Have you ever wondered what resulted from the major environmental justice movements? Where did the leaders of these organizations end up? What lasting effects did these movements have around New York City? Did they really make a difference? From 1960 to present day, organizations like WE ACT, UPROSE, GROW NYC, and the Sunrise Movement have been working locally, globally, and nationally to improve legislation and the environment. They have successfully made their communities cleaner through NYC waste legislation, drawing attention to redlining and disproportionately affected communities of color, and creating the environmental leaders of the future. But how have they, and how can they, continue to do so in current times when similar issues like housing crises, food shortages, and weather damage are continuously exacerbated by climate change?
New York City’s melting pot of cultures has allowed for the creation of hundreds of movements beginning with some of the most influential revolutionary leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. Even before the creation of individual environmental movements, The Young Lords and the Black Panthers addressed environmental racism in the streets of their communities. They set the stage for community-based organizing, and new movements continue to sprout up as grassroots organizing increases in the City. But looking back on NYC’s history shows how hard organizers and activists worked in order to effectively cause change.
New York has a complex history, a history of environmental changes, and, unfortunately, disarray for communities facing eviction, a lack of resources, racism, and classism. Problematic legislation resulting in redlining has made proper housing conditions for BIPOC communities difficult to receive. As a result, these communities stay trapped in worsening conditions as large corporations target these neighborhoods for waste disposal. The progression of such issues makes it easy for followers of these movements to get lost in a number of articles without solutions, but as we’ll explore, no solutions does not always mean hope is lost.
While people may think that the rallies, protests, and noise of environmentalists in the 20th century left, the reality is that this type of activism is still alive. It continues to power movements focusing on the causes marginalized communities have been fighting for with every new generation of activists. Thousands of people from around the city have started taking initiatives to raise awareness for their communities as well as for the state of the Earth as a whole.
Exploring these movements centers the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Climate change data has shown that communities of color housing high percentages of Black (27%) and Hispanic (43%) individuals, face disproportionate negative outcomes from environmental crises. Lack of resources, specifically, worsens these communities’ abilities to combat these impending climate circumstances.
As the years we have to achieve net-zero carbon emissions and avoid irreversible damage to the climate draw closer, the time has come to build on previous movements, raise morale, and begin fighting for a more sustainable future.
Environmental issues are not just one community’s issues, it is all of ours and it is up to us to find a way to work together. By using these past movements as examples for creating new ones, reviving old ones, fighting for local legislation, and growing the need for mutual aid in our communities, neighborhoods across America will be able to advocate for themselves with the support of one another in knowing that a radical change can be created right from their homes.
We must ask ourselves, how can we continue these movements’ projects in this day and age? How can we make a difference as they have? I will attempt to piece together the past and present of revolutionary NYC movements, providing an answer to their lesser known history and creating solutions to the incoming future of activism.