Movement Building: Green LA

A Bold Environmental Experiment in Los Angeles

Los Angeles is an incredible city.  It is the second-largest metropolitan area in the nation and probably the country’s most ethnically diverse.  It is home to Hollywood, the Lakers and the Dodgers.  Some of the best Mexican food on the continent can be found in small cafes in East Los Angeles.  Los Angeles is one of the wealthiest cities in the world.

But LA is not all glamour, gourmet food, sports events, and glitz.  The City also has the worst air quality in the United States.  And each year, more than 2,400 people die because of LA’s dirty air.  The City of Angels’ working class communities of color – now the City’s majority - suffer the worst air, water, and soil pollution.  They are saturated with freeways, seaports, airports, industrial facilities, power plants, and oil refineries, and other pollution sources, combined with the worst housing, unhealthy jobs, and inadequate health care.  Is it any wonder that these communities suffer incredible rates of asthma, respiratory illness, cancer, heart disease, low birth weights, and miscarriages?  Los Angeles is suffering from a terrible crisis of public health, environmental degradation caused largely by racism, government neglect, and corporate irresponsibility.

But help is now on the way in the form of an incredible new environmental/environmental justice coalition that could transform Los Angeles into the greenest and most environmentally healthy city in the US.  This coalition is called GREENLA and it is made up of more than fifty environmental, environmental justice, and social justice organizations from all parts of this sprawling metropolis.  Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) is a founding member of GREENLA and one of two environmental justice organizations on its Steering Committee.  GREENLA is based on the principles of social equity, open government, and other important environmental values that recognize that if the environmental quality of life is going to improve in Los Angeles, we must focus our efforts on those areas of the City where the environmental problems are the worst..  GREENLA has developed environmental proposals that would:

• Advance environmental justice in Los Angeles by becoming the first city in the U.S. to adopt cumulative impact policies that address the over-concentration of polluters in low-income communities of color. 

• Significantly reduce pollution at the Port of Los Angeles, the largest polluter in the city.

• Ensuring high quality and sustainable water, making LA the leader for safe drinking water.

• Expand urban green space, including parks, community gardens, and open space

• Establish a climate neutral goal for the City’s agencies, so that none of them contribute to global warming.

• Improve public transportation while significantly reducing traffic congestion

If you are interested in learning more about GREENLA or becoming involved please contact:

Ana Orozco at (323) 826-9771 ext. 106 or at ana.orozco@cbecal.org