CHEJ has the tools to help residents fight against toxic threats in their community. We can provide scientific information to make your case, leadership training to build your organization and organize your community, and ongoing coaching throughout the process.
Our story began in Love Canal, NY, where Lois Gibbs led her neighbors to be protected from 20,000 tons of hazardous waste buried in their backyards. Love Canal was national news and the catalyst for the federal Superfund program.
Our nationwide network of more than 300 local community groups works locally and at the regional, state and national levels to achieve critical policy impacts around issues like fracking, release of toxic chemicals, climate change, industral waste and more.
By Sharon Franklin. In 1980 national press coverage made Lois Gibbs a household name, but her work did not end with Love Canal. After receiving thousands of letters from people experiencing similar problems, she created what is today known as
Origins: From Love Canal to a National Campaign for Safe Schools The Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ) was born out of the Love Canal environmental disaster of the late 1970s, when 20,000 tons of toxic waste were found
“To each action, there is an equal and opposite reaction” – Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion You’ve just had your first meeting. Turnout was very good, spirit was high, and it looks as if your organization has a
“No More Sacrifice Zones!” is our campaign to organize people who are poisoned by corporate greed and at high risk for Covid-19 complications to lead a national effort that ends the sacrificing of their families, and our planet.
Every day, people in America become exposed to a toxic mixture of chemicals in the air we breathe. They are released in unknown quantities by energy plants, dirty factories and CO2-emitting vehicles.
These foul chemicals are not found equally everywhere in our country’s air: They are highly concentrated in areas where people have lower incomes and are part of racial minority groups.
These have become known as America’s “Sacrifice Zones.”
We are uniting people suffering from cancer, moms whose kids are born with physical impairments, and residents who simply can’t afford to live anywhere else to share their stories, name the solutions they need and build the power necessary to enact change.
Will you join us?