Read Our Spring Newsletter
IN THIS EDITION:
Nov 17, 2023
Our Largest Conference Yet!
Dr. Beverly Wright, founder and executive director of the DSCEJ, and Dr. Robert D. Bullard, founder and executive director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University co-convened the 9th Annual HBCU Climate Change Conference in New Orleans, October 11 – 15, 2023
Themed “Looking Back to Move Forward: Building a Climate Resilient Future with Vulnerable Communities,” the conference addressed the need to provide space for reflection and evaluation of where we are now and what paths we should take moving forward in our quest to fight climate change and to build climate-resilient communities.
Oct 13, 2023
Community Forum Kicks Off Four-Day Event Bringing HBCU Students, Professors, Advocates, Policy Leaders to New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS, LA – This week, the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) and Robert D. Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice kicked off its ninth annual HBCU Climate Change in New Orleans, LA by hosting the “It’s About Justice” community forum. The solution-oriented dialogue centered around the urgency of addressing environmental injustices. A keynote speech by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on criminal, racial, and environmental justice followed the Forum. The event wrapped up with a reception and book signing session, during which Keith Ellison autographed his book “Break the Wheel: Ending the Cycle of Police Violence,” Heather McTeer Toney, Executive Director of the Beyond Petrochemicals Campaign, signed copies of her book “Before the Street Lights Come On: Black America’s Urgent Call for Climate Solutions,” and Dr. Robert Bullard and Dr. Beverly Wright added their signatures to their collaborative work, “The Wrong Complexion for Protection: How the Government Response to Disaster Endangers African American Communities.”
This year’s conference theme is Looking Back to Move Forward: Building a Climate Resilient Future for Vulnerable Communities. Attendees will address issues related to climate justice and resilience, like transportation, energy sources, carbon emissions, green jobs, the creation of a green economy, and community economic development.
“The HBCU Climate Change Conference has been a major focus of our work for the last decade as we seek to train and influence the next generation of environmental justice leaders. We belive that HBCUs are the frontline for innovative thinking to solve the greatest crisis of our time,” said Dr. Beverly Wright, founder and executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. “This is an opportunity to bring together Black faculty, students, policy experts and researchers together to bridge the gap between actionable solutions and theory to provide solutions that will have a tangible impact on our communities.”
“It was a magic moment to share the book signing stage with some fantastic authors who not only research, meticulously document and write books about the struggle of Black people, but more important were the change agents themselves in frontline communities quest for environmental, climate, economic, racial justice in policing,” said Dr. Robert D. Bullard, Director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University and Co-Chair of the HBCU Climate Change Consortium. “And like our HBCU Conference, its all about justice.”
“Climate justice must be seen as part of, and not distinct from, racial justice,” said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. “The impacts of climate change won’t be felt evenly – Black, brown, and Indigenous communities will be hurt first and worst. We have to be our own salvation, and use the tools at our disposal to move us forward.”
Other notable speakers scheduled throughout the conference include Chair Brenda Mallory of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson, Rev. Lennox Yearwood of the HipHop Caucus, Dr. Mithika Mwenda of Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, and Dr. Calvin Mackie of STEM NOLA among other scholars, students, advocates, and experts.
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About the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
Families in the Gulf Coast deserve to live in communities that are free from deadly air and are more resilient to climate change and extreme weather. The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) works to empower and engage communities to put environmental justice and equity at the center of all climate action. Led by environmental justice scholar and advocate, author, civic leader, and professor of Sociology Dr. Beverly L. Wright, the DSCEJ uses research, education, and community and student engagement to advocate for policy change, lead health and safety training for environmental careers, develop social and emotional community wellness programs, and create new and environmentally healthy opportunities for the residents of communities disproportionately impacted by historic environmental injustice.
About Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice
The Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University addresses longstanding issues of systemic inequality and structural racism that cause disproportionate pain, suffering and death in Black and other people of color communities. The Center is directed by environmental justice scholar Dr. Robert D. Bullard and is housed in the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs. It strives to be a leading force for transformative environmental, climate and racial justice using rigorous science, community-driven research, policy, civic engagement programming, and effective advocacy.
Oct 4, 2023
NEW ORLEANS, LA – On Wednesday, October 11, 2023, leading environmental justice organizations, the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) and Robert D. Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice, will kick off the ninth annual HBCU Climate Change in New Orleans, LA. This year’s conference theme is Looking Back to Move Forward: Building a Climate Resilient Future for Vulnerable Communities. The conference will bring together HBCU faculty and students, researchers, climate professionals, and environmental justice and coastal community residents impacted by toxic facilities and severe weather events.
Notable speakers include Dr. Beverly Wright, Dr. Robert Bullard, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Chair Brenda Mallory of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Dr. Mithika Mwenda of Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson, Rev. Lennox Yearwood of the HipHop Caucus and Dr. Calvin Mackie of STEM NOLA among other scholars, students, advocates, and experts.
WHAT: Ninth Annual HBCU Climate Change Conference
WHO:
WHERE: JW Marriott
614 Canal Street
New Orleans, LA 70130.
WHEN: Wednesday, October 11 to Sunday, October 15.
If interested in covering a particular session, please reach out to DeepSouth@skdknick.com for additional details.
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About the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
Families in the Gulf Coast deserve to live in communities that are free from deadly air and are more resilient to climate change and extreme weather. The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) works to empower and engage communities to put environmental justice and equity at the center of all climate action. Led by environmental justice scholar and advocate, author, civic leader, and professor of Sociology Dr. Beverly L. Wright, the DSCEJ uses research, education, and community and student engagement to advocate for policy change, lead health and safety training for environmental careers, develop social and emotional community wellness programs, and create new and environmentally healthy opportunities for the residents of communities disproportionately impacted by historic environmental injustice.
New Orleans, Louisiana — Last week, Dr. Beverly Wright of the Deep South for Environmental Justice joined Peggy Shepard of WE ACT for Environmental Justice and Dr. Robert Bullard of the Robert D. Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice to announce plans to support the equitable implementation of Justice40 at the state and local level and empower local communities to participate in the policy-making process.
The announcement kicked off the Eighth Annual HBCU Climate Change Conference, bringing together HBCU faculty and students, researchers, climate professionals, and environmental justice and coastal community residents impacted by toxic facilities and severe weather events. Notable speakers included Dr. Beverly Wright, Dr. Robert Bullard, video remarks from the United States Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, Louisiana Congressman Troy Carter, Regional Administrator for EPA’s Southeast Region Daniel Blackman, Senior Advisor to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, Robin Morris Collin, New Orleans City Councilman Oliver Thomas, among many scholars, students, advocates, and experts.
Select coverage of the Justice40 implementation announcement and the HBCU Climate Change Conference can be found below.
AP: HBCU students, and faculty press urgent need for climate action
04/15/2022
Drew Costley
Both joy and frustration are in the air in New Orleans at the HBCU Climate Change Conference this week as environmental and climate advocates and researchers from around the United States press for urgent climate action and pollution cleanup in poor communities and communities of color.
The conference, which goes through Saturday, has featured top officials and key advisors in the Biden administration, environmental and climate justice advocates from around the southeastern United States, and faculty and students from the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities sharing their research.
Longtime leaders Beverly Wright and Robert Bullard, who are also conference co-founders and members of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, expressed excitement over the changes.
“The movement has changed,” said Wright, who is also director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. “It’s resourced for the first time at a level higher than it’s ever been resourced before.” For the first time in decades organizations like hers have been able to compensate grassroots organizations for community-based research, she said.
Wright said at a community forum to kick off the conference on Wednesday night that when she began doing environmental justice work back in 1990, there were 132 petrochemical facilities along the 85-mile corridor from New Orleans to Baton Rouge known by some as Cancer Alley. Now there are two dozen more.
“We live in a state that for years abdicated its environmental protection obligations” with respect to the chemical manufacturing industry, she said.
The HBCU Climate Change Conference is also traditionally a venue for local organizations to share their data and young researchers to present their studies. Major themes in that research this year were tracking air pollution in St. James and St. John parishes in Louisiana, as well as Houston; building flood protection in the port cities of Gulfport, Mississippi and New Orleans, and measuring the cumulative impact of pollution on environmental health in communities of color across the United States.
Reggie Sylvestine, a member of the Alabama–Coushatta tribe in Texas who works in fire prevention and management, was at the conference for the first time and said what he learned was eye-opening.
“I’m learning that all of the impacts are mainly on (other) minority communities,” Sylestine said. “And we’re being left out from getting the help that we need to alleviate these problems.”
Another first-time attendee, Karis Thomas, a psychology student at Howard University, said she’s been inspired to take on a leadership role by watching other students at the conference and seeing the research they’re taking on.
“What I’ve really gleaned from this conference is the student activism and seeing what’s new that’s coming in terms of taking responsibility” in a way that doesn’t rely on government or corporate support, she said. “Because we’ve seen that this work takes decades, it takes years, and we don’t have years.”
Essence: HBCU Students And Faculty Rally For Climate Action At Annual Conference
04/19/2022
Rayna Reid
After being postponed for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Eight Annual HBCU Climate Change Conference, finally convened in person last week, hosted by the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice along with Texas Southern University. The attendees’ discussion focused on several themes, such as air pollution tracking in Houston and Louisiana parishes, impacts on environmental health upon communities of color, and flood protection in Mississippi and Louisiana port cities.
Since the last conference in 2019, there have been many changes on the climate change and environmental justice front, most notably, the presidential transference from Trump to Biden, and the ensuing re-dedication to preserving our planet. The Biden administration created the nascent White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council in addition to an influx of private philanthropy in this space, including the Bezos Earth Fund.
Speaking at this year’s conference, Beverly Wright, a co-founder of the conference and also a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council said, “The movement has changed…It’s resourced for the first time at a level higher than it’s ever been resourced before…We find ourselves fighting old fights, fights (we thought) we won. And now we’re fighting them all over again. And that’s why we need you young people. This is your fight moving forward…We live in a state that for years abdicated its environmental protection obligations.”
E&E News: EJ advocates have the plan to monitor Biden’s progress
04/13/2022
Kelsey Brugger
The Biden administration has promoted its signature environmental justice initiative as a linchpin of its equity agenda, but few people outside Washington seem to have any idea what it is, three prominent activists said yesterday.
“I have not met many elected officials in my state or in many others who have ever heard of it,” said Peggy Shepard, executive director of New York environmental justice group We Act for Environmental Justice.
Shepard and two other top activists — Beverly Wright and Bob Bullard — yesterday announced their own shadow initiative to “complement” and “supplement” President Joe Biden’s agenda.
Their new three-pronged plan — backed by the Bezos Earth Fund — would track and monitor the federal government’s effort to invest 40 percent of climate-related benefits in areas long inflicted by environmental racism.
A virtual press conference yesterday from Wright and Bullard suggested the advocates are concerned with the administration’s implementation of Justice40, and other environmental justice initiatives throughout the government.
“We’ve seen in the past many situations where good projects ended up having bad results,” said Wright, founder of the Louisiana-based Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. “We don’t want to see that happening at this time.”
The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice will convene regional and national gatherings to foster community buy-in, she said.
Bullard, a professor at Texas Southern University, gave the administration a “passing” grade so far.
Shepard, who co-chairs the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, on which Wright and Bullard also sit, explained broadly: “Our efforts are really about accountability.”
The Washington Post: Environmental justice leaders fault White House’s race-neutral approach
04/13/2022
Maxine Joselow
Bullard, who is known as the “father of environmental justice” for his pioneering work, expressed concern that the screening tool would overlook middle-income Black communities that breathe dirtier air today because of decades of federal housing discrimination.
“Middle-income African-Americans who make $50-60,000 a year are more likely to live in neighborhoods that are more polluted than Whites who make $10,000,” he said. “The CEQ screening tool would miss those Black middle-class communities that have to live with flooding that was caused 100 years ago by racial redlining in the ’20s.”
Bullard added that he is developing a “supplemental” screening tool that will include racial demographic data and will “show exactly what’s being missed by not having race” in the government’s screening tool.
The other speakers on Tuesday’s press call were Beverly Wright, founder and executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, and Peggy Shepard, co-founder and executive director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice.
The three speakers also unveiled a plan to “engage, enlighten and empower” communities to implement the Justice40 Initiative.
The projects will be supported by the Bezos Earth Fund, which Amazon founder Jeff Bezos formed in 2020 to provide $10 billion in grants to environmental causes.
NOLA.com: Environmental activists urge Louisiana residents to push for federal clean-energy funds
04/15/2022
Roshaun Higgins
Three environmental advocacy groups are teaming up to teach Louisiana residents how to clamor for more clean energy projects in their communities.
Representatives from the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, WE ACT for Environmental Justice and the Robert D. Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice said Tuesday that they will hold workshops for community leaders who want insight into environmental advocacy work.
“We’ve seen in the past many situations where good projects ended up having bad results. We don’t want to see that happen this time,” said Beverly Wright, the Deep South Center’s director. “The three of us have come together to pool our resources and knowledge so that we can reach more people and create a movement around Justice 40.”
The model allows local residents to choose and advocate for their climate priorities, Wright said.
About Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
Families in the Gulf Coast deserve to live in communities that are free from deadly air and are more resilient to climate change and extreme weather. The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) works to empower and engage communities to put environmental justice and equity at the center of all climate action. Led by environmental justice scholar and advocate, author, civic leader and professor of Sociology Dr. Beverly L. Wright, the DSCEJ uses research, education, and community and student engagement to advocate for policy change, lead health and safety training for environmental careers, develop social and emotional community wellness programs, and create new and environmentally healthy opportunities for the residents of communities disproportionately impacted by historic environmental injustice.