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Children in communities with lower wealth and communities of color face increased pollution and harmful environmental exposures, have higher levels of contaminants in their bodies, and experience more illness or disability such as asthma and learning disabilities. These children are also often the first to experience the direct and indirect impacts of climate change, and are the most severely affected.
Racist housing policies such as redlining and segregation have confined people of color to certain neighborhoods, profoundly affecting the health and safety of both the communities and their homes. By restricting where they could live, these practices led (and lead) to the concentration of polluting industries and the construction of highways in neighborhoods primarily inhabited by people of color, which results in contaminated air, water, and soil. The segregation caused by these policies not only makes it challenging for people of color to move to safer, more desirable neighborhoods but also systematically drains resources from urban-center communities of color through disinvestment. This reduction in the tax base means less funding for public services, contributing to deteriorating infrastructure and unhealthy schools. Structural racism has led to the disparate impact of hazardous waste sites, polluting facilities and poor quality housing stock being located in or near neighborhoods with high concentrations of Black and Indigenous people, immigrants, other people of color and economically disadvantaged populations.
Environmental Justice is the equitable distribution of environmental risks and benefits, where all people can thrive in safe and healthy environments and reach their full potential. It occurs when all people—regardless of race, income, or other factors—are involved in determining laws and practices that impact the environment as it relates to our health. Health equity strives for the highest possible standard of health for all people and gives special attention to the needs of those at greatest risk of poor health based on social conditions The Environmental Justice and Health Equity movement stands against systemic racism that drives disproportionate pollution burdens and health disparities. It affirms the right of all children to healthy, safe, environments. It’s important to understand that children’s health problems can change the outcome of their entire lives. Children’s health disparities impact a community over time, leading to a cycle of disparity and further entrenching the impacts of systemic racism.
The drive to achieve environmental justice and health equity is baked into CEHN’s work. We apply an equity and justice lens to each of our initiatives, events, resources, partnerships, and programs, and work toward systemic solutions: from the Climate Equity Collaborative to the Children’s Environmental Health and Healthy Housing Fellowship; the Eco-Healthy Child Care ® Lead Safe Toolkit to Children’s Environmental Health State Profiles.
CEHN leverages our leadership roles advising federal and state agencies and offices to bring concrete recommendations to the table for moving the needle on health equity and environmental justice for children. We also advocate for inclusion of child-specific vulnerabilities and needs into environmental justice and health equity conversations- Our work is built on the foundation that all children deserve healthy and safe places to live, learn, and play.
