The Center for Health, Environment and Justice has been on the front line in the fight for environmental health for 40 years. We train and support local activists across the country and build local, state and national initiatives that win on issues from Superfund to climate change.
We Can Help You Win
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.
Whether you are starting a new initiative from scratch with volunteers or have been working together for years, CHEJ is there for you. Contact us to find out more.
Love Canal
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.
Armed with lessons about the power of organizing, education and the bold voice of local residents defending their families, Lois launched CHEJ in 1981. We’ve been fighting for a healthier environment ever since.
A Network For Change
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.
The communities we serve are largely rural, low-wealth or working class—the places that typically bear the brunt of environmental degradation. Together, we make a difference.
New Interim Strategy Will Address PFAS Through Certain EPA-Issued Wastewater Permits
WASHINGTON (November 30, 2020) — Aggressively addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the environment continues to be an active and ongoing priority for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Today, the [...]
Biden shortlist for White House key environmental post shows focus on environmental justice
President-elect Joe Biden is vetting three environmental justice leaders to head up the White House agency that will take the lead in coordinating efforts to safeguard communities disproportionately affected by [...]
In Georgia, 16 Superfund Sites Are Threatened by Extreme Weather Linked to Climate Change
From a distance, the inland marsh a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean in Brunswick, Georgia, looks like a broad, green mat broken by silvery threads of meandering rivers and [...]
Golden Parachutes: Profit and Poison
By: Julia Weil, Organizing Intern Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have increasingly seen many social, economic, [...]
Indigenous People and Environmental Genocide
By: Shaina Smith, Organizing Intern The relationship between Native Americans and the United States has always [...]
The Wait for Cleanup Continues … Government Keeps Family Waiting
By: Sharon Franklin, Chief of Operations The danger arrived for Kim and Richard Rankin and their [...]
No More Sacrifice Zones!
“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?
