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Climate Change and Health Seminar Series: "Climate Justice: Frontline Solutions in the Midst of Disruption”

January 23, 2024

Elizabeth Yeampierre joined YCCCH for a conversation on frontline solutions for addressing impacts of climate change. Elizabeth is an internationally recognized Puerto Rican environmental/climate justice leader of Black and Indigenous ancestry, born and raised in New York City. She is co-chair of the Climate Justice Alliance, a national frontline led organization and Executive Director of UPROSE, Brooklyn's oldest Latino community-based organization.

Speaker: Elizabeth Yeampierre, Executive Director, UPROSE

January 19, 2024

ID
11206

Transcript

  • 00:01<v ->Don't have slides today.</v>
  • 00:02So thank you everyone
  • 00:04for being in person,
  • 00:05thanks for those people online.
  • 00:08Today, this is my break period.
  • 00:10I'll turn to Elizabeth Yeampierre
  • 00:15as our first speaker this semester.
  • 00:19Elizabeth is an internationally recognized
  • 00:21Puerto Rican environmental and climate justice leader
  • 00:25of African and Indigenous ancestry,
  • 00:28born and raised in New York City.
  • 00:29So Elizabeth is a co-chair
  • 00:32of the Climate Justice Alliance,
  • 00:34a national frontline led organization
  • 00:37and executive director of UPROSE,
  • 00:40Brooklyn's oldest Latino community based organization.
  • 00:44And Elizabeth was the first Latina chair of the US EPA,
  • 00:49National Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
  • 00:53And opening speaker for the first White House council
  • 00:56on the Environment Quality Forum,
  • 00:57Environment Justice in the Obama administration.
  • 01:02And she has been in pictured in many of the news,
  • 01:04and received awards.
  • 01:05For example, the New York Times pictured her
  • 01:08as originally paving the path to climate justice.
  • 01:11She was also named by Politico
  • 01:14as the 100 most influential people in climate policy.
  • 01:19Also featured, involved
  • 01:21as one of the certain climate warriors
  • 01:23in the world.
  • 01:24Now all across list of the features of rising,
  • 01:28so many others.
  • 01:31So it's our great to welcome Elizabeth
  • 01:36to give the talk on climate justice.
  • 01:38Online solutions in a midst of disruptions.
  • 01:41So without further me,
  • 01:43Elizabeth, present.
  • 01:44<v ->Thank you.</v>
  • 01:47My God, those bios are always so uncomfortable,
  • 01:51because then it's like so much pressure.
  • 01:53Because everything that we do comes out
  • 01:55of the work of the collective.
  • 01:56You know, we're a movement group.
  • 01:58And so every accomplishment,
  • 02:00everything from transforming the landscape
  • 02:02to tapping legislation comes from being in deep consultation
  • 02:06with each other in community and across the country.
  • 02:09So everybody, thank you so much for having me here today.
  • 02:13I was asked to talk about public health
  • 02:15and to talk about frontline responses
  • 02:18to where we are right now.
  • 02:19And when I was getting ready for this conversation,
  • 02:24it was really hard to determine how to approach this.
  • 02:27And so really, that's why I put on my glasses,
  • 02:30so I can see your faces, so I can feel your energy,
  • 02:33so I can understand your vibe
  • 02:35in terms of where you are
  • 02:36in your political orientation of understanding.
  • 02:39Where we are in this moment
  • 02:41when it comes to climate change and racial justice,
  • 02:43or the lack there of this country.
  • 02:46And we are in a very, very bad place,
  • 02:48because today, the Supreme Court in the United States
  • 02:50overturned the so-called Chevron doctrine
  • 02:53in a six to three ruling.
  • 02:56It is again demonstrating its allegiance to big business,
  • 02:59polluters, rather than the frontline.
  • 03:02The ruling reverses one of the most
  • 03:04important judicial precedents
  • 03:05that have guided federal regulation
  • 03:07for the past 40 years,
  • 03:09that enabled government agencies'
  • 03:11interpretation of a law and statute
  • 03:13to stand when reasonable.
  • 03:14This ruling will make it even easier
  • 03:16for polluting industries to use the courts
  • 03:19to block new pollution regulations from going into effect.
  • 03:22It also opens up thousands of judicial decisions,
  • 03:26sustaining government agencies' rulemaking,
  • 03:29like the EPA, for example,
  • 03:31or adjudication as reasonable to now be challenged.
  • 03:34For me, these are incremental acts
  • 03:36of violence against our survival.
  • 03:38That's how I feel.
  • 03:39And people think that that's rhetoric.
  • 03:42So I wanna talk to you a little bit,
  • 03:44because this is a university setting,
  • 03:46and you are students,
  • 03:47about where we're right now.
  • 03:48At this moment,
  • 03:50we are seeing a lot of money on the table.
  • 03:54The IRA money, money from Bezos, from Gates Fund.
  • 03:57There is tons and tons of money on the table,
  • 04:00some of that money supposedly for frontline communities,
  • 04:03for the infrastructure projects
  • 04:05and the work that we have
  • 04:06that will literally get us to adjust transition.
  • 04:09But it is not coming to us.
  • 04:11And what we're seeing right now isn't just the threat
  • 04:14of the big greens, the big organizations
  • 04:16that are multimillion dollar organizations
  • 04:19that have historically gotten the lion share of the funding
  • 04:22to determine what policy is,
  • 04:24and how it's going to affect those of us on the frontline.
  • 04:27We're also seeing universities play a role
  • 04:29of becoming the new big greens.
  • 04:31So they're getting $50 million at a clip,
  • 04:33and determining who are the leaders in our communities,
  • 04:35what are the priorities.
  • 04:38And they're serving as interveners,
  • 04:39coming into our communities.
  • 04:40I can give you an example.
  • 04:42There was a moment where NYU got a $900,000 grant
  • 04:45to come into our community to replicate the work
  • 04:47that we were doing,
  • 04:48and then wanted to pick my brain
  • 04:50for a thousand dollars, right?
  • 04:53So that we would provide them with access to our brain trust
  • 04:57that would basically populate their proposal
  • 04:59so that they could get funded.
  • 05:01That top down extractive approach is going to kill us.
  • 05:04And I'm gonna use words like killing us
  • 05:06because that's where we are right now.
  • 05:08I am a descendant of extraction,
  • 05:10and my body is riddled with all of the health disparities
  • 05:14that exist from being born,
  • 05:16and raised in an EJ community
  • 05:17and worked in an EJ community.
  • 05:20And for you as students, what is your role?
  • 05:22I wanna talk about that
  • 05:23because honestly, every single year,
  • 05:27UPROSE, the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance,
  • 05:29the Climate Justice Alliance,
  • 05:31it is inundated with calls and emails
  • 05:35from students who want to interview us
  • 05:38for their thesis.
  • 05:40And what you don't do, this is what you don't do.
  • 05:43You call because you have a dream.
  • 05:44You came into these institutions with a dream,
  • 05:47and you see us as the opportunity
  • 05:49to populate that body of information
  • 05:52that you need so that you can manifest
  • 05:54your individual capitalist, paternal, patriarchal dream.
  • 05:59What you should be doing,
  • 06:00if you are concerned about climate justice,
  • 06:03if you are concerned about using your privilege
  • 06:05to elevate and to support the frontline,
  • 06:09what you should be doing is asking, how can I use
  • 06:14access to data, research,
  • 06:16all of the things that I have access to right now,
  • 06:18to advance a local climate justice agenda.
  • 06:22And that becomes your thesis.
  • 06:24And we're willing to talk to you
  • 06:25if you talk to us about that.
  • 06:27But we're no longer talking to students
  • 06:29who are contacting us
  • 06:31because they have their individual dream,
  • 06:33and they wanna lead.
  • 06:35And they're using the rhetoric of a movement
  • 06:37when their culture or practice
  • 06:39is inconsistent with those values.
  • 06:42And so the students that get to work with us,
  • 06:44that get to be part of this
  • 06:46leaderful, matriarchal,
  • 06:47intergenerational frontline led movement,
  • 06:50are the ones who ask the question,
  • 06:52how can we serve?
  • 06:53How can we help?
  • 06:54And how can I have access to these resources?
  • 06:56That means that you are not only an ally,
  • 06:59it means you are pro-Black.
  • 07:00It means that you're anti-racist,
  • 07:02that you are really thinking critically about
  • 07:06and understanding, recognizing that those of us
  • 07:09on the ground have the solutions,
  • 07:11that we understand policy,
  • 07:13infrastructure, community building, land use,
  • 07:16that we, despite what people think because of how we look
  • 07:20and where we're from, are a bunch of badasses
  • 07:23that are literally transforming the landscape.
  • 07:25And we are.
  • 07:27And we are.
  • 07:27And I say that because everything across the country
  • 07:30from the CLCPA in New York state,
  • 07:33that is a piece of legislation.
  • 07:35The Community Climate Leadership
  • 07:37and Community Protection Act,
  • 07:39I forget how to say it because government changed the title,
  • 07:43is a piece of legislation
  • 07:44that has made it possible, for example, for DC,
  • 07:47the Department of Environmental Conservation
  • 07:50to stop two power plants.
  • 07:58And so that legislation, that land language
  • 08:01that comes from all of us.
  • 08:03Working with each other in a way that is strategic.
  • 08:07Talking about one person leading.
  • 08:10We're talking about how we can be leaderful.
  • 08:12because being leaderful
  • 08:14is how we're gonna be able to win.
  • 08:16So the threats for us are enormous.
  • 08:19They are, we're talking about not just big universities
  • 08:22and big greens, we're talking about corporations,
  • 08:25fossil fuel companies, government.
  • 08:27<v Voice>Chris, CJA.</v>
  • 08:29<v ->Sorry, that's the Climate Justice Alliance.</v>
  • 08:31Never leave me alone.
  • 08:32Okay, I'm sorry about that.
  • 08:34Yeah, sorry.
  • 08:36But the Climate Justice Alliance, by the way,
  • 08:4010 years ago, we founded it 10 years ago
  • 08:41to be sort of the center of gravity
  • 08:43in the climate movement.
  • 08:45There were a lot of big organizations
  • 08:47that were leading on climate.
  • 08:49And the voice of the frontline wasn't central.
  • 08:53We weren't being consulted.
  • 08:54Our work was being supplanted,
  • 08:56our work was being duplicated.
  • 08:57Everything was being replicated.
  • 08:59And so we needed to have an organization that was gonna hold
  • 09:02that space where we would be able to shape and influence.
  • 09:06And so we decided that we were gonna fight the bad,
  • 09:09build the good, change the rules, right?
  • 09:11And move the money.
  • 09:12And move the money literally
  • 09:14from organizations that have always had the majority of it,
  • 09:17to the frontline, so that we can invest.
  • 09:20And remember, we look very different across the country.
  • 09:23What it looks like in West Virginia is very different
  • 09:25than what it looks like in Brooklyn,
  • 09:26that is densely populated.
  • 09:28And we don't have site control over our buildings.
  • 09:30It looks very different than Indian country,
  • 09:32and very different from the northwest,
  • 09:34of Puerto Rico, or the Gulf South.
  • 09:36So the solutions are really different.
  • 09:38And so these big organizations and agencies
  • 09:41that get so much of the funding come up
  • 09:43with cookie cutter approaches,
  • 09:45don't work on the ground.
  • 09:47They don't work on the block,
  • 09:49they don't work in the neighborhood
  • 09:50because the solutions have to be very different.
  • 09:53In a community like ours,
  • 09:54where we look at it block by block,
  • 09:56in one block, you can have section eight housing.
  • 09:59On another block,
  • 09:59you can have auto salvaging shops
  • 10:01that need to be made climate adaptable
  • 10:04so that their chemicals don't become projectiles
  • 10:06in the face of an extreme weather event.
  • 10:08It looks very different.
  • 10:10So I wanna share that with you
  • 10:12because we are,
  • 10:15when you think about who we are
  • 10:16and you're thinking about public health,
  • 10:19you're thinking about us
  • 10:20in terms of a moment in time.
  • 10:22You're saying, well, people of African or Black
  • 10:25and indigenous ancestry have all these health disparities
  • 10:28because they are living in the midst of toxic exposure,
  • 10:32and it is exacerbating their health,
  • 10:33and making it more difficult.
  • 10:35You don't think about us in terms of the continuum of time.
  • 10:38That we are the descendants of enslavement and colonialism.
  • 10:43And so there has never been a time
  • 10:45going back, back, back, back
  • 10:47that we have not been exposed
  • 10:49to not having the best food,
  • 10:50the best healthcare,
  • 10:51that we have not been surrounded
  • 10:53by petrochemical industries
  • 10:55that we have not had to deal with
  • 10:56the high stress that comes with trying to survive,
  • 10:59put food on the table, and raise our children.
  • 11:02That shows up as a health disparity.
  • 11:05And so you need to look at it within that context.
  • 11:08The other thing that I want you to think about is
  • 11:12I want you to think about data,
  • 11:14and the collection of data.
  • 11:16Right now, you see the Bezos fund,
  • 11:18and all these funds wanna lead with data,
  • 11:21and the collection of data.
  • 11:23The way that data is collected right now is deeply flawed
  • 11:25and doesn't tell the story of our people, right?
  • 11:28There is a very big difference between Puerto Rican,
  • 11:32a Mexican, and a Dominican, right?
  • 11:35We show up differently in terms of
  • 11:37our entire profile in terms of our history.
  • 11:40And so when you put Latinos all together in one category,
  • 11:43and you call it Hispanic.
  • 11:44By the way, Hispanic includes people from Spain,
  • 11:47all kinds of people, people with Spanish surname, right?
  • 11:50It doesn't tell the story,
  • 11:51and what it does is it washes out the impact
  • 11:54that different communities are facing.
  • 11:57Socioeconomically, environmentally.
  • 12:00It doesn't tell the story,
  • 12:01and when you don't tell the story,
  • 12:02what it means is less resources, less interventions,
  • 12:05so that we can get to a place of health.
  • 12:07The Asian community, there are vast differences.
  • 12:10Enormous, right?
  • 12:12Enormous differences, right?
  • 12:13If you look at a place like Hawaii,
  • 12:15you've got Japanese people
  • 12:17who are doing really well
  • 12:18when it comes to the health profile.
  • 12:20And then you've got the indigenous people
  • 12:21of Hawaii who are not.
  • 12:23And when you put them in one category,
  • 12:24what it means is that they're not getting the attention
  • 12:27and the resources that they deserve.
  • 12:30Black folks.
  • 12:31And that's a whole lot of us, right?
  • 12:32I wanna say that because there's a difference
  • 12:35between African Americans, people from the Caribbean,
  • 12:39people who are coming from Africa, right?
  • 12:41From the motherland.
  • 12:43And so the details really matter
  • 12:46if you really want to address root causes,
  • 12:48how they land in our bodies.
  • 12:52And those terms were created
  • 12:54so that we could be managed, right?
  • 12:56Literally differences wiped out.
  • 12:58So if you're European, you could be French,
  • 12:59you could be Italian, you could be Greek,
  • 13:01you could be all those things.
  • 13:03But if you're us, you become a Hispanic.
  • 13:05I don't know what that is.
  • 13:07And so you erase our blackness, our indigeneity.
  • 13:10And then for Latinos, not all Latinos are people of color.
  • 13:14There are so many differences.
  • 13:15They come sometimes here with privilege.
  • 13:17And so they don't have the same
  • 13:19disparities as some of us.
  • 13:22So how do you change that?
  • 13:24I charge you for changing that.
  • 13:27As your charge,
  • 13:28you need to be able to change it,
  • 13:30so that we are addressing
  • 13:33how a legacy of extraction lands in our bodies.
  • 13:38And you get people who have health disparities
  • 13:40and are now faced with climate change, right?
  • 13:44So we know quite a few things.
  • 13:45We know fossil fuel companies
  • 13:47and governmental power plants, landfills, highways,
  • 13:49incinerators, and other toxic infrastructure
  • 13:52in our communities.
  • 13:53We know that our communities sacrifice zones, right?
  • 13:55And that right now you're seeing
  • 13:58the climate movement talk about false solutions
  • 14:01like green hydrogen and carbon sequestration,
  • 14:04and turning our communities to sacrifice zones.
  • 14:06Our solutions are not the same.
  • 14:08They're hyper local.
  • 14:10We know that even before Covid,
  • 14:11about 250,000 people in our communities die
  • 14:16because of air pollution.
  • 14:18And we don't know what that looks like now.
  • 14:19So you combine all of the health disparities that we take,
  • 14:23that we are exposed to extreme policing,
  • 14:26incarceration, under employment,
  • 14:28poor educational opportunities, displacement,
  • 14:31daily, overt racism,
  • 14:33the lack of healthy food and transit options.
  • 14:35And it's not surprising that our communities are the ones
  • 14:37that are suffering individually
  • 14:39and collectively from mental health issues.
  • 14:41I'm surprised that it has never been documented
  • 14:45to the extent how this history has impacted us
  • 14:48and our ability to cope every single day.
  • 14:50So our priorities,
  • 14:53I'm gonna talk fast, 'cause we got a lot of solutions.
  • 14:55So our priorities are
  • 14:56to address four things across the country
  • 14:59and hyper locally.
  • 15:00Renewable energy with community ownership at its center,
  • 15:04drinkable water, food sovereignty, and wellness.
  • 15:08Those are the four things that our communities
  • 15:10have told us are real, our real priorities.
  • 15:12We see ourselves as people who staff the community.
  • 15:14We don't see ourselves as people
  • 15:16who are making decisions on behalf of our communities.
  • 15:19You know, we were the ones who had,
  • 15:21were very fortunate to go to school,
  • 15:23you know, thank God for affirmative action,
  • 15:25or I wouldn't be here talking to you right now.
  • 15:28We can have the skills that make it possible for families
  • 15:32that have two or three jobs,
  • 15:34and two or three children,
  • 15:36so that we can staff them
  • 15:38while they're taking care of their lives.
  • 15:39And making sure that community events are generational,
  • 15:44that there's always food,
  • 15:44that there's always childcare,
  • 15:46that there's at least translation,
  • 15:47and that we're available to meet with them
  • 15:49when it's convenient for them.
  • 15:51We see this not as a job.
  • 15:53And this is important for those of you that are Gen Z,
  • 15:55who are talking about grassroots organizations
  • 15:58and talking to us about nine to five,
  • 16:00and self-love and self-care.
  • 16:03Self-care is the language of colonialism.
  • 16:05This country was built on the needs of the individual.
  • 16:08We talk about collective care.
  • 16:10And for us, this is not a job.
  • 16:11This is a calling.
  • 16:13If it is a Saturday afternoon and I'm exhausted,
  • 16:16and there's a possibility that some legislation
  • 16:18that is gonna benefit my people is impacted,
  • 16:21I take that call.
  • 16:22I do that work,
  • 16:24because that's in the interest of justice,
  • 16:25regardless of whether I'm tired,
  • 16:27regardless of whether I'm getting paid.
  • 16:29Because if I don't do that,
  • 16:31I'm not honoring my ancestors who gave up their life,
  • 16:35who put their lives on the line,
  • 16:36who spilled blood,
  • 16:38so that I would have rights right now.
  • 16:40For them, it wasn't a nine to five, it was a calling.
  • 16:42It's what you do when you're a movement builder.
  • 16:45That work ethic, that culture of practice
  • 16:47is radically different than what you see at the big greens,
  • 16:50than what you see at big organizations.
  • 16:52And it's now because it's being learned in LinkedIn,
  • 16:55being applied to the grassroots
  • 16:57and it's killing our organizations.
  • 16:59So if you come to our organizations
  • 17:01and you wanna make demands about,
  • 17:02I only wanna work four days a week,
  • 17:04and I only wanna do this.
  • 17:06I'm telling you injustice is not nine to five,
  • 17:09and neither is climate change.
  • 17:10We're gonna need to be leaderful,
  • 17:13and we're gonna need to be engaged in collective care,
  • 17:16if we're gonna survive,
  • 17:17and we're gonna not burn out during this process.
  • 17:20So I wanna put that
  • 17:21because when you guys get interviewed,
  • 17:23you say you're about that life,
  • 17:24and then when you come in, you're like, hey,
  • 17:26but you know, and I'm like, oh no.
  • 17:28This is not happening.
  • 17:30So, and it's not just us,
  • 17:31it's literally a complaint in leadership across the country
  • 17:34about a new generation
  • 17:37that is emerging with demands of the grassroots
  • 17:40that we can't accommodate.
  • 17:41What it means is that the leadership is gonna burn out
  • 17:43and we're not gonna be able to hold the line.
  • 17:45We're talking about climate change.
  • 17:46It is disruptive, it's unpredictable,
  • 17:49and it is happening.
  • 17:50And so we need people that are warriors, right?
  • 17:52And who think about this work
  • 17:54in a very different way.
  • 17:56So I wanna share that with you.
  • 18:00So what are we doing?
  • 18:01What are we doing in our communities?
  • 18:02We are working to protect, repair, invest,
  • 18:05and transform.
  • 18:06In Sunset Park, we've got the grit.
  • 18:09I'll tell you a little bit about Sunset Park.
  • 18:10It's in Brooklyn.
  • 18:11It is a community of 132,000 people.
  • 18:14It is located in
  • 18:16the largest significant maritime industrial area
  • 18:18in New York City.
  • 18:19It is an industrial sector
  • 18:21that has a legacy harm in our communities.
  • 18:25Toxic exposure, fossil fuel.
  • 18:28We have everything from the Gowanus Expressway
  • 18:30that has 130,000 cars, 13,000 trucks
  • 18:34going through there every day,
  • 18:36to solid waste management plants,
  • 18:38three peaker plants, the Gowanus, the Narrows,
  • 18:41and the Joseph Seymour.
  • 18:43And what have we done in response?
  • 18:45In terms of organizing,
  • 18:47we've created coalitions like Glass Mile
  • 18:49to take care of all of those Amazon trucks
  • 18:52and get some regulation
  • 18:53that will make sure that they are not going
  • 18:56through the most vulnerable neighborhoods.
  • 18:58That we're reducing emissions,
  • 19:00that they're using technology.
  • 19:01We created the Peak Coalition as a way
  • 19:04of decommissioning peakers,
  • 19:05and replacing them with battery storage.
  • 19:08When we fought Industry City for seven years,
  • 19:10Industry City is a company that owns an enormous part
  • 19:14of our industrial sector at Sunset Park.
  • 19:17And they wanted to take the industrial sector
  • 19:19and turn it into a destination location
  • 19:21for the privileged with high tech.
  • 19:23And we thought, well, you know, this is a sector
  • 19:25that has been harming us for years.
  • 19:27What is a sector that is doing green manufacturing,
  • 19:30that is working towards
  • 19:32an adaptation, mitigation, and resilience look like?
  • 19:35How do we bring the jobs?
  • 19:36How do we make sure
  • 19:37that we don't follow the market,
  • 19:38but we create the market here.
  • 19:40And so in order to fight Industry City,
  • 19:42and we were told that we would lose
  • 19:44because literally it was like
  • 19:46David and three Goliaths,
  • 19:48it that was that kind of fight.
  • 19:49The sector, Industry City had spent
  • 19:52an enormous amount of money in our community,
  • 19:55dropped it in the pockets of CBOs and churches all over
  • 19:58to do an enter and around us.
  • 20:00They had five public relations firms.
  • 20:02And then there was UPROSE.
  • 20:04UPROSE would be told we were gonna lose.
  • 20:06And we needed to figure out
  • 20:08how do we bring movement into the space.
  • 20:11But it wasn't enough to fight against something.
  • 20:13We needed to lead with a vision.
  • 20:15What does this have to do with health?
  • 20:16Everything.
  • 20:18You know, when you think about health,
  • 20:19you're thinking about it in a very,
  • 20:21it's very siloed.
  • 20:23And we need to break out of those silos
  • 20:25and start thinking about infrastructure,
  • 20:26and thinking about what people's needs
  • 20:28are going to be 30 years from now.
  • 20:30The fact that the environment right now is creating disease
  • 20:33at a level that is neck breaking, right?
  • 20:36So we put together the grit.
  • 20:39It came out of 12 years of community-based planning.
  • 20:42It includes a just transition worker waterfront exchange,
  • 20:46a just transition worker resource center
  • 20:48where people can learn how to access those green jobs.
  • 20:53An industrial microgrid.
  • 20:55We are getting ready
  • 20:56to launch the first community on solar
  • 20:58in Sunset Park.
  • 20:59We have mapped 20 rooftops for community on solar.
  • 21:02It's a plan for the decarbonization
  • 21:04of this industrial waterfront community.
  • 21:06A small business decarbonization pilot,
  • 21:10and a zero emission distribution hub
  • 21:12so that we can move away from Glass Mile.
  • 21:14All of those pieces have a lot of different pieces in them,
  • 21:17and they all have a price set.
  • 21:19One is $145 million,
  • 21:22the just transition worker center,
  • 21:24which would take about 10 years, $25 million.
  • 21:28So why am I sharing that with you?
  • 21:29Because those are big ticket items
  • 21:31that are not just aspirational,
  • 21:34they are operational.
  • 21:36And we made sure that we were passing the kind
  • 21:38of legislation that would give it teeth.
  • 21:41That would give us access to the resources necessary
  • 21:43so we can operationalize.
  • 21:45But then what are we doing?
  • 21:46We're competing with Columbia,
  • 21:48with NYU, with Fordham, with all of these people
  • 21:52who saw the opportunity that was created
  • 21:54by the grassroots, right?
  • 21:56And have helicoptered into our community
  • 21:59so that they can engage in empire building.
  • 22:01What we're trying to engage in community building.
  • 22:05And literally, decarbonize the neighborhood.
  • 22:07Highly sophisticated.
  • 22:09We build strategic partnerships with a number of people
  • 22:12so we don't have to know everything.
  • 22:13And since you're at Yale, let me just say this,
  • 22:16you don't have to know everything.
  • 22:18You need to understand, I mean, you have been expected
  • 22:20to know a lot, which is why you're here.
  • 22:22Big ups to you for that.
  • 22:24But understand that collectively, we know a lot.
  • 22:27And so that when working in an organization,
  • 22:30it's important to recognize what you don't know,
  • 22:32and develop the relationships with people
  • 22:34who come in from a place of building just relationships,
  • 22:37so that we can strategically address these big items.
  • 22:41Everything from trying to figure out
  • 22:42how do we finance community on solar,
  • 22:45and pre-development costs.
  • 22:46Those are things that for a while,
  • 22:48we didn't know anything about.
  • 22:50But we identified people
  • 22:51who could provide us with that.
  • 22:52And that's gonna be your role.
  • 22:53Your role is to provide us with the technical support
  • 22:56so that we can operationalize it.
  • 22:58Yale's been really cool.
  • 23:00And I wanna say that on the real,
  • 23:03because we work with a lot of institutions
  • 23:06that we've been like, okay, no.
  • 23:07All right, so it's surprising
  • 23:09and refreshing that we have for the last few years
  • 23:12worked with a number of departments
  • 23:14or a number of schools at Yale
  • 23:17that have provided us with the support
  • 23:18so that we can move as quickly as we have.
  • 23:21So we have several fellows from Yale.
  • 23:24And that says that something is happening
  • 23:25at this institution,
  • 23:26where you're really sort of checking in on yourself,
  • 23:29and your professors are checking and thinking about
  • 23:32how are we going to be the most impactful.
  • 23:34Not sort of like thinking about,
  • 23:37you know, sort of this community
  • 23:38that is talking about ideas and influencing.
  • 23:41We influence, we come up with the ideas,
  • 23:43we come up with the recommendations.
  • 23:45You're the ones who are gonna be able to provide us
  • 23:47with the support that we need,
  • 23:49so that we can manifest those.
  • 23:51So I had a long list of,
  • 23:53but I wanna open up for questions and answers.
  • 23:56A long list of all the health disparities that we have.
  • 23:59Hyper-local problems with air monitoring,
  • 24:02and how it's done, and how it should be done.
  • 24:05But I kind of feel like I just really wanna break it up
  • 24:07for questions, because I think that's where the richness
  • 24:11of the conversation takes place.
  • 24:12And I really hope that I've given you sort of
  • 24:15a broad view of understanding
  • 24:17the challenges that we're having locally.
  • 24:19You will end up working in a lot of places
  • 24:22that are engaged in contemporary missionary head.
  • 24:28You know, super saviors.
  • 24:30We don't want people like that.
  • 24:31We don't wanna work with you if that's who you are.
  • 24:34We don't think that you know more about anything than we do.
  • 24:36We don't think you care more than we do.
  • 24:39We are looking for people who are partners,
  • 24:41who wanna work with us in a way
  • 24:43that shows that you're committed
  • 24:45to a different culture of practice.
  • 24:46Because that's what climate change is demanding from us.
  • 24:50This sort of top down, patriarchal way
  • 24:54of thinking about power is unacceptable to us,
  • 24:57and we're not suffering from insecurity.
  • 25:00You will go into some communities
  • 25:03where they will defer to you,
  • 25:04and they will give up power because you came in,
  • 25:06and you give the impression of having the skills
  • 25:08and the understanding that maybe people
  • 25:10who don't have a formal education don't have.
  • 25:13You know, my grandmother
  • 25:14didn't know how to read or write.
  • 25:15My mother had a very limited education.
  • 25:17I'm the first one out with college education
  • 25:19in my family.
  • 25:20And I can tell you that my mother
  • 25:21and my grandmother were absolutely brilliant.
  • 25:24And that when I am in community
  • 25:25and I am listening with all, all my senses
  • 25:28to people in the community, that they know what they want,
  • 25:31and they know the solutions.
  • 25:32And my responsibility is to facilitate that,
  • 25:35to elevate that voice,
  • 25:37and to make sure that we are honoring
  • 25:40what they're telling us even when we don't agree.
  • 25:42And I'm gonna give you one example of when we didn't agree.
  • 25:47We, on 3rd Avenue, if you know Sunset Park or Brooklyn.
  • 25:49How many of you know Brooklyn?
  • 25:51Right, you know, 3rd Avenue,
  • 25:53and you know how you've got the Gowanus
  • 25:55and you've got all those industrial spots.
  • 25:57Where there's a over,
  • 26:00so many children in the neighborhood,
  • 26:01and not enough schools.
  • 26:03So our former councilman wanted
  • 26:05to put a school in 3rd Avenue.
  • 26:06And we said,
  • 26:07but if you put the children under the highway,
  • 26:10in the industrial zone,
  • 26:12they're going to be running in their backyards,
  • 26:13breathing hard,
  • 26:14while all those emissions, socks, knocks, all of it,
  • 26:17is going to be dumped into their little lungs, right?
  • 26:21And so the Department of Education said to us, well
  • 26:23of course we're gonna clean up the brownfield
  • 26:25that the school's gonna be built on.
  • 26:27And we said, but you can't control the adjacent brownfields.
  • 26:30And you can't,
  • 26:31you don't have any control over the adjacent brownfields,
  • 26:34you don't own that property.
  • 26:36And there are chemicals there from before
  • 26:38there was even an EPA,
  • 26:39that when dislodged, are carcinogens upon contact.
  • 26:42So you can't, you shouldn't put the school there.
  • 26:45But because the council member was somebody
  • 26:47that the community loved, they supported him.
  • 26:50The school got built there.
  • 26:51I said, I would never send my little child to that school.
  • 26:55Did we protest the parents?
  • 26:57No, we did not.
  • 26:58We gave them the information we wanted.
  • 27:00We gave them enough
  • 27:02so that they could make an informed decision.
  • 27:05But there are people, and once they made that decision,
  • 27:09they were stuck with that decision,
  • 27:10and it broke our hearts.
  • 27:12But it wasn't our place to supplant leadership,
  • 27:16or to tell them what to do.
  • 27:17It was our place to provide them with all the information
  • 27:20that they needed,
  • 27:21so that they could make an informed decision.
  • 27:23So you're going to be in spaces where that's going,
  • 27:26where your heart, everything is gonna be telling you,
  • 27:28this is so wrong, right?
  • 27:31But you need to honor what people are saying.
  • 27:34They were desperate for schools.
  • 27:36And so that decision led to us fighting
  • 27:39for upland schools,
  • 27:41upland buying properties like hot sheet hotels,
  • 27:45and turning them into schools.
  • 27:46Letting people know this is a storm surge song.
  • 27:49We're gonna be dying from extreme heat.
  • 27:52Literally, that is what's going to kill us.
  • 27:54And if you wanna know more about that,
  • 27:56the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance
  • 27:58is preparing a report,
  • 27:59and has been doing an enormous amount of work on this.
  • 28:02So I'll stop and I'll open it to questions.
  • 28:06And I'll put on my glasses so I can see you.
  • 28:10So yeah, so it's a lot that we're doing locally,
  • 28:13that's just Sunset Park.
  • 28:15And it looks different everywhere,
  • 28:17all over the United States.
  • 28:19This is exciting.
  • 28:20What we're doing is viable.
  • 28:21It is operational, and it has a price,
  • 28:24and we need to move the money,
  • 28:26so that we are investing in local communities,
  • 28:28particularly around adaptation, mitigation, resilience.
  • 28:31And because you are in the school of public health,
  • 28:33really important that you break out of those silos
  • 28:36and you're working with people who are in the law school
  • 28:38that are working on land use
  • 28:40and planning and zoning,
  • 28:41that you are thinking outside of the box
  • 28:44because this, the way that we are trained
  • 28:48sometimes is very limited,
  • 28:49and climate change is not that.
  • 28:51It is not limited.
  • 28:53So thank you.
  • 29:00<v ->Yes, so I think we collect a lot questions from students.</v>
  • 29:05They're very interested in a lot of the work you do.
  • 29:08So now we have 20 minutes, which is very rare
  • 29:10for the presenter to ask all the questions,
  • 29:12especially what we don't know.
  • 29:14Especially what, for all the things.
  • 29:16So now, floor's open.
  • 29:22<v Speaker>I'm not a student.</v>
  • 29:23Can I ask a question?
  • 29:24<v Instructor>Sure.</v>
  • 29:26<v Speaker>You commented on a new household</v>
  • 29:30solar power initiative in Sunset Park.
  • 29:34And of course this is a source of great frustration,
  • 29:37all of us that we have so many roofs,
  • 29:41industrial roofs that are flat and vast
  • 29:44that you can just imagine solar panels on,
  • 29:48and household roofs
  • 29:49that many of them face the sun in a very agreeable way.
  • 29:53So could you comment on some of your successes
  • 29:56and challenges in launching this initiative?
  • 29:59<v ->A lot of challenges.</v>
  • 30:00This is the rooftop
  • 30:01of the Brooklyn Army Terminal.
  • 30:03It's owned by the New York City
  • 30:05Economic Development Corporation,
  • 30:06which is a quasi public corporation in New York.
  • 30:11It's the first time that they partner
  • 30:12with a frontline group like ours.
  • 30:15And there have been a lot of challenges,
  • 30:17just in financing and contracting
  • 30:19a lot of things that we didn't know
  • 30:20and we learned along the way.
  • 30:23But through the relationship with them, we are getting them
  • 30:26to do a study on green manufacturing,
  • 30:29and other kinds of things
  • 30:30that can happen along the industrial waterfront.
  • 30:32So that one started out,
  • 30:35the idea was that it was going to be a cooperative,
  • 30:36and that did not work out.
  • 30:38So now it's a community owned initiative,
  • 30:41where the investments will be in community led projects.
  • 30:45And they look different in different places.
  • 30:47So we've mapped, for example, the MTA,
  • 30:49the Jackie Gleason Bus Depot,
  • 30:50which is enormous in Sunset Park.
  • 30:52And then we've met with Industry City,
  • 30:54which is surprising
  • 30:55because we drove them crazy for seven years.
  • 30:58And we said, we want your rooftops,
  • 30:59we want your parking lots
  • 31:02for community owned solar canopies.
  • 31:05And what we'd like, because your private business is
  • 31:08to make your rooftop a source of renewable energy
  • 31:12for small businesses that have been devastated by Covid.
  • 31:17We lost so many of them in Sunset Park.
  • 31:20So that small businesses,
  • 31:21mom and pop shops have access
  • 31:23to renewable energy at a reduced cost in their homes.
  • 31:27We've met with Liberty View,
  • 31:29we've met with NYU Langone.
  • 31:32St. Michael's, OLPH, churches.
  • 31:35They look different, right?
  • 31:36So we're not looking at homes
  • 31:38because site control is a problem in New York City.
  • 31:41So where, if you're in Buffalo,
  • 31:43and you're working with PUSH, they own the property,
  • 31:45they have control of the rooftops.
  • 31:47It's a little easier for them.
  • 31:49But in New York City, there's no site control.
  • 31:51You can have a landlord that owns the building
  • 31:53for five years and then passes on
  • 31:55ownership to somebody else.
  • 31:57So we're looking at a long history,
  • 31:59deep roots, own the property,
  • 32:02and then we develop contracts that make it possible for us
  • 32:05to have access to them.
  • 32:07For a while there, I was looking at how we can own airspace.
  • 32:10We had the law school
  • 32:12and it was a crazy question and request.
  • 32:14They told me it was crazy,
  • 32:15but they researched it anyway,
  • 32:17so that we could have air rights.
  • 32:18And we could literally use our rooftops as eminent domain.
  • 32:23I'm still haven't given up on that idea.
  • 32:27So there's a lot.
  • 32:28It takes time, it takes a lot longer than I had expected.
  • 32:32And this one, I think we're ready
  • 32:33to launch in the fall of this year.
  • 32:35We're excited about this one because it becomes a model.
  • 32:38We captured the learnings, the mistakes, all of the things
  • 32:42that we did well.
  • 32:44We did that with the fight against Industry City
  • 32:46so that other communities
  • 32:48can hit the ground running with that.
  • 32:51What we learned was that the organizing
  • 32:55that we had been doing for years benefited us.
  • 32:59And it wasn't just organizing on the ground,
  • 33:01but you know, when I was talking about
  • 33:02how the climate justice movement is talking about
  • 33:05moving the money,
  • 33:06we've also been organizing in philanthropy
  • 33:08and trying to get people who are in philanthropy
  • 33:10to be on the inside talking about how
  • 33:15our communities benefit from moving the money.
  • 33:18How our communities benefit at all levels, right?
  • 33:21And so when we needed the resources,
  • 33:24we started getting those resources to make sure
  • 33:27that we can operationalize that.
  • 33:29Had this been over 10 years ago
  • 33:30when we weren't part of
  • 33:31a national climate justice movement,
  • 33:33we would've been in a very different place.
  • 33:35What's happening locally is that
  • 33:37every local community is benefiting
  • 33:39from the national movement.
  • 33:41So the national agenda is being defined,
  • 33:43what is happening on the ground,
  • 33:45which is very different from how it happened before,
  • 33:47which was grasstops, right?
  • 33:49We saw that with the Green New Deal.
  • 33:51When the Green New Deal came out, we had to have a meeting
  • 33:54with AOC, and we needed to tell them, listen,
  • 33:57this is being dictated by groups like Sunrise and others,
  • 34:00who are not based in community,
  • 34:02who are not accountable to community
  • 34:04with an agenda that they're creating
  • 34:08regardless of community,
  • 34:10and are not working with us in a way
  • 34:12that honors racial justice
  • 34:14or the Jemez Principles.
  • 34:17And it has to reflect a just transition
  • 34:19and the thinking of the frontline all over the country.
  • 34:22We were able to do that,
  • 34:23and we were able to change the culture of practice
  • 34:25of a lot of institutions
  • 34:27because time is of the essence
  • 34:28and we need to build those partnerships.
  • 34:31So I guess the shorter way of saying that is
  • 34:33that everything that we're doing locally comes out
  • 34:36of the collective vision that is not just local,
  • 34:39but is also part of a national movement.
  • 34:41It's movement work.
  • 34:43But it's not easy.
  • 34:44We're trying to figure out how do we get
  • 34:46drinkable water in people?
  • 34:47How are we making sure that there's infrastructure
  • 34:49put on the rooftops.
  • 34:51Organizing block to block,
  • 34:52identifying one organizer per block
  • 34:55that becomes sort of your block captain, your leader,
  • 34:57the person who determines whether or not
  • 35:00they're going to be your first responder.
  • 35:02And I jokingly for years have said that
  • 35:04that busybody on the block,
  • 35:06the one who organizes the block party,
  • 35:08who knows what your business,
  • 35:09who you're hooking up with, that's your organizer.
  • 35:12They know whether you are on a respirator,
  • 35:14whether you're on dialysis, they know.
  • 35:17And so the idea of organizing block to block
  • 35:20is also a way of strengthening social cohesion,
  • 35:23because that's the way that we're gonna survive.
  • 35:25And you could do that around projects.
  • 35:27Like one block can build an anaerobic digester,
  • 35:29another one can paint all the rooftops white.
  • 35:32So there's a lot of interventions,
  • 35:33and renewable energy is just one of them.
  • 35:36But it's the sexiest,
  • 35:37and it's the one that people talk about the most.
  • 35:40But we need to think about food sovereignty.
  • 35:42We're on an industrial waterfront,
  • 35:44and it has the possibility of being a place
  • 35:46where there's food distribution,
  • 35:47where we can connect with upstate farmers
  • 35:49that are economically depressed,
  • 35:51to bring the food to us through refrigerated gardens.
  • 35:54Not only will it strengthen social cohesion
  • 35:57between downstate and upstate,
  • 35:59but between poor white folks
  • 36:01and people of color in New York City.
  • 36:03And that's necessary
  • 36:05because they get the benefit of our tax dollars.
  • 36:07But when they make legislative choices,
  • 36:10they're not thinking about our interests.
  • 36:12They're based on race.
  • 36:13And so we need to figure out how we use these interventions
  • 36:16as a way of connecting communities
  • 36:18so that we're ready for these things.
  • 36:20So we are making tons of mistakes.
  • 36:23And here's the thing about mistakes.
  • 36:24I wanna share this because this is true.
  • 36:26White folks get to experiment
  • 36:28and make mistakes all the freaking time,
  • 36:31all the time.
  • 36:32We have to excel all the time.
  • 36:34And so even being able to talk about
  • 36:37our mistakes is uncomfortable,
  • 36:39because we're not allowed to fail,
  • 36:41to try something, or to make mistakes.
  • 36:43You could be someone who comes from privilege,
  • 36:46and they're just like, well,
  • 36:47they were trying out idea.
  • 36:49With us, it's not the same.
  • 36:51Funders treat us differently.
  • 36:53Everyone treats us differently when we fail.
  • 36:55And so there's a lot of pressure on us to succeed,
  • 36:57not just because of how we're perceived
  • 36:59because of racism,
  • 37:00but also because the lives of our people
  • 37:01are literally on the line.
  • 37:03And so we have to succeed.
  • 37:05So I wanna share that with you
  • 37:06because when I say that we're available to share
  • 37:11the learning and the mistakes, it can be the thing
  • 37:14that defines us, you know?
  • 37:18Yes.
  • 37:19<v Student>Thank you for speaking.</v>
  • 37:20I'm really interested in what you're saying about
  • 37:22younger applicants and students who interview you
  • 37:25that are idealistic,
  • 37:26and maybe romantic about how they perceive EJ,
  • 37:30and seemingly never ending list of to-do tasks
  • 37:35for you and your organization.
  • 37:37And they come in and it's actually, oh, too much work.
  • 37:40Maybe I want a four day week, like you said.
  • 37:43How do you personally balance knowing that that list exists
  • 37:46and also pursuing that collective community care
  • 37:49you were talking about
  • 37:50and what gives you hope?
  • 37:52<v ->Well, we have honest conversations,</v>
  • 37:55saying this is not a nine to five organization.
  • 37:58So we're real honest.
  • 37:59Also, we think that if people are engaged
  • 38:03in collective care,
  • 38:03that we will be able to take off
  • 38:05and be able to take care of each other.
  • 38:07And we also assess people's energy.
  • 38:09Like, we don't want people to burn out.
  • 38:11There's always food, there's always dogs in the office.
  • 38:14Like literally, it really is like that.
  • 38:16There's music, there's joy.
  • 38:19We have a lot of events
  • 38:20that are really just about embracing joy, right?
  • 38:24But we're honest about what the work demands,
  • 38:26and then we try to get a sense of whether that's the place,
  • 38:28not every place is is for you, right?
  • 38:31Maybe our organization is not for everybody.
  • 38:34Maybe you need to go work for an NRDC
  • 38:37or God forbid, an EDF, right?
  • 38:40But not every place.
  • 38:41And so the idea,
  • 38:43and then the other thing is that the challenges that come,
  • 38:46often come when it's a woman of color in leadership.
  • 38:50So you hire people who are more likely to hire,
  • 38:54and we're seeing this across the country,
  • 38:55to challenge and make the lives
  • 38:57of women of color and leadership.
  • 38:58What I mean saying women of color,
  • 39:00are people of Black and indigenous ancestry.
  • 39:03And that could be anything.
  • 39:04Black and indigenous means Colombian, Mexican,
  • 39:07you know, Honduran, right?
  • 39:08Puerto Rican, right?
  • 39:09So I just wanna say that
  • 39:10because I think there is,
  • 39:11people don't really understand
  • 39:12how we think about those terms.
  • 39:15And it's more likely that leadership burns out
  • 39:18and is leaving because they can't take the pain
  • 39:21of coming from the frontline,
  • 39:23having a vision
  • 39:24and having people challenge them
  • 39:25just because they think they can.
  • 39:26But when there's a white man in leadership,
  • 39:28no one challenges them.
  • 39:29They let it go, they complain on the side,
  • 39:31they out for drinks and they complain,
  • 39:33but they do the work.
  • 39:34It's very different.
  • 39:35So I'm being honest about the challenges
  • 39:37that we're going through.
  • 39:38So I'm just saying that in terms of an invitation,
  • 39:40if you're coming into our organizations,
  • 39:42we take care of each other.
  • 39:43We look out for each other, we get paid.
  • 39:46I bust my butt raising funds so that people get paid well.
  • 39:50Worked really hard to make sure
  • 39:53that the health insurance is the best
  • 39:55that there is on the market.
  • 39:57That you know,
  • 39:58that we are engaged deeply in collective care.
  • 40:01So the organization has to be a place
  • 40:03where children are welcome, where all people
  • 40:05of different kinds of abilities,
  • 40:07where we are sancocho.
  • 40:08A little bit of this and that and awesome, right?
  • 40:12But there is a very, there's something that's happening
  • 40:16to this particular generation,
  • 40:19and I don't know, I don't even know.
  • 40:20You all look Gen Z,
  • 40:20I dunno where you're getting
  • 40:22your marching orders from,
  • 40:23like LinkedIn.
  • 40:24And that's corporate culture,
  • 40:26that you're literally toxic corporate culture
  • 40:30is really influencing
  • 40:32how you think about the workspace across the board.
  • 40:34And it doesn't apply to grassroots organizations
  • 40:37that if you think and are supposed
  • 40:39to be accurate in justice,
  • 40:40you shouldn't have to be worried about that.
  • 40:42Right?
  • 40:43People talk about the nonprofit industrial complex,
  • 40:46and that's not grassroots, frontline led organizations,
  • 40:49but it's the kind of rhetoric
  • 40:51that makes you sound like
  • 40:52you know what you're talking about.
  • 40:54And so you come in ready to fight inside
  • 40:56instead of rolling up your sleeves
  • 40:58and doing the work outside.
  • 41:00And that is really taking out a lot of organizations.
  • 41:03I don't know if I've answered your question.
  • 41:04I hope that you have.
  • 41:07<v ->Thank you.</v> <v ->I think I hope that I have,</v>
  • 41:10but I'm really willing
  • 41:12to have uncomfortable conversations.
  • 41:15I think that that's how I show respect,
  • 41:17and that's how I make it clear about,
  • 41:19as someone who's in a leadership role
  • 41:22and runs an organization, what I expect from people.
  • 41:26And people not keeping their word,
  • 41:27like saying, you know,
  • 41:28you go through the interview process
  • 41:30and you say, this is what we need.
  • 41:31And they're like, okay, okay. 'cause they want the job,
  • 41:33and then they come in like, well,
  • 41:35what I really want is like.
  • 41:37That's self, that's self.
  • 41:40Even when you think about
  • 41:40intergenerational and youth-led,
  • 41:43this country has issues when it comes to age, right?
  • 41:48So you got young people trying to push older people out,
  • 41:50older people trying to hold onto power.
  • 41:53And power has to be intergenerational.
  • 41:56We need to be able to work
  • 41:57with each other across the continuum of age.
  • 42:00We learn, we build, and we have power
  • 42:02when it's intergenerational.
  • 42:04So young people and everything,
  • 42:05that's sort of how we romanticize and fetishize
  • 42:07youth leadership,
  • 42:08is really extractive, competitive, patriarchal.
  • 42:11It's, I wanna run to the front, I want shine,
  • 42:14I need this, I'm ambitious, and you're in my way.
  • 42:17And then older people holding on for dear life.
  • 42:20Intergenerational power
  • 42:21that comes from the Global South
  • 42:22is not like that.
  • 42:24When you are building an intergenerational movement
  • 42:26and power, clearly you may have skills that I don't have.
  • 42:30And those are important, and they're really important,
  • 42:33and I'm gonna recognize that those are important,
  • 42:35and understand what the deficits are of my generation,
  • 42:38because of the time that I grew up in.
  • 42:40I will not be able to be an impactful, powerful leader
  • 42:43if I am not part of an intergenerational movement.
  • 42:46I am learning from you constantly,
  • 42:49and I hope that out of humility,
  • 42:51you were learning from me as well.
  • 42:52So those tensions that are part, that are literally part
  • 42:56of an Anglo-American construct,
  • 42:58they're uniquely part of the United States,
  • 43:01hurt institutions because you've got young people
  • 43:04coming with knowing nothing
  • 43:06than what they learned in the classroom,
  • 43:08trying to push older people out, right?
  • 43:11Knowing nothing, no humility.
  • 43:13This is work that requires tremendous humility,
  • 43:16because it is complex,
  • 43:18and a lot of what we're doing
  • 43:19has never been done before.
  • 43:20And then older people holding on for freaking dear life
  • 43:24and not knowing that there's really room for all of us,
  • 43:27that we can be matriarchal and we can be leaderful.
  • 43:30There really is room for all of us.
  • 43:31And that this moment is demanding
  • 43:33that we all be in play with each other.
  • 43:36So those are some of the tensions
  • 43:37that are appearing in the workspace at a grassroots level.
  • 43:41And I think that these conversations
  • 43:43are absolutely necessary.
  • 43:47Si.
  • 43:48<v Student>Well, thank you so much.</v>
  • 43:49This sounds like really impressive
  • 43:51and really interesting work.
  • 43:53I was wondering, I obviously don't know your space
  • 43:56and the geography of the space,
  • 43:58but with the solar canopies you were talking about,
  • 44:02is there any, or like,
  • 44:05how are you guys ensuring that?
  • 44:06Or is there any risk of like flood zones
  • 44:08or how are you ensuring that it's sustainable for --
  • 44:11<v ->Over time?</v>
  • 44:12<v Student>Yeah, over time.</v>
  • 44:14<v ->So we have a geographer on staff,</v>
  • 44:16and we work with a number of people.
  • 44:17We work with a company called Working Power.
  • 44:20They're pretty amazing.
  • 44:20You should look them up.
  • 44:22And they look at the infrastructure,
  • 44:26they look at the space and they determine whether,
  • 44:28what is being proposed to be built there,
  • 44:31will it withstand over time.
  • 44:35On the industrial sector,
  • 44:36you know, there are all these parking lots.
  • 44:39And so, you know, there's an opportunity for solar panels,
  • 44:42for solar canopies there.
  • 44:44And then of course there's our rooftops.
  • 44:45And then we're thinking about our backyards
  • 44:47for like bioswales for growing food.
  • 44:50And the neighborhood has literally, if you look at the grid,
  • 44:53if you go online and you read the grid,
  • 44:55has been mapped for all of these different interventions.
  • 44:59But we work with people who understand
  • 45:00how the infrastructure works,
  • 45:03how it's going to be impacted
  • 45:04by extreme wind and heat.
  • 45:07I don't know those things.
  • 45:08I have to be a generalist,
  • 45:09I have to know a little bit about everything, right?
  • 45:12But luckily I work with a lot of experts in those areas.
  • 45:15But those are really good questions and they're necessary.
  • 45:18We did a project where we reached out to
  • 45:2190 auto salvaging shops
  • 45:23to make them climate adaptable,
  • 45:25because they fly below the radar
  • 45:27and because a lot of environmentalists
  • 45:29wanna take them out of business.
  • 45:30But these are mom and pop shops that are, you know,
  • 45:33they're fixing cars in our neighborhood.
  • 45:35But in their businesses, they're using chemicals
  • 45:38that present the possibility of toxic exposure,
  • 45:42that can become projectiles.
  • 45:44And so we created an app for that.
  • 45:46We created a comic strip to educate them
  • 45:48because we assume that if we create,
  • 45:50put together a body of literature in Spanish
  • 45:53or in another language that they can read.
  • 45:55Sometimes people can't read, right?
  • 45:57Regardless of the language.
  • 45:58So we created video content.
  • 45:59It was multidimensional information
  • 46:02so that they can access it in a different way.
  • 46:05And then we raised the resources so
  • 46:06that we could retrofit their business
  • 46:09so that they could know where the chemicals are,
  • 46:11what would happen upon,
  • 46:12what they needed to do
  • 46:14to protect themselves so that there wouldn't be any spillage
  • 46:16and it wouldn't impact the adjacent,
  • 46:18you know, their neighbors.
  • 46:20So those are the kinds of things that we need
  • 46:22to be thinking about.
  • 46:23Really looking hyper-local
  • 46:25at what people need and providing them with the resources.
  • 46:28You know, we're coming from a climate justice perspective,
  • 46:30and so we weren't gonna say throw them out,
  • 46:33close them down, shut them down.
  • 46:36We wanna make sure that people thrive economically,
  • 46:39but that they get the resources that they need to thrive.
  • 46:42And because these are small businesses,
  • 46:44we needed to meet with them like at five in the morning,
  • 46:47late at night.
  • 46:48They work 24-7, right?
  • 46:51So there's a lot of different things that you can do
  • 46:53with a lot of different sectors,
  • 46:55so that they're ready for climate change,
  • 46:56and they're incorporating protections.
  • 46:59When I first met with one of those auto salvaging shops,
  • 47:02they had antifreeze on the ground,
  • 47:04and there was a little girl running around barefoot.
  • 47:07And I said to the guy, companero,
  • 47:09do you know that that's a carcinogen?
  • 47:11And that she's walking around barefoot?
  • 47:14And the guy almost started crying.
  • 47:16He didn't know.
  • 47:18All he knew how to do was fix cars.
  • 47:20And so what was I supposed to do?
  • 47:22Criminalize him, report him to DC?
  • 47:26Right?
  • 47:27That's not what we do.
  • 47:28We let him know because his family was working
  • 47:30in that business, and they were being exposed.
  • 47:33These are the things that you need
  • 47:34to do to protect yourself.
  • 47:36And if there's extreme heat,
  • 47:37this is what's gonna happen with these chemicals.
  • 47:39And if there's extreme wind, this is what's gonna happen.
  • 47:42You don't have any ventilation in this space.
  • 47:45You need to use
  • 47:47this kind of protective gear.
  • 47:49If you're talking about public health,
  • 47:51and you care about creating wealth,
  • 47:54community power,
  • 47:55making sure people thrive so that they don't have to deal
  • 47:58with the stress of poverty generation to generation,
  • 48:01you need to be thinking about
  • 48:02how do you support these kinds of businesses
  • 48:04without judging them,
  • 48:06and coming from your place of privilege
  • 48:08and imposing your,
  • 48:10and having interventions that will actually work for them.
  • 48:13And those are the things that we do.
  • 48:16<v ->Thanks Elizabeth.</v>
  • 48:17Because of timing,
  • 48:18I think we can only take one final question from online.
  • 48:22One of the audience asking,
  • 48:23minority children are some of the most vulnerable
  • 48:26effected by the environmental disparities.
  • 48:28Do you have any other advice on whether it is more effective
  • 48:31for us to focus research
  • 48:34and other efforts that you mentioned,
  • 48:36especially on children,
  • 48:37that continue working with their broader at risk
  • 48:41communities as whole?
  • 48:43<v ->So first I'd say that we are not minorities,</v>
  • 48:45that anywhere in the world, we're a global majority.
  • 48:48And I don't like the word minority,
  • 48:51because it disempowers us,
  • 48:52makes us feel small and insignificant.
  • 48:55And we're heading towards a world of climate apartheid.
  • 48:58So I wanna make it clear
  • 49:01that we are the descendants of extraction,
  • 49:03of colonialism, and enslavement,
  • 49:05and we are the majority in the world.
  • 49:07There are a lot of initiatives.
  • 49:10You know, EPA has a lot of federal advisory councils
  • 49:13that focus on children.
  • 49:15There's a lot of work that is being done across,
  • 49:18because we're intergenerational.
  • 49:19We look at what does that mean for our children
  • 49:24in terms of toxic exposure when they're in utero,
  • 49:28you're living under a highway.
  • 49:30And that means that our children are going to be
  • 49:33more susceptible to asthma of respiratory disease,
  • 49:37learning disabilities, all kinds of things that are a result
  • 49:41of sort of the legacy of toxic exposure.
  • 49:45So there's a lot of work being done across the country,
  • 49:48and in different parts of the world
  • 49:50that focuses specifically on children.
  • 49:52And I think I would encourage you to think about that.
  • 49:55I would also encourage you to, while you're doing that,
  • 49:59to also create popular education tools
  • 50:03so that parents have access to the kind of information
  • 50:05that they need about where they live, their space,
  • 50:09what they're eating, what they're drinking,
  • 50:12and how to protect the bodies.
  • 50:15Women, how to protect their bodies.
  • 50:17But there's an enormous amount of information,
  • 50:21and we know how climate change
  • 50:22is going to affect children and women.
  • 50:25So, yeah.
  • 50:27I hope I answered all of your questions.
  • 50:29It's a lot.
  • 50:30You know, I've been doing this work for a minute,
  • 50:32and I work with a lot of different people
  • 50:33who are just really holding it down.
  • 50:37I would encourage you to look at
  • 50:38the Climate Justice Alliance website.
  • 50:40We have created all of the frameworks,
  • 50:42all of the tools so that you don't have to
  • 50:44reinvent the wheel,
  • 50:45or you don't have to extract our thinking
  • 50:47and use the redefine, adjust, transition,
  • 50:49redefine climate justice or environmental justice.
  • 50:52We have definitions for all those things.
  • 50:54And so what we want is for you to use the body of work
  • 50:58that we have created so that it shapes
  • 51:01and informs how you move forward in this area.
  • 51:04I wanna congratulate you for your interest in this.
  • 51:07And I wanna say thank you for,
  • 51:10we need you, we need to be leaderful,
  • 51:12and intergenerational.
  • 51:13And you need to figure out,
  • 51:15you need to follow the Jemez principles
  • 51:16for democratic organizing.
  • 51:18And be comfortable with being led by the frontline.
  • 51:22Honestly, it's time.
  • 51:24It is our communities that are suffering
  • 51:25because of the legacy of extraction,
  • 51:27because of decisions that have been made,
  • 51:29and are being made even today by the Supreme Court
  • 51:32that are killing our people.
  • 51:35And so yeah, just lean into that
  • 51:40and be comfortable with your vulnerabilities.
  • 51:43It really is about decolonizing your education.
  • 51:45We've all been conditioned to think
  • 51:47that we know everything and we don't.
  • 51:50And that's okay.
  • 51:51I mean, knowing everybody
  • 51:53and being comfortable
  • 51:54being part of a collective,
  • 51:56intergenerational, leaderful model
  • 51:58that is matriarchal, is the only way
  • 52:00that we're be able to address these resources.
  • 52:02(Elizabeth speaking in foreign language)
  • 52:04<v Student>Thank you.</v>
  • 52:09<v Instructor>Thank you everyone for coming.</v>
  • 52:12(indistinct)
  • 52:15Like she said, we need everyone,
  • 52:16and especially. (indistinct)
  • 52:19Thank you, everybody.
  • 52:20Thank you also, the online audience.
  • 52:23The lecture is recorded,
  • 52:25it will be posted online.
  • 52:27(instructor speaking softly)