Join Edith Pestana (Environmental Justice Administrator for the CT Department of Energy & Environmental Protection) and Sharon Lewis (Executive Director of the CT Coalition for Environmental Justice) as they collaboratively address the role played by communication in environmental justice work.
Broadly, environmental injustice refers to the tendency of certain communities to disproportionately experience the disruptive ecological effects of chemical manufacturing, toxic waste disposal, nuclear testing, and other practices due to existing patterns of social inequity, including racism, classism, and ableism, and at times even targeted policy choices. Over the past fifty years, such communities have responded by increasingly organizing for environmental justice—the right of all people to share equally in the benefits bestowed by a healthy environment—including right here in Connecticut.
Ecological disruption and structural inequity, however, are both incredibly complex topics. During this event, the speakers will specifically consider how activists, movements, students, and others in CT (and beyond) can and do effectively explain the close, complicated relationship between ecological harm and social inequity for a variety of audiences, including political leaders, young people, and the general public.
Date: Wednesday, April 5
Time: 3–4:30pm
Location: Class of 1947 Conference Room, Homer Babbidge Library
Sponsored by the General Education Oversight Committee (GEOC), the UConn Humanities Institute (UCHI), Environmental Studies, and American Studies.
For more information, contact: Alex Menrisky at amenrisky@uconn.edu