The Environmental Justice movement and scientific research have demonstrated that pollution's effects fall disproportionately on the health of people of color, Indigenous Peoples, and low-income communities. The effects of global climate change, caused in large part by fossil fuel emissions, are no exception: climate change is likely to have broader and more severe impacts, and these effects will also be felt unequally.
Poor nations, people of color, Indigenous Peoples, and low-income communities in all nations are the first to experience negative climate change impacts such as sea level rise, flooding, drought, heat-death and illness, respiratory illness, infectious disease, and economic and cultural displacement.
The first conference convened in the United States on "Just Climate? Pursuing Environmental Justice in the Face of Global Climate Change" was held at the University of Michigan in March, 2004. The following 14 principles, developed as the Climate Justice Declaration at the 2nd People of Color Environmental Justice Leadership Summit, surfaced in a workshop at the Michigan conference. The Climate Justice Declaration is endorsed by a variety of individuals and institutions.
To protect the most vulnerable communities, climate policy must follow these principles:
Global climate change will accelerate unless we can slow the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Communities have the right to be free from climate change, its related impacts and other forms of ecological destruction.
Poor nations, low-income workers, people of color, and Indigenous Peoples will suffer the most from climate change's impacts. We need to ensure the opportunity to adapt and thrive in a changing world.
No group should have to shoulder alone the burdens caused by the transition from a fossil fuel-based economy to a renewable energy-based economy. A just transition would create opportunities for displaced workers and communities to participate in the new economic order through compensation for job loss, loss of tax base, and other negative effects.
At all levels and in all realms, people must have a say in the decisions that affect their lives. Communities, particularly affected communities, must play a leading role in national and international processes to address climate change. Indigenous Peoples must have the right to self-determination to control their lands and resources. Nations must recognize their government-to-government relationships with tribes.
The causes and effects of climate change occur around the world. Individuals, communities, and nations must work together cooperatively to stop global climate change.
According to the principle of common but differentiated responsibility agreed to by 165 nations as part of the 1992 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, countries that contribute the most to global warming should take the lead in solving the problem. The U.S. is four percent of the world's population but emits over twenty percent of the world's greenhouse gases. All people should have equal rights to the atmosphere.
Presently known fossil fuel reserves will last far into the future. However fossil fuel exploration destroys unique cultures and valuable ecosystems, so exploration should be phased out as it is no longer worth the social and environmental costs. We should instead invest in clean, renewable, locally controlled and low-impact energy sources.
Any market-based or technological solution to climate change, such as carbon-trading and carbon sequestration, should be subject to principles of democratic accountability, ecological sustainability and social justice.
No amount of action later can make up for lack of action today. Just as we buy insurance to protect against uncertain danger, we must take precautionary measures to minimize harm to the global climate before it occurs.
The greatest impacts of climate change will come in the future. We should take into account the impacts on future generations in deciding policy today. Our children should have the opportunity for success through the sustainable use of resources.
Fossil fuel and extractive industries must be held strictly liable for past and current life-cycle impacts relating to the production of greenhouse gases and associated local pollutants. Industrialized country governments and transnational corporations owe the victims of climate change and victims of associated injustices full compensation, restoration, and reparation for the loss of land, livelihood, and other damages.
Stop the role of financial institutions and transnational corporations in shaping unsustainable production and consumption patterns and lifestyles that lead to global warming. Stop their role in unduly influencing national and international decision-making on policies that affect the climate.
Educate present and future generations about climate, energy, social and environmental issues based on real-life experiences and an appreciation of diverse cultural perspectives.
Individuals and communities must make personal choices to minimize consumption of Mother Earth's resources, reduce our need for fossil energy, make the conscious decision to challenge and reprioritize our lifestyles, and re-think our ethics with relation to the environment and Mother Earth.
We acknowledge and endorse the Bali Principles of Climate Justice, the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative's "10 Principles for Just Climate Policies in the U.S.", and the Principles of Environmental Justice adopted at the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit of 1991, from which these principles were drawn.
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Organizational affiliation is for identification purposes only and does not constitute organizational endorsement
Environmental Justice Leaders:
Tom Goldtooth
Indigenous Environmental Network*
Grace Lee Boggs
Executive Director
Boggs Center for Nurturing Community Leadership
Beverly Wright, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
Xavier University of Louisiana
SNRE Faculty:
Jim Diana
Associate Dean, School of Natural Resources & Environment
University of Michigan*
Ivette Perfecto
Professor, School of Natural Resources and the Environment
University of Michigan*
Maria Carmen Lemos
Associate Professor, School of Natural Resources & Environment
University of Michigan*
Thomas Princen, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Natural Resources & Environmental Policy
Co-director, Workshop on Consumption and Environment
School of Natural Resources and Environment*
Bunyan Bryant
Professor, School of Natural Resources and the Environment
University of Michigan*
John Vandermeer
Margaret Davis Collegiate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and
School of Natural Resources and Environment*
Rebecca Hardin
Professor, School of Natural Resources and the Environment
University of Michigan*
James E. Crowfoot
Professor Emeritus of Natural Resources and Urban and
Regional Planning and Dean Emeritus, School of Natural Resources and
Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor*
Emily Silverman
Professor, School of Natural Resources and the Environment*
University Faculty:
Timmons Roberts
Professor, The College of William and Mary*
Director Environmental Studies Program
Academic Community:
Mahesh Rangarajan
Environmental Historian and Independent Researcher based in Delhi, India
Netra
Chhetri
Pennsylvania State University*
Bradley Parks
London School of Economics* Craig Hart
Massachusetts Institute of Technology*
Martin J. Adamian
Instructor and Ph. D. Candidate
Colorado State University*
Diana Seales
School of Natural Resources and the Environment
University of Michigan*
Hannah Arkin
School of Natural Resources and the Environment
University of Michigan*
Troy Hawkins
Civil and Environmental Engineering / Engineering and Public Policy
Carnegie Mellon University*
Lindsay Husted
BS Environmental Science
University of North Carolina*
Chapel Hill
Terry Yasuko Ogawa
Master's of Science Candidate
School of Natural Resources & Environment
University of Michigan*
Guntra Aistars
PhD Candidate
School of Natural Resources & Environment
University of Michigan*
Emily Maxwell
School of Natural Resources & Environment
University of Michigan*
Mary Adelzadeh
School of Natural Resources & Environment
University of Michigan*
Lois Wardell
Post-doctorate Research Fellow
Dept. Earth & Planetary Sciences
McGill University*
Liz Veazey
Southeast Student Climate Network
Nathaniel Gillespie
School of Natural Resources and the Environment
University of Michigan*
Lindsay Smith
UM School of Natural Resources & Environment*
Taubman College of Architecture & Urban
Planning*
Rakhi Kasat
UM School of Natural Resources & Environment*
Abigail Clark
Language Science & Arts
University of Michigan*
Kimberly Wetzel
Environmental Justice Initiative, University of Michigan,
School of Natural
Resources & Environment*
Brandi Marika Nelson
Graduate Student, University of Michigan
School of Natural Resources and the
Environment*
JoonSik Park
University of Michigan
School of Natural Resources and the Environment*
Andrew Straussman
School of Natural Resources & Environment
University of Michigan*
Yochanan Zakai
School of Natural Resources & Environment
University of Michigan*
Lori Kumler
School of Natural Resources & Environment
University of Michigan*
Sarah Lashly
School of Natural Resources & Environment
University of Michigan*
Sara Nosanchuk
University of Michigan, Business School and School of Natural
Resources and Environment*
Concerned Organizations:
Tom Athanasiou
EcoEquity
Ansje Miller
Redefining Progress
Lwandle Mqadi
Technical OfficerThe SouthSouthNorth Project (South Africa Office)*
Erin Stojan
Energy Justice Alliance
Minnesotans for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ME3)
University of Michigan League of Conservation Voters Board of Directors
and Concerned Organizations:
Denis Hayes
President, Bullitt Foundation*
Rajen Awotar
Executive Director Maudesco - Mauritius*
Jessica Guadalupe Tovar
Greenaction for Health & Environmental Justice
J. Andrew Hoerner
Director, Center for a Sustainable Economy
Redefining Progress
Jihan R. Gearon
Research Associate, Climate Justice Corps Coordinator
Redefining Progress,
Environmental Justice & Climate Change Initiative