GoUSF Environmental Justice Call To Action

 

 

An Opportunity to Learn, Reflect, and Take Action

for Environmental justice

About the 30 Day Environmental Justice Call to Action:

  • Introduction to the Environmental Call to Action
  • Register for the Call to Action
  • Register for the Friday Speakers
  • Each week of the challenge has a theme and features resources and discussion questions related to that theme. The questions encourage you to explore your own experiences and biases and to reflect on inequities embedded in campus culture, policies and systems. The weekly themes include:
    • Week one - Introductory week, including what is environmental justice, what is environmental racism and action items.
    • Week two - Land
    • Week three - Air
    • Week four - Water
    • Monday emails. These emails will introduce the week's theme and include resources that invite you to learn and act on a particular environmental justice topic. The GOING DEEPER resource is intended to explore the topic in more depth.
  • The Call to Action will run throughout April, weekends not included. If you fall behind or miss a day, the links will stay live on this page so you are able to catch up or revisit a topic at any time.
  • Each Friday, we will host a featured speaker. All are welcome to participate. Pre-Registration is required.
  • We offer additional ways to get involved in supporting environmental justice everyday.
  • Environmental Justice requires continued work. This programming is a beginning to the process.

Register for the Call to Action

Environmental Justice Call to Action Daily Calendar

Week One: Introductory days

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What is Environmental Justice?

Environmental justice is the right of all people and communities to equal environmental protection under the law and equal involvement in environmental decision-making processes. It is the right to "live, work, and play in communities that are safe, healthy, and free of life-threatening conditions."

Whether by conscious design or institutional neglect, commercial, industrial, and governmental policies or actions have resulted in the disproportionate exposure of poor communities and people of color to environmental hazards and environmental health burdens. The environmental justice movement seeks to promote economic alternatives that contribute to the development of environmentally safe livelihoods for all and address systemic environmental injustices. 

Delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held in 1991 drafted and adopted The Principles of Environmental Justice, which have served as a defining document for the environmental justice movement since.

Today's CHALLENGE: Do one or more of the following...

LEARN:

GOING DEEPER:

Environmental racism is defined as the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on people of color. Environmental justice is the movement against environmental racism—one focused on minimizing environmental impacts on all people, advocating for fairer environmental policies and lawmaking, and installing greater protections for BIPOC communities.

Today's CHALLENGE: Do one or more of the following...

LEARN:

GOING DEEPER:

 

Today's CHALLENGE: Do one or more of the following...

LEARN:

GOING DEEPER:

Week two: Land

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Colonization of Indigenous lands is not just a legacy of the past. Indigenous communities today are still forced to defend their land from threats that jeopardize the integrity of sacred and historic spaces, including mining, pipelines, and deforestation.

Today's CHALLENGE: Do one or more of the following...

LEARN:

ACT:

  • Ohlone Cafe: We are an Ohlone cultural institution empowering our community with tradition - and we teach the public, through taste, of our unbroken roots.  We operate in our indigenous homeland; we work to restore and strengthen traditional Ohlone foods for the wellness of our people, and we run Cafe Ohlone in xucyun - Berkeley. We work to keep our cuisine and culture strong as an act of love and celebration for our living culture, and to have greater visibility for the Ohlone community that we are a part of. Support the building and opening of the new cafe for Spring 2022.
  • If you're just learning about land acknowledgements for the first time, explore land acknowledgements written in your region by searching online. You can also use the following tool to learn more about the people native to the land you currently occupy:
    • Native Land: This website has a search feature that allows you to search any particular territory to learn about the Indigenous people who lived and/or currently live on that land. This link takes you directly to the map. Note the disclaimer on the map.

GOING DEEPER:

According to the Journal of Rural Studies, "the negative public health impacts of urban-rural environmental injustice come from human exposure to specific pollutants, degradation of the built environment, limits on popular democracy, and ultimately, suppression of the feedback between consumption and production that could lessen global environmental problems." The Bay Area is not exempt from brownfield and superfund sites with a number of former military bases having been converted to residential and commercial uses.

What defines a superfund site?  Superfund sites are polluted locations in the United States requiring a long-term response to clean up hazardous material contaminations. They were designated under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980.

What defines a brownfield site? A brownfield is a property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. It is estimated that there are more than 450,000 brownfields in the U.S.

Today's CHALLENGE: Do one or more of the following...

LEARN:

ACT:

  • Get involved with the California Strategic Growth Council (SGC). SGC works to help under-resourced communities across California build regional capacity and collaboration to develop and implement climate change mitigation and adaptation projects.
  • Join the Sierra Club to participate in SF Bay Area activities addressing environmental racism.

DIGGING DEEPER:

During the past year we have witnessed farmworkers across the globe heroically tend the land and feed us in the midst of the pandemic. However, they do not receive the same legal protection or have the same level of workplace safety standards as many other professions--often because employers exploit workers due to immigration status.

Farmworkers are disproportionately at risk of chronic health issues, including cancer and reproductive issues, due to exposure to pesticides. As global temperatures rise, illnesses related to extreme heat stress increase as well. Pesticide exposure and heat stress are interconnected and amplify each other's impacts: Climate change will increase the need for pesticides to support monoculture crops as pests migrate into new areas, and studies show that humans are more susceptible to toxins while experiencing heat stress. These injustices farmworkers experience are violations of human dignity and demonstrate the intersection of workers' rights, health, and the environment.

 

Today's CHALLENGE: Do one or more of the following...

LEARN:

ACT:

  • The Asuncion Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act |Currently, there is no federal legislation in the US to protect farmworkers from extreme heat or pesticides. Only the states of California, Minnesota, and Washington have heat protection laws. Learn about one piece of legislation that attempts to set national heat safety standards. | ISN 21 day challenge
  • Contact your members of Congress to support this Act and future legislation that protects farmworkers health and safety.

GOING DEEPER:

Today's CHALLENGE: Do one or more of the following...

ACT:

  • Shuumi Land Tax |The Shuumi Land Tax is a voluntary annual contribution that non-Indigenous people living on the Confederated Villages of Lisjan’s territory can make to support the critical work of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.
  • Borrow and return (optional) seeds from the USF Seed Library
  • Visit or volunteer at the USF Community Garden

GOING DEEPER:

 

WEEK THREE: Air

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Climate change has impacted our lives through extreme weather, affecting our basic needs for proper health through clean air, nutrition, and shelter. We spend a great amount of time in our homes, at school or work, including the outdoors.

Today, we turn to the air around us. We all breathe it, but as it turns out, the quality of air is not the same. As highlighted in today's reading, People of Color Breathe More Hazardous Air, "pollution is segregated" and the causes of poor air quality include industry, agriculture, vehicles, residential resources, and even restaurant emissions. Of all communities, black Americans are the most exposed to air pollutants, especially in urban and industrial areas. In the heavily agricultural areas of California, Hispanics are most at risk. Poor air quality causes health risks such as asthma, cardiovascular disease, and low birth weights, to name a few. Children are often the most vulnerable.

This week, we'll focus on local issues, Bay Area resources, environmental justice successes, and what we can do to address these inequalities.

Today's CHALLENGE: Do one or more of the following...

LEARN:

ACT:

GOING DEEPER:

  • Explore these maps to learn more about air quality and the pollutants in your community as well as how they correspond with industry, roadways, agriculture, socio-economics, and health risks.
  • Article: Disparities in the Impact of Air Pollution  | American Lung Association

We all need to get around, but how do freeways, train tracks, and other forms of transportation change the air for the neighborhoods they pass through?

 

Today's CHALLENGE: Do one or more of the following...

LEARN:

ACT:

  • As you commute today, whether by car, BART, or bicycle, consider who lives along the path you travel.
  • Bike or take public transportation. Take advantage of USF's pre-tax commuter benefits. Car share options are available for those who only drive occasionally. USF is home to both ZipCar car share and BayWheels bike share.
  • Ask yourself, do I really need to take the car today? Plan ahead, what errands can I combine to reduce my carbon footprint?
  • Attend the 12th annual Social Justice Passover Seder | McLaren 251 | 6:30-8 p.m. | contact David Silver for more details

GOING DEEPER:

How does industry, from refineries in Richmond to Amazon warehouses in Southern California, affect the air we breathe?

Today's CHALLENGE: Do one or more of the following...

LEARN:

ACT:

GOING DEEPER:

As we have seen throughout the week, people joining together have been able to increase awareness and protect air quality for their communities. At the same time, programs such as carbon offset programs and the electric vehicle movement, which look good on the surface, may lead to new forms of pollution and environmental inequities.

Today's CHALLENGE: Do one or more of the following...

LEARN:

ACT:

GOING DEEPER:

  • #Ourchangingclimate |While the affects of climate change are global, the way we experience them can differ dramatically. Discover the diverse ways in which communities are experiencing change.
  • Review a reading list about pollution and how to fight it

Week Four: Water

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Water is the foundation of human and ecological health and covers 70% of the globe. It is essential for agriculture, sanitation, industry, recreation, energy, and maintaining natural ecosystems.

Generally, people understand the importance of water and its necessity for life. However, too often water is treated as a limitless resource. This lack of sustainable use planning, combined with population changes and climate change, has led to a lack of sufficient water supply to meet the water usage demands for different areas in the world.

Environmental justice issues related to water scarcity include:

  • Native Americans are more likely than any other group of people in the U.S. to have trouble accessing clean water. 
  • Low-income communities lack equal access to clean water in the U.S., including farmworkers and people who are unhoused.
  • Water scarcity has increased global migration and has been a factor in armed conflict in places under extreme water stress, such as Syria and Darfur.

Today's CHALLENGE: Do one or more of the following...

LEARN:

ACT:

  • Ideas to save water
    • SF residents can sign up for free water-saving devices, rebates, and other incentive programs with the SFPUC
    • Elsewhere in the Bay Area, visit BAWSCA for rebates from your local water agency
  • Learn more about the Environmental Justice Health Alliance's Safe Water Campaigns and Projects and how you can support the important work of the EJHA.

GOING DEEPER:

Today's CHALLENGE: Do one or more of the following...

LEARN:

ACT:

 

Most people in the United States do not give access to safe drinking water a second thought. It flows at the turn of the faucet, at a cost that is fairly low. Being essential to life, clean water is a right under international law and U.N. declarations. Yet in the U.S., it’s far from guaranteed. At the beginning of last year, more than 30 million Americans lived in areas where water systems violated safety rules according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency. Others simply cannot afford to keep water flowing. As with most environmental and climate issues, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color [BIPOC] and low-income communities are hit hardest.

Today's CHALLENGE: Do one or more of the following...

LEARN:

ACT:

GOING DEEPER:

This week we have explored the importance of water for all life on earth and how water issues intersect with environmental justice. Today you are invited to learn more about how and where water flows in your community by researching your watershed and identifying the source of your drinking water. 

A watershed is an area of land that drains all the streams and rainfall to a common outlet such as the outflow of a reservoir, mouth of a bay, or any point along a stream channel. They provide drinking water, habitats for wildlife, soil to grow our food, and locations for fishing, boating, and swimming. Everyone lives in a watershed, and watersheds are interconnected and can flow through one another. Protecting water in one place benefits the entire system. 

Today's CHALLENGE: Do one or more of the following...

LEARN:

ACT:

  • Locate your watershed, and research to see if there is a local watershed conservation group in your area. (U.S. residents can use this tool to locate your watershed).
  • Get involved with a local ocean conservation group, such as Azul.

GOING DEEPER: