Links and Resources
Following the Green Fund’s decision to allocate $8,000 of our budget to Qualified Disaster Relief Stipends for Wesleyan students in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, we would like to offer resources for members of the community to engage in conversations of environmental justice and equity, and how these issues are intertwined with environmentalism and issues of class and race.
We define environmental justice as practices that build healthy communities and support the most marginalized members of those communities. Action and work towards promoting environmental justice takes into account the disproportionate burden that environmental issues place on vulnerable populations. Environmental justice provides a framework of understanding in which the promotion of livelihood only stems from the protection of all members of a community.
Education is an ongoing and intensive process. If there are resources you’re interested in seeing developed here or can recommend, please be in touch!
Articles
What Is Climate Justice? — Bronx Climate Justice North
Why racial justice is climate justice — Claire Elise Thompson, Grist
The Other COVID Risks: How Race, Income, ZIP Code Influence Who Lives Or Dies — Liz Szabo and Hannah Recht, Kaiser Health News
One reason why coronavirus hits black people the hardest — Vox
Coronavirus and climate change: reviving the economy — Rhiana Gunn-Wright, New York Times Opinion
Why communities fighting for fair policing also demand environmental justice — Sammy Roth, LA Times
Why Race Matters When We Talk About the Environment — Dr. Robert Bullard, interviewed by Lauren Reid for Green Peace
Let’s Connect the Dots Between Environmental Injustice and the Coronavirus — Katherine Bagley, Mother Jones
Black Environmentalists Talk About Climate and Anti-Racism — NYT Climate Forward Newsletter
Mobilize vs. Maintain — Saikat Chakrabarti
Read Up on the Links Between Racism and the Environment — Somini Sengupta, New York Times
Are there two different versions of environmentalism, one “white,” one “black”? — Brentin Mock, Grist
It’s Time for Environmental Studies to Own Up to Erasing Black People — Wanjiku Gatheru, Vice
Black Environmentalists Talk About Climate and Anti-Racism — NYT Climate Forward Newsletter
Environmentalism’s Racist History — Jedediah Purdy, The New Yorker
Why ‘Defunding the Police’ Is Also an Environmental Issue — Geoff Dembicki
Racism is Killing the Planet — Hop Hopkins
Videos
A Brief History of Environmental Justice — ProPublica
Books
A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind — Harriet A. Washington, published 2019 by Little, Brown and Company