Historically, middle class and low income communities of color disproportionately bear the negative effects of local pesticide use, asbestos, lead paint, air pollution and toxic mold, Ela Orenstein, a third-year law student, said at a two-day Environmental Justice Conference. For many years, poor and minority communities all across the nation unknowingly experience health problems because of overexposure to toxic chemicals.
Community members are starting to fight back in an effort to hold the government responsible for allowing toxic living environments, said Orenstein.
Orenstein presented the history and main concepts behind environmental justice and environmental racism at the Coalition Against Environmental Racism’s 11th annual Environmental Justice Conference on Friday and Saturday.
Many of these factors are beyond the control of those living in poor and minority neighborhoods, but everyone contributes to pollution, Orenstein said.
“We have the responsibility to reduce our consumption patterns,” she said.
Orenstein invited audience participation, which sparked a comment from LaDonna Williams, an active member of several environmental justice committees.
“It’s not them against us. It’s all of us together,” Williams said.
Williams added realistic terms to the discussion by sharing her firsthand experience of environmental racism.
During the early 1990s, when news spread of the contamination of her former community, Williams decided to take an active role.
“You don’t choose this,” Williams said. “It chooses you.”
Opening keynote speaker Anne Keala Kelly, a native Hawaiian activist and journalist, spoke about issues surrounding Hawaiian militarization and Environmental Justice to students and faculty in Gerlinger Lounge on Friday evening.
The conference continued Saturday morning with a University-catered breakfast of organic local food in the Willamette Atrium. Workshops held in Lillis began with the basics: Environmental Justice 101, which discussed the right to life, health, livelihood, information, education and a clean and healthy environment, and Race 101, which discussed historical implications of racist oppression and racial hierarchy among minority groups.
The annual conference is organized by CAER, a student group committed to bridging the gap between the struggle for social and environmental equality, according to the event program.
The event offered workshops and a host of panel speakers including visiting law professor Hari Osofsky, Legal Aid Services of Oregon attorney Molly Graver, organic farmer John Sundquist and University alumni, students and community members.
CAER chose Expanding Environmental Justice as the focus of this year’s conference in hopes of broadening traditional views of Environmental Justice, according to the program.
“Environmental justice, as a movement, has the potential to address different aspects of different social movements,” said Nate Gulley, co-coordinator of the EJC, and he explained the need to expand current limited views of the issue.
The purpose of this year’s EJC was to create an open dialogue to discuss the effects of Environmental Racism, which addresses known and unknown environmental hazards in poor communities, specifically neighborhoods with a higher percentage of people of color.
Co-Director Jennifer Lleras said she was impressed with conference attendance, which she estimated to be between 35-45 people.
The conference culminated with an event in the Many Nations Longhouse. Attendees participated in a collaborative art project over dessert.