Environmental Justice

Southern Coalition for Social Justice’s (SCSJ) Environmental Justice Program seeks to empower economically and politically disadvantaged communities and communities of color (together, “impacted communities”) in their efforts to overcome environmental injustice at a time when climate impacts exacerbate environmental inequities.

Environmental injustice is pervasive throughout the South due to historical redlining and discriminatory land use policies that locate polluting industries in impacted communities. Gentrification in these areas also perpetuates the erasure of these communities and their history. We provide impacted communities with long-term support that is responsive to community needs rather than organizational directives. SCSJ is unique in the environmental justice field in our community-based lawyering approach that empowers the community itself as the agent of change and the experts in their own needs. SCSJ’s primary role is to use our organizational, legal, research, and communications resources to improve access to a justice system that has historically excluded and failed to serve impacted communities.