resources

Ironbound Community Corporation

One of the most effective environmental justice organizations in the country

ICC works with the people of Ironbound to identify needs and develop community-based solutions. ICC strives to empower people to better control and develop their own lives, families, and community.

Discussion Guide

Before watching the film, check out our Discussion Guide to further your understanding of environmental justice.

• What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “environmental justice?”

• What is the difference between environmentalism and environmental justice?

• What do you know about garbage disposal? Who takes your waste? Where does it go?

Video: Big Win for

Environmental Justice Organizers

Watch How Community Changes the Law

This companion video shows how community groups in NJ mobilized to help shape the most progressive environmental justice law in the nation. Join the tireless organizers from The Sacrifice Zone as they score a major victory for overburdened communities everywhere.

EJSCREEN

EPA's Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool

In order to better meet the Agency’s responsibilities related to the protection of public health and the environment, the EPA developed a new environmental justice (EJ) mapping and screening tool called EJSCREEN. It is based on nationally consistent data and an approach that combines environmental and demographic indicators in maps and reports.

Environmental Justice Timeline

A project of the ACRE-Duke Partnership to Improve Sanitation Access in Lowndes County, Alabama

This project seeks to track the history of the United States environmental justice movement across time and space. The narrative is set through written event descriptions and interviews with environmental justice activists and community members affected by environment injustice issues. Three major questions are addressed: What is environmental justice? Who and what does it affect? Why is it important to study? The result is a timeline that gives a snapshot of the key events in the environmental justice movement.  

Environmental Working Group’s Tap Water Database

How safe is your tap water?

Since 2012, water utilities' testing has found pollutants in Americans' tap water, according to an EWG drinking water quality analysis of 32 million state water records. This database has information from nearly 50,000 local utilities in every state, providing the information you need to make choices to protect yourself and your family.

2˚ C: Beyond the Limit

Extreme climate change has arrived in America

Over the past two decades, the 2 degrees Celsius number has emerged as a critical threshold for global warming. In the 2015 Paris accord, international leaders agreed that the world should act urgently to keep the Earth’s average temperature increases “well below” 2 degrees Celsius by the year 2100 to avoid a host of catastrophic changes.

Zip Code Environmental Watch

A map of potentially environmentally hazardous sites

The map shows facilities, sites or places of environmental interest with the potential to generate releases that affect the environment. The data is categorized into 6 major types of potential threat. Sites listed indicate they are registered as places subject to environmental regulation or of environmental interest and do not independently mean that a violation or dangerous emission has occurred.

Saving New Jersey from the 
Rising Tide

How action driven by science, policy, engineering and planning could future-proof the Garden State

By 2100, the sea level could be 2 feet to 8 feet higher in the Garden State depending on the trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity and how polar ice sheets respond in the coming decades. Those water levels would permanently inundate many coastal lands and wetlands. Still, government, businesses and residents can take steps to adapt to sea-level rise, increased flooding and growing storm threats.

NJ’s Toxic Chemical Waste Increased Half-Million Pounds in 2018

Toxics Release Inventory shows companies released over 6 million pounds of harmful substances that year, the first increase in on-site releases since 2014

Facilities involved in food, chemical and other manufacturing, as well as metal mining, electric power generation and hazardous waste treatment are required to submit information to the federal government about their chemical releases. EPA then compiles this data into the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) to give officials and the public a glimpse into potentially dangerous chemicals being put into the air, ground and water.