Dear Friends,

-- John F. Kennedy

President Kennedy was right, of course. Too often, life is unfair. But ELM and its allies in the Massachusetts Environmental Collaborative have decided to do something about it.

The Collaborative is made up of 35 organizations from all across Massachusetts that are working together to improve environmental policies through research, advocacy, and communication. At our November meeting, Collaborative members chose "environmental justice" as a major area of concentration for our activities in the coming years.

Environmental justice has many definitions. But the core of the idea is that it is unfair that differences in race, age, gender, class, or other such characteristics play so large a part in determining peoples’ environmental health, their access to natural resources, and the livability of their communities.

It is unfair that our poor and minority communities suffer much higher rates of asthma and other respiratory diseases because of incinerators, power plants, diesel buses and cars. It is unfair that our older cities are blighted with abandoned industrial sites contaminated with toxic waste. It is unfair that public parks and beaches are allowed to deteriorate – or even converted to other uses – while so much of our coast is closed to public access. It is unfair that people are exposed in their workplaces and homes to chemicals that are associated with cancer, endocrine disorders, and neurological problems.

By making environmental justice a priority, ELM and the Collaborative have committed to identify and root out systematic environmental unfairness in Massachusetts. We won’t solve all environmental justice problems in the coming year or any time soon. But as President Kennedy said about solving the seemingly intractable problems of an earlier generation, "Let us begin."

Sincerely,

Jim Gomes

President