage work, while also forcing us to be the human buffer of pollution.”
Now, after years of challenging the warehouse industry and their pollution, there has finally been a major win with the passage of the Warehouse Indirect Source Rule (ISR) in Southern California. This win demonstrates the ability for fenceline communities to identify local solutions to address the health and climate impacts from freight transportation systems.
Communities like Andrea’s have been silenced and told that pollution caused by warehouses was too costly to regulate or find a solution. Now, the Warehouse ISR will cut pollution caused by mega warehouses in Southern California and create local clean energy jobs.
“The ISR is going to give us some peace of mind as we have set a new standard for development but also allows us to hopefully breathe a little better as we push zero emissions into our community.”
The environmental justice movement has grown so much over the last 20 years, and it’s because of grassroots organizations like PC4EJ, EYCEJ, and other activist and allied groups across the country that drive environmental justice and climate justice policy. We’re proud to support our MFN members as they work to further environmental justice in communities in all corners of the United States.