CREATED BY STUDENTS OF
LAtiNx REsiStANce TO ENviROnMenTAl RAciSm
welcome reader, i'm excited to have you join us. "front and center" is a zine created by young people for young people. we are students of dr. antonio reyes lópez's class on "latinx resistance to environmental racism" at northwestern university. some of us come from communities directly impacted by environmental racism, such as little village in chicago or brooklyn in new york, and all of us are committed to working toward a better world. if you've never heard of "environmental justice" or "environmental racism," don't worry. you belong here. we're going to be your guide, and we'll be with you every step of the way. if you have a baseline understanding, maybe you've heard about flint or standing rock in the news, maybe you know a lil something about climate change, you belong here. you're doing amazing, sweetie, and we hope you'll gain a better understanding of these issues and what you can do to help. if you're a bona fide expert — and, truthfully, we all hold so much really insightful and valuable knowledge, even if we're told otherwise ( •̀ᴗ•́ ) — وyou belong here. we're here to share knowledge, and that goes both ways, so we're excited to have you join us. young people are oftentimes told that "we need to grow up" or "we'll understand when we're older," but that's some bullshit. we know that there's something wrong when we can't drink water from the tap because there's lead, when a lot of folks in our community have trouble breathing and have other health concerns, when the only source of (unhealthy) food in our neighborhood comes from the dollar stores near our vicinity. as you engage with the zine, i encourage you to reflect on your own experiences and start/continue connecting the dots. environmental justice isn't about saving the whales and worrying about life on earth in 2050 (both of which, don't get me wrong, are important and we should still care about), but rather about putting frontline communities — which have been struggling and resisting environmental injustice—for far too long, front and center. we can do something, and it starts with you.
COVER ART BY NANCY CONTRERAS-ALEJANDRE
much love & power, seri lee
By Grace Hauser
MAINSTREAM ENVIRONMENTALISM VS. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
MAINSTREAM ENVIRONMENTALISM Began in the 1960’s and 1970’s Social movement focused on the welfare of the environment Seeks to protect and conserve elements of the ecosystem including water, air, land, animals, and plants, along with entire habitats such as rainforests, deserts and oceans Concerned with the management of natural resources, overpopulation, urbanization, and global warming. Concerned with the overall defects that human activity has had on the ecosystem
KNOW THE DIFFERENCE
Began in the 1990’s Social movement focused on the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people Recognizes the effects that first world countries have on the environment and health of third world countries Demands for the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards Recognizes traditional community ways of life, local knowledge, and cultural difference Seeks to involve all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income in environmental decision-making
By Nancy Contreras-Alejandre
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
THE EARTH IS HEATING
Global Warming of 1.5 ยบC Ocean temperatures have risen 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1969 Antarctica lost about 127 billion tons of ice between 1993 and 2016 Global sea level rose about 8 inches in the last century The acidity of surface ocean waters has increased by about 30 percent since the Industrial Revolution (NASA)
ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM FACTS
People of color have 38% more nitrogen-dioxide exposure (The Nation) In 2009, there were an estimated 1.1 million cases of missed school days due to asthma (The Greenlining Institute) See map on next page: Cook County ranks 9th in the nation among “the worst counties in the U.S for air pollution near public schools” (Rothschild, 2018)
By Nancy Contreras-Alejandre
56% of the population near toxic waste sites are people of color
By Grace Hauser
Curated by Denise Lopez
By Luodan Rojas
By Keala Uchoa
RESIST Let YOUTH speak for themselves! What is your responsibility to
RESIST? DRAW IT!
Photos: Young Lords//Peoples Climate March
What does
RESISTANCE look like to you? WRITE IT!
Designed by Keala Uchoa
Take action
Are you 18 years old? No! Learn more about Environmental Justice & introduce it to your classrooms, families, and communities Go to town hall meetings and voice your concerns volunteer at and donate to ej organizations like LVEJO and PILSEN ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS AND REFORM ORGANIZATION IN CHICAGO, PODER. IN SF, t.e.j.a.s. in Texas, east yard in la, and uprose in Brooklyn
LET FRONTLINE COMMUNITIES LEAD
Yes! In Your Local Community/State Be an ally to people of color & members of frontline communities PROTEST THE construction of extractive fossil fuel centers, prisons, and police centers/stations (#nocopacademy in Chicago) in frontline communities— We need green and clean spaces to live, work, and play, not grey spaces that imprison, poison, & kill! fight for the just transition from fossil fuels to clean energy and developments (#HellNoHilco in Chicago)
Register to VOTE RESEARCH ALDERMAN & judge canDidates divest from fossil fuels (ask your bank for more info) & push your companies and universities to do so Northwestern Students: Join FossilFreeNU, sign the petition demanding northwestern divest from fossil fuels, & participate in sit-ins
Center youth voices of COLOR
Here's where to start... Educate yourself and community about food production, agribusiness & labor exploitation of agricultural & food workers. buy ethnically sourced food if you are able to, fight for food sovereignty, & join community efforts to build solidarity economies engage in coalitional politics and intersectional activism Fight for affordable housing measures, public transportation routes, and brown-field site redevelopment
Nationally Reject false, market-based solutions the government proposes (e.g. carbon cap and trade) demand investment in clean energy infrastructure, concrete timetables for zero-waste & zero-emissions, & just job transition Seek Ej perspectives on the green new deal Demand federal acknowledgement of and adherence to indigenous treaties force the government to Recognize water and food as fundamental human and constitutional rights
SHOW ME WHAT COMMUNITY LOOKS LIKE
Globally Decommodify the commons: LAND, WATER, FOOD, CLEAN AIR "Elimination of all forms of colonialism, imperialism and interventionism" and "the decolonization of the atmosphere" (the people's agreement of cochambamba). so-called "developed" countries must assume financial and ethical responsibility for the destruction they have caused by drastically altering their consumption patters, accepting climate refugees, sharing green technology, reparations on a global scale, & restoring natural ecosystems The destruction of global capitalism, "which seeks profits with no limits, separating human beings from nature...and commodifying everything" (the people's agreement of cochambamba)
THIS IS WHAT COMMUNITY LOOKS LIKE
Glossary EJ: Environmental Justice Frontline communities: poor or working-class black and brown communities facing the injustices of climate change, environmental degradation, pollution, and slow violence. Climate change is not an intergenerational or futuristic fear—communities face it every day! just transition: a transition from the fossil fuel industry to renewable energy in such a manner that is just to community members in a health, economic, and communal respect. agribuisness: the production, manufacturing, processing, storing and distribution of food. the meat industry and Monsanto are emblematic of the evils of the global agribusiness. THINK MONOCULTURE, MASS CONSUMPTION, FREE-MARKETS, NEO-LIBERALISM, GMOS, AND the INDUSTRIALIZATION OF FOOD. food sovereignty: RADICAL MOVEMENT (BECAUSE SELF-PRESERVATION AND GLOBAL COMPASSION ARE SO RADICAL, AREN'T THEY?) "TO Dismantle corporate agrifoods monopoly power" and fights for "redistributive land reform; community rights to water and seed; regionally based food systems; democratization of food systems; sustainable livelihoods" (FOODFIRST.ORG). Solidarity Economy: values equity, sustainability, pluralism, and solidarity. Solidarity economy initiatives exist in all sectors of the economy – production, distribution and exchange, consumption, finance, and governance (https://www.solidarityeconomy.coop/what-is-se). brown field site: land previously used for industrial or commercial purposes with known or suspected pollution including soil contamination due to hazardous waste. false, market-based solution: A solution that simply is not a solution, which is rooted in the market-based, capitalistic economy and aimed at upholding that system of exploitation and profit. Cap and trade: System that creating carbon trading, by which companies trade allowed carbon credits in an artificial market (i.e. market based solution). A company may purchase carbon credits from other companies if they used all theirs up. This system in theory lowers pollution net output as the amount of allowed carbon credits decreases, but in actuality allows the oldest and worst pollution factories to remain open and operating legally, usually near poor communities of color that suffer from perverse health effects as a result. climate refugee: One who is displaced by climate change due to rising sea-levels, natural disasters, land degradation, famine, etc
WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? "Environmental justice embraces the principle that all people and communities have a right to equal protection and equal enforcement of environmental laws and regulations. America is segregated and so is pollution. Race and class still matter and map closely with pollution, unequal protection, and vulnerability. Today, zip code is still the most potent predictor of an individual’s health and well-being. Reducing environmental, health, economic and racial disparities is a major priority of the Environmental Justice Movement."
DR. ROBERT BULLARD "Father of Environmental Justice," Professor at Texas South University.
"People of color are disproportionately affected by climate change and that kind of just gets ignored. People are living with these things right now. Accessibility, when it comes to fighting for climate change, also gets ignored. Every interview I have, they’re like, “Are you striking every Friday?” And I’m like, no, I can’t. Environmental racism is a really big thing. The environmental movement is still predominantly white, how do we change that conversation? Having women of color leading is one way to do that."
"We're actually trying to institutionalize the work that we do and try to get more and more young people involved. And hopefully part of the change that needs to come or come from young people and those of us that are older working with them to help find solutions to the climate crisis."
CATHERINE FLOWERS
IRSA HIRSI Youth Climate Activist, Daugher of Rep. Ilhan Omar
“At the end of the day when we are talking about environmental impacts, at the heart of it are real peoples lives.”
Center for Earth Ethics
By Victor Saavedra
ANJALI WAIKAR Litigation Operations Manager, NRDC
ART & RESISTANCE: PERSPECTIVES FROM BUSHWICK, NYC
when NYC st ops profi t i ng f r om exi st i ng communi t i es of col or , t hey rei nvent t hose spaces t o at t r act new weal t h
r ei nvent i on i s a compl et e demol i s hi ng of ex i s t i ng cul t ur e, wi t h compl et e di s r egar d f or t he l i ves i mpact ed by i t
i nvader s s et t l i ng i n bus hwi ck l eaves pr evi ous l y ex i s t i ng POC wi t hout t hei r communi t i es , r es our ces , or pl at f or ms
ART & RESISTANCE: PERSPECTIVES FROM BUSHWICK, NYC
art (specifically street art) becomes a form of reclamation through an accessible, public platform where artists of color aren't restricted in what they can express
the irony is that these streets are also a calling card for other invaders (like the bushwick collective, for example, which validates street art only as an appeal for incoming white folk)
more anti-gentrification work in bushwick: @theunapologeticallybrownseries Anthony Rosado Mi Casa No Es Su Casa
by jeanette rojas
ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM AND A WORKING
AUTHOR/CONTRIBUTOR
TITLE
Antonio R. Lopez
Environmental Justice is Racial Justice: A Neighborhood Perspective
Antonio R. Lopez
Why Environmental Justice Is Needed to Address Chicago Violence
Christina Sharpe and
Podcast Transcripts: Antiblack Weather vs. Black
Leopold Lambert
Microclimates A Conversation with Christina Sharpe
David Naguib Pellow
What Is Critical Environmental Justice?
Delegates to the First National
Principles of Environmental Justice
People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit
Eric Holthaus
IIhan Omar’s 16-year-old daughter is co-leading the You Climate Strike
Leopold Lambert
Introduction: A “Breathing Combat” Against The Toxicity of the Colonial/Racist State
Robert D. Bullard
Anatomy of Environmental Racism and the Environmental Justice Movement
Robert D. Bullard
People-of-Color Environmentalism’ from Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality
University of California
Film Screening and Discussion ‘Berta Didn’t Die,
Berkeley
She Multiplied
World People’s
People’s Agreement of Cochabamba
Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth
ProPublica
A Brief History Of Environmental Justice
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: BIBLIOGRAPHY BY HELEN GUTIERREZ
&
BETSY PISABAJ
LINK/SOURCE https://www.kzoo.edu/praxis/environmental-justice-5/ (2014)
http://sjnnchicago.medill.northwestern.edu/blog/2017/01/09/environmentaljustice-needed-address-chicago-violence/ (2017)
https://whitney.org/uploads/generic_file/file/214/Funambulist_excerpts.pdf (2017)
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41130-018-0078-5 Review of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Studies. (December 2018)
https://www.ejnet.org/ej/principles.html (1991)
https://grist.org/article/ilhan-omars-16-year-old-daughter-is-co-leading-the-youthclimate-strike/ (March 13, 2019)
The Funambulist No 14 Toxic Atmospheres (2017)
(1993)
(1990)
https://clas.berkeley.edu/events/spring-2018/berta-didnt-die-she-multiplied Directed by Sam Vinal (Honduras/U.S.A.) (2017)
https://pwccc.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/peoples-agreement/ (2010)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30xLg2HHg8Q
MOVIES TO WATCH
“Beyond Recognition”
Dir. Michelle Steinberg, 2015
“Urban Roots” Dir. Mark MacInnis, 2011
“Rise: Standing Rock (Parts I and II)” Dir. Michelle Latimer, 2017
“Come Hell Or High Water: The Battle for Turkey Creek” Dir. Leah Mahan, 2014
1
Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) 2445 S Spaulding Ave, Chicago, IL 60623 lvejo.org
2 3
pilsenperro.org
People for Community Recovery 13061 S Champlain Ave, Chicago, IL 60827 peopleforcommunityrecovery.org
Southeast Environmental Task Force 13300 S Baltimore Ave, Chicago, IL 60633 setaskforce.org
14445 S King Drive, Chicago, IL
Openlands 25 E Washington St #1650, Chicago, IL openlands.org
Chicago Southeast Side to Ban Petcoke
&
Ixchel-Cicero Families for a Better Environment (Cicero and Berwyn, IL) ixcheljusticia.org/what-we-do thrivingearthexchange.org/project/ciceroberwyn-il/
BETSY PISABAJ
Chicago Environmental Justice Network (CEJN)
LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS
Sacred Keepers Sustainability Lab (Bronzeville Chicago)
BY HELEN GUTIERREZ
4 5 6 7 8 9
Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization (PERRO)
IN WHAT WAYS DO LATINX EXPERIENCES OF HISTORICAL AND ONGOING ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM DEEPEN OUR KNOWLEDGE OF RACIAL DOMINATION AND EXPLOITATION? WHAT IS UNIQUE OR DISTINCT ABOUT THE WAYS THAT LATINX COMMUNITIES HAVE RESISTED ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM? ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE / ENVIRONMENTALISM / ART / RESISTANCE / HISTORY / RELATIONSHIPS TO LAND AND WATER / GREEN NEW DEAL / (SLOW) VIOLENCE / FRONTLINE COMMUNITIES / ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM / COLONIALISM / WATER IS LIFE / PUBLIC HEALTH / CAPITALISM / SPACE / POPULATION / INTERSECTIONALITY / GENTRIFICATION / DISPLACEMENT / COMMODIFICATION / YOUTH OF COLOR / LOVE OF PLACE / PEOPLE’S AGREEMENT OF COCHABAMBA / CLIMATE CRISIS / ROOTEDNESS / GLOBAL STRUGGLE / LAND AS PROPERTY / CLIMATE JUSTICE / JUST TRANSITION / FOOD SOVEREIGNTY / DECOLONIZATION / MOVEMENT / FAMILY