The Benefits of Getting Involved

This past Saturday, on October 15th, I attended the New England Environmental Justice Forum (NEEJF) Regional Training Session held right here in Boston. NEEJF is a collaboration of work between Alternatives of Community and Environment, Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice, and Rhodes Island Legal Services. The purpose of the forum is to bring together advocates, community organizers, and attorneys so that they can share their ideas, plan for future work, and the legal and technical needs of communities.

What is Environmental Justice?
Environmental Justice is a buzz word that many might have heard, but know little about. EPA’s website defines Environmental Justice as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” Essentially, there are communities across the United States that are disproportionately exposed to poor environmental conditions. The exposure can range from poor air quality, to toxic buildings, degraded water quality, and contaminated land. These communities, known as “EJ communities”, exist right here around Boston and all throughout the state of Massachusetts.

How the NEEJF Regional Training Inspired Me
This forum provided an interactive format for attorneys and community organizers to learn from one another and share their experiences. What I walked away with from this training was a better understanding of the attorney’s role in EJ cases and the importance of a strong relationship between the attorney and the community they represent.

During one part of this program participants could hear from attorneys who have experience with EJ cases. This provided an opportunity to hear from attorneys about the obstacles and benefits of working with community groups that they experienced and the tactics used for successful outcomes. One point I took from this is that the attorney has a multifaceted role when working on these cases. While the attorney is critical to formulating legal arguments and assessing opportunities for the community to be part of the legal process, the attorney also needs to recognize and understand the importance of the many venues these campaigns must utilize. EJ communities have a number of forums available to them to raise awareness, which include community sponsored rallies or fairs, cleanup projects, participation at public hearings, advocacy pieces in newspapers and media, and community education. These many components need to be taken into consideration when developing a successful strategy plan.

In the afternoon we were also able to break into topic groups and during this portion I sat in on the “air” topic group. I cannot emphasize enough how much I walked away with from sitting at this table. It included community residents, experienced attorneys, law students, and recent graduates. Participants at this table handed out information on their current projects and ways to get involved. We discussed topics ranging from standing in a legal suit, community education on idling of vehicles, to incineration of waste and ways to reduce the amount of waste in Boston. The breadth of topics and the ideas generated during this round-table discussion resulted in alliances from different groups moving forward and a sense of unity among many different air related issues. What we realized is that we are all a resource for one another, even if we may have never worked on the particular air related topic raised.

What amazed me the most was the work of community organizers. Most people can feel powerless when they see their community subject to continuing environmental degradation, whether it is vacant lots turned into dump sites and drug havens, to another industrial facility emitting more toxics into the air. It all starts with community groups recognizing that it is up to them to stand up. From there, it is up to everyone to provide their assistance; whether legal, technical, or organizational in order to develop a successful campaign. Those who choose to get involved need to become familiar with the community, what makes it tick and why this campaign is so important to the overall health of the community. Attorneys discussed attending community meetings even if legal issues were not raised and taking a walks around the area with community members so they could be come just as familiar with the problem as the community members were.

Get Involved
My suggestion to anyone, after attending this event, is to attend similar events in the public interest field you are interested in. Upon leaving this training I had a wealth of information on projects I could get involved in, speaker series I could attend, and renewed energy to continue with this work. As future attorneys you are learning valuable skills that under-served communities are in desperate need of and it is important to remember to use these skills to give back.