Today, as the nation pauses to observe Martin Luther King Day, the Green Alliance honors Dr. King's historic contributions to the civil rights and environmental movements.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder put it best when he said that Dr. King “…helped to plant the seeds for what would become our nation’s now thriving environmental justice movement.”

Indeed, the very concept of environmental justice is based on the idea that all people have the right to breathe clean air and drink clean water. To live, work, and play in a healthy and safe environment.

Dr. King lived this ideal during the final days of his life. He traveled to Memphis in 1968 to join more than 1,100 African American sanitation workers on strike for safer working conditions, fair wages and benefits, and union recognition. It was a protest that began with storm. Two black sanitation workerss were crushed to death by a garbage truck compactor while working during a heavy downpour. That same day, more than twenty black sewer workers were sent home without pay while their white supervisors were allowed to stay on the job and collect pay.

On the day of his assassination, Dr. King was in Memphis fighting for equal rights for those who earn their living disposing of society's waste.

He left behind many important questions still worth pondering today:

“Why are there 40 million poor people in America?”

Today, 46.2 millions Americans live in poverty, representing 15.1 percent of our nation’s total population, according to the U.S. Cenus Bureau. 

“Who owns the oil?”

In 1968, the price of gasoline was around 34 cents a gallon - $1.51 a gallon in today’s dollar - according to the Energy Information Administration. Since then, gas prices have risen dramatically, and remain high today at $3.38 a gallon. While everyday Americans struggle to pay at the gas pump, Big Oil companies like Exxon Mobil rake in record profits.

We here at the Green Alliance are committed to making it easy and affordable to find and support local green businesses who provide eco-friendly products and services that help to keep our community and environment healthy and clean, and who do business in a socially responsible way by giving back to local noprofits and charities. We also join modern day environmental justice activists like Van Jones in embracing the reality that environmental protection, job creation, and economic salvation go hand in hand, both locally and a national scale.

You can support this important work by joining the Green Alliance community today, but more importantly we hope you’ll join us in nourishing the seeds of environmental justice by taking a moment to reflect upon the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today.