Government agencies play a critical role in advancing environmental justice across the United States, and California’s primary environmental agency (CalEPA) is one of the leaders in this field. At CalEPA, understanding the role of government in perpetuating institutional and structural racism is essential to its work to address the legacy of racist practices and their impacts today. Through the Pollution and Prejudice project, CalEPA’s racial equity team designed a set of tools to help agency staff and communities explore the connection between racist land use practices of the 1930s and the persistence of environmental injustice. Understanding how environmental conditions are informed by legacy land use practices helps it to ensure equitable access to clean air, water, and land for all Californians through policy development and implementation. Learn about how CalEPA developed and uses this important set of resources.
Speakers:
Yana Garcia, Deputy Secretary for Environmental Justice, Tribal Affairs and Border Relations, CalEPA
Jaimie Huynh, Environmental Scientist, CalRecycle
Moderated by Charles Lee, Senior Policy Advisor for Environmental Justice, USEPA