Environmental Justice Advocacy

In this course, students will learn about the disproportionate burdens of environmental contamination and resultant health disparities affecting marginalized communities across the United States and globally. The curriculum will explore the ways in which the environmental justice movement in the US has succeeded in implementing just forms of health research, progressive environmental health policies, and protections from racial/cultural injustice, as well as obstacles, policy impediments and potential paths forward. We will examine environmental health/justice theories and perspectives in the contexts of health impacts on various populations, including American communities of color and the socioeconomically disadvantaged, indigenous peoples, women, and children. We will study climate change, natural disasters, urban pollution and segregation, extractive industries, and environmental sustainability. Students will be asked to critically examine these topics and explore unresolved, chronic problems relating to environmental injustices and their health impacts.