"Clean Air and Water Are Human Rights": Organizing for Environmental Justice in Diverse Communities in Baltimore

Background and Purpose:

Environmental burdens are unequally distributed across populations. Polluted areas are disproportionately populated by people of color and communities facing poverty and social exclusion. Studies have shown that these burdens effect health and mental health disparities, poverty, child safety, and housing. Baltimore's history of formal and informal segregation, including the practice of “redlining", has left a legacy of social and environmental inequities. Attaining environmental justice requires active participation of residents who are affected by political and financial decisions regarding development and distribution of environmental resources. To do so, residents must organize. However, this can be challenging as urban populations are increasingly diverse and often divided by socio-economic, cultural, and religious profiles, lifestyles and attitudes.

This study is part of a larger research project that explored how a racially, socioeconomically, and culturally diverse grassroots coalition organized for fair housing and environmental justice in Baltimore. The current study examined the relationship between organizing and the environment by analyzing interview data that elicited participants’ perspective on: (1) environmental burdens (2) motivations and (3) strategies for organizing.

Methods:

This qualitative study used purposive sampling to interview community organizers, activists, staff and volunteers who were involved in Baltimore housing and environmental initiatives (n=54). Study participants represented diverse gender identities, racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. We used NVivo 12 software for thematic analysis. In coding we used an interpretive, phenomenological lens that privileged participants’ perspectives.

Results:

Study participants were concerned with community blight (e.g., unwalkable streets, lack of trees, litter and vacant housing) and perceived their environment as harmful to residents’ physical and emotional health due to work-related hazard exposure and proximity to polluting industries. Motivation for engagement stemmed from identified environmental burdens, perceptions of social injustice, and the value of community cohesion. Study participants perceived access to environmental resources as basic human rights, motivating new organizing in connection to racial justice and human rights activism. Clean and healthy neighborhoods were seen as part and parcel of "good communities" that enjoy supportive residential relationships. Organizing strategies included leadership development, public/political education, coalition building and creating opportunities for ad-hoc volunteerism alongside long-term engagement. Organizers connected environmental concerns to a wide range of social problems to bring together diverse communities for a shared cause.

Conclusions and Implications:

Environmental burdens and their resulting impacts are social justice issues that call for social work intervention. Our findings show that environmental concerns are also motivators for community engagement in diverse communities. Since clean air and water affect residents regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity and socioeconomic background, environmental justice organizing has the potential to promote collaboration and solidarity across traditional divisions. The person-in-environment perspective, which is central to social work’s guiding principles, highlights the interplay between the individual and their surrounding environment. Time and again, inequalities have reinforced excluding urban development and NIMBY mentality. However, this study demonstrates how humanity’s inherent connection with the physical environment has the power to forge collaborations across disparate groups to promote wellbeing for individuals, communities, and broader society.