Events

Environmental Justice and Just Sustainability in Harlem and Beyond

Please register for this event here.

Studies show that black and brown Americans are exposed to 56% and 63% (respectively) more pollution than they produce. Conversely, white Americans are exposed to 17% less pollution than they produce. Are sustainability measures doing enough to redress such racial disparities? Using Harlem as a starting point, we explore the historic and contemporary reasons that communities of color bear the brunt of environmental risks, and we examine the unintended consequences of sustainability for environmental justice struggles. Looking forward, we also discuss new possibilities and paradigms for redressing environmental and climate-related inequalities in Harlem, in New York City, and across the country.

Speakers:

Melissa Checker Hagedorn, Professor of Urban Studies at Queens College, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Environmental Psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center

Peggy Shepard, Co-founder and Eexecutive Director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice

Moderator:

Shawn L. Rickenbacker, Trained Architect, Urbanist and Urban Data Researcher, Director, J. Max Bond Center for Urban Futures
Associate Professor, Architecture at the CCNY Spitzer School of Architecture