On a rainy February day in 1968, two Black sanitation workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were tragically crushed to death by a malfunctioning garbage truck compactor in Memphis, Tennessee. Seeking shelter from a downpour, they had been denied entry into a nearby building due to segregation laws, and so had climbed into the back of the garbage truck. Their deaths not only illuminated the perilous and discriminatory working conditions faced by Black workers but also underscored the broader issues of economic, racial, and environmental injustice as well as the interconnectedness of environmental and health justice.

The tragedy sparked the Memphis sanitation strike, a powerful community-led movement that garnered the attention of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and mobilized more than 1,300 Black men demanding “equality, dignity, and respect.” This pivotal strike helped ignite the environmental justice movement, highlighting the inequities faced not just by Black sanitation workers, but by the many other communities impacted by environmental hazards and the health disparities that result from them.

The Intersection of Environmental and Health Justice

Environmental justice (EJ) is defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as the just treatment and meaningful involvement of all people in environmental decision-making, to ensure full protection from disproportionate health and environmental impacts. These impacts include those related to climate change, as well as equitable access to a healthy, sustainable, and resilient environment. Environmental and health justice are interconnected.

Environmental injustice occurs when communities are unfairly and disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards such as air and water pollution, extreme heat, and hazardous waste, among others. Such exposures have been linked to health issues including cancer, asthma, cardiovascular diseases, and developmental disabilities. For instance, in 2014, the city of Flint, Michigan, switched its drinking water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River, exposing thousands of residents to toxic levels of lead and other contaminants. (The residents sued, and the city eventually agreed to a remediation plan.)

Environmental injustice disproportionately impacts communities of color, low-income communities, and Indigenous communities. Similarly, climate injustice, a subsector of the broader environmental justice movement, highlights the disproportionate impacts of climate-related environmental hazards on marginalized communities. These communities often lack agency over decisions affecting their health and neighborhoods, leading to greater risks from climate-related health inequities.

Read the full article about environmental and health justice by Anthony Nicome and Philip Alberti at AAMC.