PRINTER'S NO. 2750
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
582
Session of
2019
INTRODUCED BY BULLOCK, HENNESSEY, KORTZ, STURLA, HOHENSTEIN,
KINSEY, HARRIS, YOUNGBLOOD, MILLARD, MURT, HILL-EVANS,
DiGIROLAMO, VITALI, SCHLOSSBERG, JOHNSON-HARRELL, BURNS,
CALTAGIRONE, FREEMAN, LEE, OTTEN, McCLINTON, ROZZI AND
SCHWEYER, OCTOBER 22, 2019
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY,
OCTOBER 22, 2019
A RESOLUTION
Designating the week of October 21 through 27, 2019, as
"Environmental Justice Week" in Pennsylvania.
WHEREAS, The first National People of Color Environmental
Leadership Summit was held October 24 through 27, 1991, in
Washington, DC; and
WHEREAS, Seventeen principles of environmental justice were
adopted at the summit; and
WHEREAS, The principles have served as the defining document
and basis for the grassroots movement for environmental justice;
and
WHEREAS, Gathered together at the summit, delegates
established a national and international movement on behalf of
all people of color to fight the destruction of lands and
communities and to reestablish their spiritual interdependence
to the sacredness of Mother Earth; and
WHEREAS, The delegates strove to create a level of respect
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for differing cultures, languages and beliefs about the natural
world and individuals' roles in healing themselves and ensure
environmental justice and promote economic alternatives that
would contribute to the development of environmentally safe
livelihoods; and
WHEREAS, The adoption of the principles was also a step
toward securing the political, economic and cultural liberation
for all people of color who had been denied basic rights through
colonization and oppression for more than 500 years; and
WHEREAS, Specifically, the principles of environmental
justice:
(1) affirm the sacredness of Mother Earth, ecological
unity and the interdependence of all species and the right to
be free from ecological destruction;
(2) demand that public policy be based on mutual respect
and justice for all people, free from any form of
discrimination or bias;
(3) mandate the right to ethical, balanced and
responsible uses of land and renewable resources in the
interest of a sustainable planet for humans and other living
things;
(4) call for universal protection from nuclear testing,
extraction, production and disposal of toxic or hazardous
wastes and poisons and nuclear testing that threatens the
fundamental right to clean air, land, water and food;
(5) affirm the fundamental right to political, economic,
cultural and environmental self-determination of all people;
(6) demand the cessation of the production of all
toxins, hazardous wastes and radioactive materials, and that
all past and current producers be held strictly accountable
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to the people for detoxification and the containment at the
point of production;
(7) demand the right to participate as equal partners at
every level of decisionmaking, including needs assessment,
planning, implementation, enforcement and evaluation;
(8) affirm the right of all workers to a safe and
healthy work environment without being forced to choose
between unsafe working conditions and unemployment and the
right of those who work at home to be free from environmental
hazards;
(9) protect the right of victims of environmental
injustice to receive full compensation and reparations for
damages as well as quality health care;
(10) consider governmental acts of environmental
injustice a violation of international law, the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Convention
on Genocide;
(11) recognize a special legal relationship of Native
Americans to the United States Government through treaties,
agreements, compacts and covenants affirming sovereignty and
self-determination;
(12) affirm the need for urban and rural ecological
policies to clean up and rebuild our cities and rural areas
in balance with nature, honoring the cultural integrity of
all our communities and providing fair access for all people
to the full range of resources;
(13) call for the strict enforcement of principles of
informed consent and a halt to the testing of experimental
reproductive and medical procedures and vaccinations on
people of color;
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(14) oppose the destructive operations of multinational
corporations;
(15) oppose military occupation, repression and
exploitation of lands, people, cultures and other life forms;
(16) call for the education of present and future
generations, which emphasizes social and environmental
issues, based on our experience and an appreciation of our
diverse cultural perspectives; and
(17) require that individuals make personal choices to
consume as little of Mother Earth's resources and produce as
little waste as possible and make the conscious decision to
challenge and reprioritize their lifestyles to ensure the
health of the natural world for present and future
generations;
therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate the
week of October 21 through 27, 2019, as "Environmental Justice
Week" in Pennsylvania.
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