Jewish Perspectives on Environmental Justice
National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council Statement Of Principles On Environmental Justice cont.
Adopted by the NJCRAC Plenary Session, February 7, 1995

As activity around environmental justice increases among our intergroup and interreligious coalition partners, as federal environmental justice legislation continues to be introduced, and as concern for the state of the natural world grows, the NJCRAC has developed the following principles to guide our work in this area. These principles are intended to provide a consensus from which to articulate positions on legislation and to suggest a direction for coalitional action.

Environmental Justice Principles

The Jewish tradition, informed by primary Jewish sources and by contemporary Jewish insights, includes a mandate to cultivate, protect and nurture the environment. At the same time, the Jewish community has a long-standing commitment to social justice and equal opportunity.

Today, air, water, and land pollution, species extinction and climatic change are causing escalating environmental decay as well as widespread health problems, and evidence indicates that these problems disproportionately burden poor communities and people of color.

The Jewish community relations field therefore:

• Affirms the right of all people to live and work in an environment with clean air, land, water and food;
• Recognizes the obligation of government to protect the public health by ensuring the establishment of sufficient regulations and facilities to safely minimize, manage, and dispose of toxic, nuclear, and other hazardous wastes;
• Affirms the right of all people to participate in the planning and implementation of regulations around environmental issues in their communities;
• Calls for comprehensive strategies to be adopted and funded by local, state and federal government to address the environmental degradation currently suffered by affected communities;
• Calls on state and federally supported agencies to ensure that their programs do not inflict disproportionate environmental harm on the poor, on minority groups, or on people of color, and that these communities have equal access to environmental clean-up programs;
• Calls on the public and private sectors to engage in practices that contribute to the development of a healthy economy and a sustainable and livable environment; and
• Reaffirms its own commitment to engage in education and advocacy around environmental protection and environmental justice.