United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Communications, William K. Reilly Lew Crampton Associate Administrator Charles Osolin Director of Editorial Services John Heritage Karen Flagstad Ruth Barker Jack Lewis Assistant Editor Nancy Starnes Douglass Lea Editorial Assistance Design Credits Ron Farrah James R. Ingram Robert Flanagan Front Cover: November 1988: Young activist in Louisiana Toxics March protests pollution from petrochemical plants along Mississippi. Copyright Sam Kittner. EPA JOURNAL is printed on recycled paper. s it time that we broadened the definition of environmental protection The physical environment of America's minorities-Hispanics, Native The environmental effort launched by Earth Day, 1970, has been largely defined by middle and upper class whites. It has been environmentalism with a big E, a specialized activity serving a special segment of our society. Environmental protection laws have largely reflected that definition. Ironically, Earth Day, itself, was socially oriented and broad based, involving tens of millions of people of all ages, incomes, and regions of the country. Some will argue that, for the most part, minorities and the poor have not volunteered for the environmental movement. Agreed; they may have had more pressing problems. Does that mean that they should not share in the benefits? A skeptic says, "If you broaden the definition of protection to include the devastated environment of the inner city, where is the end?" It may be that there is no end, only a goal, one that we can strive for but never completely achieve: decency, compassion, hope. It may be that every social cause should, fundamentally, have this aim. Not simply because it is right, but because on a planet with great risks as well as great benefits, it is realistic. O John Heritage EPA JOURNAL Subscriptions Superintendent of Documents, GPO, |