Climate change.

Land, air, and water pollution.

Toxic chemical exposure.

Degraded environments.

These are all burdens of polluting industries and our failure to protect our environment that fall disproportionately on low income communities, primarily those of color.

The devastating outcomes include severe, long-standing, deeply-felt social, health, and economic disparities. In recent years, through that injustice, leaders and activists have risen and are pushing for social change to turn this around.

On May 4th, BASG has invited a handful of inspiring Environmental Justice minds and voices to share their experience, insights, and encouragement about:

• Important historical context of environmental injustice
• Local and global efforts to achieve Environmental Justice
• Examples of how impacted communities, low income and especially those of color, are (and can and must be) included in planning and implementation

OUR SPEAKERS

Melanie Gárate (she/her/s)

Melanie is an experienced climate justice advocate, science communicator, marine ecologist, and facilitator. Her work focuses on the intersection of climate change, social justice, racial justice, community organizing and advocacy. Melanie joined the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) in October 2019, where she leads and implements climate resilience task force projects focusing on extreme heat, flooding, and social inequities. She holds a Master of Science degree in Marine Ecology and Climate Change from the University of Rhode Island where she studied nutrient cycling and greenhouse gas fluxes from coastal Rhode Island and Puerto Rico. Through her research projects revolving around climate change, she was struck by the disproportionate environmental education and access to green spaces within low-income communities, which sparked her passion for environmental justice work. Prior to MyWRA, she focused on educating community members of the greater Boston area at the New England Aquarium and Mass Audubon. A native of the Pacific Ocean and Andean mountains of Chile, Melanie enjoys hiking and time by the water with her Puerto Rican street rescue dog.

Dr. Daniel Faber (he/him/his)

Dr. Daniel Faber is a Professor of Sociology at Northeastern University, and an Affiliated Faculty Member in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, as well as Environmental Studies. He is Director of the Northeastern Environmental Justice Research Collaborative (NEJRC). His research is focused in the areas of political economy and crisis theory, environmental sociology and policy, social movements, classical and contemporary social theory, environmental justice, philanthropy, Central America and underdevelopment, climate justice, and globalization. His most recent work is concerned with the political economy of environmental injustice and climate justice, and includes the edited collection, The Struggle for Ecological Democracy: Environmental Justice Movements in the United States (Guilford Press, 1998) and Capitalizing on Environmental Justice: The Polluter-Industrial Complex in the Age of Globalization(Rowman & Littlefied, 2008), which was a finalist for the prestigious C.W. Mills Award in 2009. He is currently working on a new book The Ecological Contradictions of American Capitalism: Towards a More Transformative Environmental Politics.

Meleny Thomas (she/her/s)

Meleny Thomas is the executive director of the South Baltimore Community Land Trust. She has over 15 years of serving youth and families and building community based organizations. Meleny believes in equitable development and continues to advocate for marginalized communities like the one in which she resides. She holds a Bachelors in Psychology, Masters in Nonprofit Management and Leadership and is currently finishing her dissertation in Public Policy and Administration with a specialization in Nonprofit Management and Leadership.

Frances Roberts-Gregory

Frances Roberts-Gregory is an ecowomanist ethnographer and feminist political ecologist. She currently serves as a Future Faculty Fellow in the School of Public Policy & Urban Affairs at Northeastern University. Frances is also a co-founding member of the Feminist Agenda for a Green New Deal, former environmental educator for the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, and former resource developer for the New Orleans and C40 Women4Climate Mentorship Program. From 2018-2021, Frances likewise taught courses on gender, environmental racism, digital activism, climate justice, and sustainable development at Tulane University, Bard Early College New Orleans, and the University for Peace in Costa Rica. Reach her via Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram @BlackngreenPhD.

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Main photo credit: Lawrence Makoona via Unsplash