Statement of Intention:

The EJIT team intends this to serve as a guiding framework on what environmental justice in technology could be. Inspired by the 17 Principles of Environmental Justice, we aim to provide ideals to strive towards in the work of activists, technologists, organizers, academics, and holders of power. We recognize that not all of the principles listed here can be acted on to their fullest extent immediately, and that’s OK. By uncompromisingly striving for these principles, we can achieve them over time. In doing so, we’ll create a fully environmentally just world where technology is part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Public Comment Process:

These principles were drafted over the course of Summer 2022 by Earth Hacks' Environmental Justice in Technology Fellows. The principles are open for public review and comment. Here is a form with more information on the feedback process where you can submit your ideas. We would love to hear your thoughts!

Principles:

1. Environmentally just technology is explicitly anti-racist.

2. Environmental justice in technology calls for responsible innovation in every aspect of technological creation. Responsible innovation occurs when: 

   1. all people are provided the resources to innovate;

   2. all potential uses of the innovation are accounted for to prepare for contingencies;

   3. Empathy is central to innovation and its creative intent.

3. Environmental justice in technology empowers those who wish to live without certain technologies. It demands preserving traditional Indigenous ways of living without interference from capitalist and corporate technologies.

4. Environmental justice in tech means refusing to cooperate with or arm the military-industrial complex, prisons, or police. Environmentally just tech is used to elevate all ordinary people, not to oppress any of them with violence or the threat of it.

5. Environmental justice in technology demands that democracy be the foundation of all of its endeavors. A democratic and community-centric environment is necessary to have a just world.

6. Environmentally just technology dismantles capitalist-centric development and does not harm economic vitality. It promotes equitable and just income (re)distribution across the world. 

7. Environmentally just technology preserves the beauty and utility of the natural world for future generations. 

8. Environmental justice in technology means having a harmonious relationship with the Earth and with all life. Environmentally just tech has a collaborative, regenerative, and sustainable relationship with the natural world, not an extractive relationship.

9. Environmentally just technology is not used to exclude parts of the Earth for use by some individuals and not others. It enables all people to access all parts of the Earth.

10. Environmentally just technology is open-source. Environmentally just tech makes all information about its creation (including blueprints, instructions/manuals, and information for repair) freely available and accessible to empower everyone to make, repair, modify, and develop their technology.

11. Environmental justice in technology requires that the burdens and benefits of technology be equally shared amongst all people. Environmentally just tech will never empower one group at the expense of another.

12. Environmental justice in technology strives to eliminate global and local burdens inherent in its creation. 

13. Environmental justice in technology calls for the deployment of technology where and when it is appropriate and beneficial to its local community. When these criteria are not met, environmentally just technology is not deployed.

14. Environmental justice in technology provides for the cleanup and restoration of lands, waters, and communities that have been harmed by past uses of technology.

15. Environmental justice in technology calls for the removal of colonial and neocolonial intentions with technology; instead, it encourages self-determination, freedom, and repatriation.

16. Environmentally just technology is not separate from nature, Earth, and the environment. Rather, it works synergistically with nature.

17. Environmentally Just Tech is intentional about harm. It is cognizant of who a given technology helps and who it harms.