In the early 1980s, environmental justice emerged as a concept in the United States, fueled by a mounting disdain within Black, Hispanic and indigenous communities that were subject to hazardous and polluting industries located predominantly in their neighborhoods.^[5] This prompted the launch of the Environmental justice movement which adopted a civil rights and social justice approach to environmental justice ^[6] and grew organically from dozens, even hundreds, of local struggles, events and a variety of other social movements.

Many activists cite the organized protests and marches held by 16,000 North Carolinians who were outraged over a polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) disposal site in Warren County. Shocco Township is 75 percent African American, and has the third lowest per capita income in the state. With the permission of the US EPA, the state built the dump which placed the waste only seven feet above the water table, instead of the fifty feet usually required for PCB’s. In spite of the protests, the dump site was allowed to open.^[7]

Historically, minorities have been absent from the rank and file membership of mainstream environmental associations. At the same time, these organizations have not taken on environmental justice issues. In the 1990’s, mainstream environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society, Friends of the Earth, and Greenpeace all began to recruit minorities both among their rank and file membership and to serve in staff and decision making positions. A few, including the Sierra Club and Greenpeace have participated in the environmental justice struggle by filing briefs or providing informational and organizational resources.^[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_justice