RP& E publishes news, views and analysis for social and environmental justice.
In 1990, the journal was founded as a joint project of the Urban Habitat Program and the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation’s Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment. Since January 2004 RP&E has been solely a project of Urban Habitat.
As described by founding editors Carl Anthony and Luke Cole in the first issue of RP&E published on Earth Day April 20, 1990, "The idea for the Race, Poverty and the Environment grew out of a caucus of interested people at the University of Oregon's Public Interest Law Conference, held March 1990. Caucus participants recognized the importance of increased attention to the nexus of race, class and environmental issues and the need for a forum in which to continue their dialogue."
