The EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice

Most governments at this point have created sectors within their functions that are now working to address the nation’s climate situation. The United States is no different. Here our main environmental regulating body is the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA. Within the EPA there are a multitude of different offices and functions which work to help protect the environment in a variety of different ways. In this article we look into the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Justice.

With a rather modern sounding name the OEJ was actually created over 25 years ago. It was formed in response to the greater number of communities that were facing the burden of environmental harms and to help spread justice throughout the rest of the EPA. The OEJ works on a multitude of different levels from local, to state, to the federal level this office’s practices are implemented. Through partnering with academia and other experts the most up-to-date practices are able to be implemented through a variety of different ways. The first major factor of the OEJ are its training programs and workshops. Through these programs people from across the world are able to learn the most cutting edge practices in regards to environmental protection. The lessons taught in these functions are aimed to help increase the implementation of proper sustainability measures while keeping into consideration the human impact. To make sure these teachings are as reliable as possible there is a vast network of scientific research and understanding in place. The scientific research carried out by the OEJ aims to inform each of the other EPA sectors on how to improve justice practices in each of their orgs as it is important to make sure justice is reached holistically throughout the entirety of the department and the nation. The OEJ also holds a large legal office. The main goal of the legal side of the OEJ is to insure the protection of humans throughout this whole process. Most importantly this department and set of tools focuses on helping low income communities that often fall target to the pains of environmental disasters. Through this all the OEJ works on the human front of the race towards environmental protection making sure we don't forget the people, faces, and often time minorities that are victim to how we treat this planet.