We’re talking about food justice today. With the holiday season officially here, many of us are planning meals and parties and get-togethers with lots of eating involved. With that in mind, I want to bring to your attention the reality that many people around us struggle to get the food that they need. Not because they can’t afford it. Not because they choose to eat unhealthy food. Simply because they live in an area where healthy foods are not available.

They do not need your pity.

They do not need your handout.

They do not need your food drive.

They need food justice.

Let’s talk about it!

Resources:
Food Justice - Boston University Community Service Center
The Fight for Food Justice - The Union of Concerned Scientists
Do you live in a "Low Food Access" area?

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This episode hits close to home. As we conclude our discussion on prisons, I share how the jails in my home state of South Carolina (in the United States of America) are under federal investigation for the ways that they are operated. These issues are not foreign. They are right here in my backyard.

Let’s talk about it!

Resources:
DOJ opens civil rights probes into South Carolina jails beset by deaths and violence - National Public Radio (NPR)

South Carolina Jails to Be Investigated After Reports of Abuse and Violence - NY Times

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Email: [email protected]

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Climate change is causing natural disasters to increase in frequency and severity. At the time of this episode, Hurricane Otis, a Category 5 hurricane, tore through Acapulco, Mexico, killing at least 27 people and destroying everything in its way. And while it’s dangerous for everyone who is in the path of a major hurricane or storm, if you are in prison or jail, it’s exponentially more dangerous. People who are incarcerated are vulnerable to natural disasters in ways that the vast majority are not, and we need to talk about it.

Let’s get into it on this episode! Stay tuned!

Resources:
Prisons and Extreme Weather
Criminal Justice in the Age of Climate Change
COVID-19 in Prisons and Jails
Guidance from CDC on Hurricane Preparedness

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Email: [email protected]

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On this bonus episode, I had the privilege of speaking with Susan Frey, who is the spokesperson for the Thacker Pass Working Group. Her group has been fighting for environmental justice in the face of a large lithium mine being developed in her rural community in Nevada. There are so many issues that she touched on in our conversation: drilling, mineral rights, green energy, environmental injustice, (lack of) community engagement. Mining is a big issue in the western part of the United States, particularly in Nevada.

It was a fascinating discussion. Listen and learn about the process and perils of mining in the West. Enjoy our conversation!

Resources:
Lithium mining put rural and indigenous communities at the center of the energy transition
Mining for Clean Energy Could Undermine Biden’s Environmental Justice Goals
Harmful mining operations throughout Nevada
Environmental issues associated with nearby mines

Connect with our Environmental Justice Lab community:
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Email: [email protected]

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Water is essential for life. WIthout access to clean drinking water, your life will be filled with sickness and death, guaranteed. And unfortunately for many prisoners around the world, this is what their life is like. Living everyday with no assurances that the water that they will drink will be safe and clean.

In Part 4 of our series on “Prisoners'', we are talking about the lack of access to clean water that many prisoners face each and every day. They have no choice. They have no voice. They have no agency over their surroundings. Many of them are forced to drink dirty, contaminated water every day. It’s a big problem.

Let’s talk about it on this episode. Stay tuned!.

Resources:
Cruel and Unusual: Contaminated Water in New York Prisons
Sentenced to Dirty Water - Water Contamination in Illinois Prison
Water and Sanitation - Global Prison Trends 2022

Connect with our Environmental Justice Lab community:
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Email: [email protected]

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BONUS EPISODE: Listen to my conversation with John Renourad, Founder of WHOLives. They are providing clean water to people all over the developing world.

ABOUT WHOLives
WHOlives is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on empowering people with clean water in the developing world and advocating for girls by ending female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriages. The organization’s goal is in the acronym WHO – providing clean Water, better Health and economic Opportunities to all people – while prioritizing sustainability and self-reliance. Since 2011, WHOlives has drilled more than 13,000 wells in about 40 countries using its revolutionary human-powered Village Drill, securing clean water for more than 12 million people. In the effort to end FGM, common-sense solutions and leadership have already resulted in a wave of arrests and convictions since fall 2022. Connect with WHOlives.org on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

ABOUT JOHN RENOUARD
John Renouard, founder and executive director of the nonprofit WHOlives, is known affectionately in Africa as “Bwana Maji,” or Mr. Water. After visiting in 2010, he knew he had to do something about the lack of clean water in many African villages. John worked with engineering students to bring to life his dream of a human-powered drill that could access clean water hundreds of feet deep. The Village Drill has since created more than 13,000 wells in about 40 countries, empowering more than 12 million people with clean water, health and opportunity. John is also making major progress in the fight against child marriages and female genital mutilation (FGM) in Kenya. The American Red Cross presented him an International Hero Award in 2015. Connect with John at WHOlives.org or on LinkedIn.

Connect with our Environmental Justice Lab community:
Instagram: @envjusticelab
Email: [email protected]
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In Part 3 of our series on “Prisoners'', we are talking about the effect that heat has on people who are incarcerated. We understand the impacts that heatwaves and overall climate change are having in the general population and among certain vulnerable communities. But what is it doing to the people who live in prisons? What is happening to them?

We talk about it on this episode. Stay tuned!.

Resources:
Heat-related mortality in U.S. state and private prisons: A case-crossover analysis
CBS Report on heat in Texas prisons
Prison Heat - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Connect with our Environmental Justice Lab community:
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Email: [email protected]

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In Part 2 of our series on “Prisoners”, we are talking about where prisons are located. Prisons are often built in some of the worst areas in the country. Landfills. Toxic waste sites. Abandoned sites. For instance, one-third of federal and state prisons are located near a Superfund site, which is the most severely contaminated areas. The siting of prisons represents a significant environmental injustice for the prisoners and those who work at the facilities.

We need to talk about why this is happening and what it does to the people who are exposed to these polluting areas. So let’s talk about it.

Resources:
America's Toxic Prisons - The Environmental Injustices of Mass Incarceration
Environmental Racism, Incarceration, and Toxic Prisons in the U.S
The presence of Superfund sites as a determinant of life expectancy in the United States
Medical costs and lost productivity from health conditions at volatile organic compound-contaminated Superfund sites

Connect with our Environmental Justice Lab community:
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Email: [email protected]

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We need to talk about prisoners. People who are incarcerated. The living conditions, the environment in which they are surrounded, are often not fit for human beings. In many ways, they are the world’s largest and forgotten environmental justice community, and we need to start talking about them and the environmental hazards and issues that many prisoners deal with on a daily basis.

But before we talk about those issues, we need to make sure that we view people who are in prison correctly. They are simply “criminals” or “undesirables” or “scum”. They are people. They are people first and foremost. And this episode is here to remind each of us of that reality.

Prisoners are people.

Resources:
Incarceration Rates per capita by country
Ranking of Safest Countries around the world
Forgotten Behind Bars - Amnesty International

Connect with our Environmental Justice Lab community:
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Email: [email protected]

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For our final installment in our “EJ with EWB” series, we talk to Gerard Dalziel, Chief Engineer, and Eric Lundborg, Senior Program Engineer, both of whom deal extensively with the technical aspects of the design and implementation of the projects performed by EWB-USA. We talked about the realities of climate change and environmental justice need to be incorporated into the design of engineered projects and how each project is carefully reviewed and quality-controlled to deliver the best product, regardless of the partner or the location. They also talked about the early stages of discussions and analysis related to climate change and environmental justice that led to the development of the Environmental Justice and Climate Resiliency Initiative.

Enjoy our conversation!

Resources:
The Environmental Justice and Climate Resiliency Initiative

Connect with our Environmental Justice Lab community:
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Email: [email protected]

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