70 Environmental Justice Quotes

Following is our list of environmental justice quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about social justice.

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Famous Environmental Justice Quotes

Environmental justice is the movement to ensure that no community suffers disproportionate environmental burdens or goes without enjoying fair environmental benefits. — Van Jones

The time has come to move beyond eco-elitism to eco-populism. Ecopopulism. To change our laws and culture, the green movement justice, political solutions and social change. — Van Jones

Environmental challenges have the power to deny equality of opportunity and hold back the progress of communities. — Lisa P. Jackson

If we do not save the environment, then whatever we do in civil rights will be of no meaning, because then we will have the equality of extinction. — James L. Farmer, Jr.

The time has come to move beyond eco-elitism to eco-populism. — Van Jones

Justice is not something that can be achieved by simply following rules. It requires a deep and ongoing commitment to equality and fairness. — Martha C. Nussbaum

We share this planet, our home, with millions of species. Justice and sustainability both demand that we do not use more resources than we need. — Vandana Shiva

Justice goes across racial and economic barriers - like the good Samaritan. — John M. Perkins

Justice is indivisible. You can't decide who gets civil rights and who doesn't. — Angela Davis

Envy plus rhetoric equals "social justice.". — Thomas Sowell

Climate change is the greatest threat to human rights in the 21st century. — Mary Robinson

Justice is what love looks like in public. — Cornel West

Our goal is a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy, and just world, with clean air, water, soil and power – economically, equitably, ecologically and elegantly enjoyed. — William McDonough

Ignorance is a form of environmental pollution. — American Proverbs

The ... challenge of Christmas is this: justice is what happens when all receive a fair share of God's world and only such distributive justice can establish peace on earth. — John Dominic Crossan

Racial Justice Quotes

Those who deplore our militants, who exhort patience in the name of a false peace, are in fact supporting segregation and exploitation. They would have social peace at the expense of social and racial justice. They are more concerned with easing racial tension than enforcing racial democracy. — A. Philip Randolph

The fate of millions of people—indeed the future of the black community itself—may depend on the willingness of those who care about racial justice to re-examine their basic assumptions about the role of the criminal justice system in our society. — Michelle Alexander

Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. — Martin Luther King, Jr.

Environmental justice quote Too many young folk have addiction to superficial things and not enough conviction for substantial t
Too many young folk have addiction to superficial things and not enough conviction for substantial things like justice, truth and love.

It is clear that the way to heal society of its violence . . . and lack of love is to replace the pyramid of domination with the circle of equality and respect. — Manitonquat

My fight is not for racial sameness but for racial equality and against racial prejudice and discrimination. — John Oliver Killens

I would like to believe that the discovery of even a single fossil bacteria on Mars would teach us what we ought to know all along, and that is what binds us here on earth - all the diverse peoples here - is really much more profound than what seems to separate us. — Richard E. Berendzen

Environmental justice quote Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

My hope is that feminist, racial justice, reproductive rights and LGBT movements build a coalition that centers on the lives of women who lead intersectional lives and too often fall in between the cracks of these narrow mission statements. — Janet Mock

This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. — Martin Luther King, Jr.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy — Martin Luther King, Jr.

One in three young African American men is currently under the control of the criminal justice system in prison, in jail, on probation, or on parole - yet mass incarceration tends to be categorized as a criminal justice issue as opposed to a racial justice or civil rights issue (or crisis). — Michelle Alexander

Social Justice Quotes

Education means to bring out wisdom. Indoctrination means to push in knowledge. — Dick Gregory

True religion is a revolutionary force: it is an inveterate enemy of oppression, privilege, and injustice. — Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

We have to free half of the human race, the women, so that they can help free the other half. — Emmeline Pankhurst

Environmental justice quote There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when w
There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.

Together, hand in hand, with our matches and our necklaces, we shall liberate this country. — Winnie Madikizela-Mandela

Hate speech it seems to be is been defined by the political left as anything we don't like, anything that violates social justice doctrines, feminism, Black Lives Matter kind of ideology. It is not something that I have ever heard particularly effectively defined. — Milo Yiannopoulos

In the end anti-black, anti-female, and all forms of discrimination are equivalent to the same thing: anti-humanism. — Shirley Chisholm

Environmental justice quote If there is no justice for the people, there be no peace for the government.
If there is no justice for the people, there be no peace for the government.

But let me offer you my definition of social justice: I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree? Well then tell me how much of what I earn belongs to you - and why? — Walter E. Williams

One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk. - Crazy Horse

One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk. — Crazy Horse

I tell young people to prepare themselves as best they can for a world that grows more challenging every day-get the best education they can, and couple that education with real-life experience in social justice work. — Julian Bond

Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system. — Dorothy Day

Economic Justice Quotes

Instead of building the peace by attacking injustices like starvation, disease, illiteracy, political and economic servitude, we spend a trillion dollars on war since 1946, until hatred and conflict have become the international preoccupation. — Daniel Berrigan

Justice is never given; it is exacted and the struggle must be continuous for freedom is never a final fact, but a continuing evolving process to higher and higher levels of human, social, economic, political and religious relationship. — A. Philip Randolph

If globalization is to succeed, it must succeed for poor and rich alike. It must deliver rights no less than riches. It must provide social justice and equity no less than economic prosperity and enhanced communication. — Kofi Annan

Environmental justice quote Stand up for what is right even if you stand alone.
Stand up for what is right even if you stand alone.

Sustainable development is the pathway to the future we want for all. It offers a framework to generate economic growth, achieve social justice, exercise environmental stewardship and strengthen governance. — Ban Ki-moon

Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought. A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised if it is untrue; likewise laws and institutions no matter how efficient and well-arranged must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust. — John Rawls

The political problem of mankind is to combine three things: economic efficiency, social justice and individual liberty. — John Maynard Keynes

Environmental justice quote Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.
Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.

When the forest is destroyed, when the river is dammed, when the biodiversity is stolen, when fields are waterlogged or turned saline because of economic activities, it is a question of survival for these people. So our environmental movements have been justice movements. — Vandana Shiva

We educated, privileged lawyers have a professional and moral duty to represent the underrepresented in our society, to ensure that justice exists for all, both legal and economic justice. — Sonia Sotomayor

Dr. King once said, "You cannot legislate goodness, and you cannot pass a law to force someone to respect you. The only way to social justice, in a capitalist country, is through economic parity." — John Hope Bryant

It is necessary not only to relieve the gravest needs but to go to their roots, proposing measures that will give social, political and economic structures a more equitable and solidaristic configuration. — Pope Benedict XVI

People Writing About Environmental Justice

Name Quotes Likes
Read quotes by Van Jones

Van Jones
quotes on education, culture and leadership

280 648
Read quotes by James L. Farmer, Jr.

James L. Farmer, Jr.

17 152
Read quotes by Martha C. Nussbaum

Martha C. Nussbaum
quotes on life, education and leadership

86 624
Read quotes by Vandana Shiva

Vandana Shiva
quotes on nature, environment

127 2425
Read quotes by Angela Davis

Angela Davis
quotes on education, leadership and change

73 8736
Read quotes by Thomas Sowell

Thomas Sowell
quotes on truth, intellectuals and liberals

591 7260

More Environmental Justice Quotes

If ordinary people really knew that consciousness and not matter is the link that connects us with each other and the world, then their views about war and peace, environmental pollution, social justice, religous values, and all other human endeavors would change radically. — Amit Goswami

To meditate for world peace, to pray for a better world, and to work for social justice and environmental protection while continuing to purchase the flesh, milk, and eggs of horribly abused animals exposes a disconnect that is so fundamental that it renders our efforts absurd, hypocritical, and doomed to certain failure. — Will Tuttle

Environmental justice [means that] no community should be saddled with more environmental burdens and less environmental benefits than any other. — Majora Carter

Environmental justice quote Do not give up your dreams of a more just world.
Do not give up your dreams of a more just world.

We have fought for social justice. We have fought for economic justice. We have fought for environmental justice. We have fought for criminal justice. Now we must add a new fight - the fight for electoral justice. — Barbara Boxer

The environmental movement can only survive if it becomes a justice movement. As a pure environmental movement, it will either die, or it will survive as a corporate 'greenwash'. Anyone who's a sincere environmentalist can't stand that role. — Vandana Shiva

No matter if the science is all phoney, there are collateral environmental benefits.... climate change [provides] the greatest chance to bring about justice and equality in the world. — Christine Stewart

Country must confront what he called institutional racism. [We should] create a country which provides economic, social and environmental justice for all. — Bernie Sanders

Sustainable South Bronx advocates for environmental justice through sustainable environmental and economic development projects. — Majora Carter

Today the environmental movement has become opposed to issues of justice. You can see this in the way issues are framed. It's a permanent replay of jobs-versus-the-environment, in nature-versus-bread. These are extremely artificial dichotomies. — Vandana Shiva

So to hope to be able to have peace, to be able to have justice and environmental balance, are consequences of our behavior, not just our intentions. — Godfrey Reggio

The risks of transporting deadly nuclear waste, the environmental justice impacts and the long-term health effects of both these projects are untenable...We cannot afford to be silent on these important issues. — James Cromwell

Even as we continue to carry the banner of civil rights and environmental justice, we've also got to focus on many, many people - for them, life starts with a good job. — John Hickenlooper

The "environmental movement" is becoming an economic movement, is joining the social justice movement, is becoming a sustainability movement. It's leaving behind the "People's Needs versus Nature's Needs" conflict in favor of making the case for environmental health as the essential underpinning of prosperous and stable human civilization. — Edward Norton

Lack of accountability weakens the environmental and health rights of citizens; it damages peace- building and reconciliation initiatives; impedes the implementation of global health policies; leads to the loss of ecosystems and biodiversity; and weakens democracy, justice, human rights, and international security. — Widad Akrawi

I want Canada to be the country that is the best in the world at combining economic growth, social justice and environmental sustainability. — Stephane Dion

Cheap products destroy the communities where they are built from a social justice, labor, resource and environmental accounting, and then go on to destroy the communities where they are sold. — Bryant H. McGill

I was raised with the blessing of being involved with peace and social justice, and the environmental movement. I have my parents to thank for that. — Bonnie Raitt

I think we have reached a stage now where we need to find solutions to economic injustice in the same place and in the same ways that we find solutions to sustainability. Sustainability on environmental grounds and justice in terms of everyone having a place in the production and consumption system - these are two aspects of the same issue. They have been artificially separated and have to be put back again in the Western way of thinking. — Vandana Shiva

The struggle to create a nation and world of economic and social justice and environmental sanity is not an easy one. The struggle to try and create a more peaceful world will be extremely difficult. But this I know: despair is not an option if we care about our kids and grandchildren. Giving up is not an option if we want to prevent irreparable harm to our planet. — Bernie Sanders

I don't want people to write programmatic environmental poems, but I think sustainability should become deeply a part of the consciousness of poetry - an impulse toward compassion, empathy, and social justice. — Alison Hawthorne Deming

If there is neither excessive wealth nor immoderate poverty in a nation, then justice may be said to prevail. — Thales

Justice needs money; it always has . . . whether for abolition of slavery and early women's rights movements or the civil rights and environmental drives of our generation. — Ralph Nader

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