The Environmental Justice Lab

The Environmental Justice Lab

Since the dawn of human history, the fight for environmental justice has always been a fight. Water wars between the people of Israel and herdsmen of Gerar in the book of Genesis, Chapter 26. The resistance of Native Americans to the pillaging of their land and resources at the founding of the United States of America. The refusal to allow a hazardous landfill to be built in the Warren County, a predominantly Black community in North Carolina, giving birth to the modern-day environmental justice movement. The struggle for clean water in places like Flint, MI and Newark, NJ and Jackson, MS. The struggle is real and the fight is on-going. And I'm here for it. My name is Dr. Lesley Joseph, a professor, an environmental engineer, and a fighter for environmental justice in our present day. Every other Tuesday, on this podcast, I explore issues related to environmental justice and the ways in which communities of color are impacted. Each episode will discuss a important environmental justice issue or situation and what we can do to fight for change. Let's learn, grow, and fight for a better world together! Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-environmental-justice-lab--5583745/support.

Episodes

March 27, 2024 18 mins
Peace requires environmental justice. 

That’s it. 

#ceasefirenow #releasethehostagesnow #freepalestine 

Resources:
Peace will require environmental justice - The Century Foundation

Connect with our Environmental Justice Lab community: 
Instagram: @envjusticelab 
YouTube: @envjusticelab
Email: theenvironmentaljusticelab@gmail.com

We love and appreciate everyone who listens to the podcast. Go to the link to financially support this work: http...
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We need to talk about Palestine. I've been avoiding it. My guess is that you have been avoiding it. But we cannot avoid it any longer.

Too many deaths. Too many parentless children. Too many environmental injustices. It's time to talk about it and take a stand.

So I'm going to try and talk about it....


#ceasefirenow #releasethehostagesnow #freepalestine

Connect with our Environmental Justice Lab community:
Instagram: @envjusticelab
Y...
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DEI. Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. With the proliferation of DEI offices, officers, divisions, and initiatives, are we actually seeing more justice done in our communities? Are our institutions more equitable? Is it leading to environmental justice and equity for all? And how are we talking about DEI when issues related to justice come up?

We need to talk about it.

Resources:
What is DEI?
Failure of the DEI Industrial Complex - The H...
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Race. According to researchers, it’s the #1 characteristic that informs the presence of environmental injustice. However, I’ve noticed that in the literature and in the discourse around environmental justice, many of us are not willing to explicitly state WHO is being treated unfairly. We do not say “Black” or “Indigenous” or whoever else. Instead, I see phrases like “communities of color” or “minorities” or “underserved population...
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Equity. Equality. There is a difference. And understanding the difference will determine what we actually advocate for when we fight for justice.
  • It’s the difference between fighting for what THEY have or fighting for what YOU NEED.
  • It’s the difference between advocating for the same RESOURCES or advocating for the same OPPORTUNITIES and the same ACCESS.
  • It’s the difference between demanding changes to the all...
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Happy New Year!

Welcome to the first episode of Season 3 of the Environmental Justice Lab. On this episode, we are looking at the "language of justice", how we talk about what we talk about. In order to be most effective, we need to make sure that we are clear and precise with our language, especially as we bring awareness to environmental justice issues and the impacted communities.

So let's talk about it!

Connect with our Environ...
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We made it through 2023! Give yourselves a hand!

On this bonus episode, I reflect on many of the big topics that we discussed throughout the year, as well as some topics that you can expect from us in 2024. We had a great year, and next year is going to be even better. We have even launched a YouTube channel!

So Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year from the Environmental Justice Lab! Give someone a hug, tell them tha...
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We have a special episode for you today. In our ongoing commitment to amplify voices, particularly our youth who are doing amazing things, we get to hear from two young ladies, Laina Digeronimo and Eva Ko, who are students at Laurel School, an all-girls high school in Ohio. They just finished their first environmental justice semester in school, and they are sharing a conversation that they had with the founder of Redhouse Studio, ...
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December 1, 2023 35 mins
We’re talking about food justice today. With the holiday season officially here, many of us are planning meals and parties and get-togethers with lots of eating involved. With that in mind, I want to bring to your attention the reality that many people around us struggle to get the food that they need. Not because they can’t afford it. Not because they choose to eat unhealthy food. Simply because they live in an area where healthy ...
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November 17, 2023 30 mins
This episode hits close to home. As we conclude our discussion on prisons, I share how the jails in my home state of South Carolina (in the United States of America) are under federal investigation for the ways that they are operated. These issues are not foreign. They are right here in my backyard.

Let’s talk about it!

Resources:
DOJ opens civil rights probes into South Carolina jails beset by deaths and violence - National Public ...
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October 26, 2023 30 mins
Climate change is causing natural disasters to increase in frequency and severity. At the time of this episode, Hurricane Otis, a Category 5 hurricane, tore through Acapulco, Mexico, killing at least 27 people and destroying everything in its way. And while it’s dangerous for everyone who is in the path of a major hurricane or storm, if you are in prison or jail, it’s exponentially more dangerous. People who are incarcerated are vu...
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On this bonus episode, I had the privilege of speaking with Susan Frey, who is the spokesperson for the Thacker Pass Working Group. Her group has been fighting for environmental justice in the face of a large lithium mine being developed in her rural community in Nevada. There are so many issues that she touched on in our conversation: drilling, mineral rights, green energy, environmental injustice, (lack of) community engagement. ...
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October 9, 2023 30 mins
Water is essential for life. WIthout access to clean drinking water, your life will be filled with sickness and death, guaranteed. And unfortunately for many prisoners around the world, this is what their life is like. Living everyday with no assurances that the water that they will drink will be safe and clean.

In Part 4 of our series on “Prisoners'', we are talking about the lack of access to clean water that many prisoners face ...
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BONUS EPISODE: Listen to my conversation with John Renourad, Founder of WHOLives. They are providing clean water to people all over the developing world.

ABOUT WHOLives
WHOlives is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on empowering people with clean water in the developing world and advocating for girls by ending female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriages. The organization’s goal is in the acronym WHO – providing clean Water, bette...
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In Part 3 of our series on “Prisoners'', we are talking about the effect that heat has on people who are incarcerated. We understand the impacts that heatwaves and overall climate change are having in the general population and among certain vulnerable communities. But what is it doing to the people who live in prisons? What is happening to them?

We talk about it on this episode. Stay tuned!.

Resources:
Heat-related mortality in U.S....
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In Part 2 of our series on “Prisoners”, we are talking about where prisons are located. Prisons are often built in some of the worst areas in the country. Landfills. Toxic waste sites. Abandoned sites. For instance, one-third of federal and state prisons are located near a Superfund site, which is the most severely contaminated areas. The siting of prisons represents a significant environmental injustice for the prisoners and those...
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We need to talk about prisoners. People who are incarcerated. The living conditions, the environment in which they are surrounded, are often not fit for human beings. In many ways, they are the world’s largest and forgotten environmental justice community, and we need to start talking about them and the environmental hazards and issues that many prisoners deal with on a daily basis.

But before we talk about those issues, we need to...
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For our final installment in our “EJ with EWB” series, we talk to Gerard Dalziel, Chief Engineer, and Eric Lundborg, Senior Program Engineer, both of whom deal extensively with the technical aspects of the design and implementation of the projects performed by EWB-USA. We talked about the realities of climate change and environmental justice need to be incorporated into the design of engineered projects and how each project is care...
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I just wanted to take a second and reflect on everything that we've learned about EWB-USA, their Environmental Justice and Climate Resiliency Initiative, and doing development work here and abroad. There is a lot that we can learn from our conversations with EWB!

Connect with our Environmental Justice Lab community:
Instagram: @envjusticelab
Facebook: www.facebook.com/EnvironmentalJusticeLab
Email: theenvironmentaljusticelab@gmail.co...
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For our third installment in our “EJ with EWB” series, we talk to Natalie Celmo and Ellie Carley of EWB-USA, both of who lead the Community Engineering Corps (CECorps). CECorps works with communities across the United States that are unable to easily retain or afford traditional engineering services. We were able to discuss the path that Ellie and Natalie both took to get to EWB-USA and the origins of CECorps. They also spoke about...
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