More than 30 years ago, roughly 1,100 people attended the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in Washington, DC to discuss the environmental injustices they were experiencing in their communities. Considered by many as the birth of the environmental justice (EJ) movement, the four-day summit concluded with the adoption of the 17 Principles of Environmental Justice, still relevant today.

In the eighth episode [link] of "Groundtruth," the Environmental Law Institute (ELI)’s Arielle King chats with key organizers and leaders of the historical summit: Vernice Miller-Travis, a longtime EJ advocate and cofounder of WE ACT for Environmental Justice, a northern Manhattan community-based organization, who currently serves as the Executive Vice President of Metropolitan Group; and Charles Lee, organizer of the First Summit who currently serves as the Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Office of Environmental Justice. The episode honors and celebrates the 30th anniversary of the 17 Principles by taking a look at how far we’ve come, and how far we still have to go.

“Groundtruth” is a podcast series, produced in partnership with the Environmental Law Institute’s People Places Planet Podcast, that explores EJ trends and developments.

Beveridge & Diamond Associate Jessica Maloney (New York) led the content development for this episode.