How can the environmental movement bring disadvantaged communities into the discussion of macro policy issues such as climate change? How does a national organization reach out to build effective relationships with local communities? The answer to these questions has taken center stage for civil society in a year where decisions made by the U.S. government will affect millions of people, domestically and beyond its borders.

Ana Lucía García and Lucía Oliva Hennelly—two experienced environmental advocates from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)—shared with LLM students their experience and insights on the challenges ahead on these matters at the Environmental Law and Policy Colloquium at Stanford Law School this spring.

Despite being strongly affected by the negative impacts of environmental inequality, García and Hennelly commented that many national groups have not considered the voice of communities of color in developing and advancing their advocacy strategies. After noticing a disconnect between the advocacy work carried out by groups at a national level and the interests of local environmental justice groups (mainly the communities directly affected by environmental decisions), EDF began working to include representation and equity considerations in the discussion. In doing so, it reached out to Latino communities in areas of the U.S. where pollution and barriers to healthcare exist.

As Tom Graff Diversity Fellows, García and Hennelly began to build bridges with Latino advocacy groups like the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Hispanic Federation. They have been working to raise citizen interest and involvement in environmental regulation, in particular with respect to groundwater management in small, disadvantaged communities.

After describing the challenges they face in engaging the community, including language barriers and the need to show how environmental justice advocacy can work for their interests, the speakers reflected on the difficulty of building strong and lasting bonds. They noted that a strong sense of “them” and “us” remained even after the completion of leadership programs.

Accordingly, based on the experience of the speakers, going forward with this kind of work should not focus solely on bridging gaps but also on maintaining and further developing the sense that environmental justice work carried out by national advocacy groups can support what these communities are fighting for. Only when people feel that discussions at the national level reflect their needs and struggles will they become more engaged and united in their fight. Thus, in a country as big as the United States, the Latino community and communities of color may well prove to be an effective force to push administrations from their reticence to actively engage in environmental protection.