SUS 7700S: Environmental Justice

City College of New York
Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership & Sustainability in the Urban Environment

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE (Course Number: PSM C1820) Course Description

FALL 2022 - Thursday 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM - Hybrid online and in-person

Instructor:
Lauren E. Wang ( lwang.ccny@gmail.com ) | Office Hours: by appointment

Overview

Environmental justice (EJ) encompasses the grassroots social movements, government policies, and academic disciplines that reject environmental racism -- experienced as the disproportionate and unjust exposure to environmental hazards faced by people of color -- and workstowards equalprotection,communityinvolvementandhealthylivingenvironmentsforall people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income. Since its origin in the 1980s and 1990s in Black communities, the EJ movement has evolved to uplift the voices and perspectives of Indigenous, Latino, and other marginalized communities that have endured centuries of environmental and economic exploitation. While every social movement is rooted in specific histories of injustice, all EJ movements uphold shared principles and stand in solidarity in their fight for environmental self-determination. With the climate crisis, EJ communities may again shoulder an unjust burden of environmental harms, and communities are organizing with urgency for a just future.

This course will offer an overview of environmental justice past and present, focusing on cities in the United States.

● “Part 1: Foundations of Environmental Justice” will present perspectives on structural and environmental racism, environmental justice principles, and actions and processes for achieving systemic change.

● “Part 2: People, Places, and Power” will introduce methods for advancing environmental justice through stakeholder analysis, data tools, and storytelling.

● “Part 3: Movements for a Just Future” will survey ongoing EJ movements. Course material will be based on readings and case studies demonstrating how disciplines including sociology, law, community organizing, policy, engineering, urban planning, creative fiction, and media all play a role in advancing environmental justice.

Students will be encouraged to lean into their strengths and interests to cultivate and practice their own voice in matters of environmental justice. Active participation during class is strongly encouraged. Throughout the course, we will collectively unpack context, power, and levers for change through student-led class discussions and small group activities. Guest lecturers may be invited to broaden perspectives.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE (Course Number: PSM C1820) Updated 8/14/2022

For the midterm assignment, students will interview two environmental justice experts and analyze their approaches and contributions to environmental justice campaigns. The final project will be a group assignment to define a current environmental justice problem in New York City and to develop a hypothetical campaign to organize stakeholders, define desired outcomes, and advance a position.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the semester, students will be able to --

1. Explain environmental justice theory and practice in historical and present-day contexts.

2. Analyze environmental justice debates as they relate to other urban, sustainability, and

   social justice issues.

3. Discuss racial justice, including how information, resources, and futures are culturally

   constructed and maintained through existing power structures.

4. Cultivate their own voice and bring whole selves to advocate for environmental justice.

5. Practice guiding discourse and shaping narratives through oral, visual, and written

   mediums.

Grading

Class participation through posts and discussion (10%) Social Media/Blog Post (5%)
Discussion Leader (10%)
Midterm Paper (30%)

Public Meeting Role Play and Final Paper (25% paper, 15% presentation, 5% teamwork)

Late Policy

Extensions will be granted on a case-by-case basis, but you MUST talk to me about your conflicts BEFORE assignments are due. Except under extreme circumstances, I will not grant extensions after the due date. You will lose 10% for each day your assignment is late.

Writing Center

The City College Writing Center provides one-on-one assistance for students working on course writing assignments and projects. Visit whenever you need someone to listen to your ideas, help you understand your assignments, and read your drafts. Writing consultants will work with you on planning, drafting, and revising — all of the important steps in your writing process.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is an essential part of the pursuit of truth, and of your education. We are all responsible for maintaining academic integrity at City College – it is the rock upon which the value of your degree is built. If you cheat on a test or plagiarize by using someone else's work or ideas, you will defeat the purpose of your education. In addition, academic dishonesty is prohibited in the City University of New York, and is punishable by failing grades, suspension and expulsion.

Attendance Policy

Students are permitted 2 excused absences through the semester. Exceptions may be made on a case by case basis, including for medical leave with a doctor’s note. You will lose 3% of your total grade for each additional absence.

Course Requirements

Social Media/Blog Post (5%) - Due on Week 3, September 8 at 6:00 PM

Students will write a 500-word social media/blog post on an environmental injustice in a place that carries personal meaning. (You are not required to post on a social media platform.) Make sure to include a headline and define your audience. The post could be structured in paragraphs for a blog, as captions for a photo reel, or as a script for a short video. The post should present the facts of the EJ issue, who it affects, and why it matters. The post should not present solutions. Instead, it should present the history of the place, identify impacts to the community, and why change is urgent. Think of this as a “call to action.”

Class participation through posts and discussion (10%) - Due weekly

Students will post a reading response each week that consists of two 100 to 150-word discussion questions submitted by Wednesdays at 6:00 PM before each class. Each discussion question should summarize key takeaways from one or more of the readings, offer a critical analysis, and pose a question to the class. For example, what did you learn from this reading? Did anything surprise you? Do you agree or disagree with the author’s assumptions and conclusions? How are their main points relevant to current events?

Discussion Leader (10%) - Due as assigned

Sign up for two sessions. Discussion leaders do not need to submit discussion questions for that week. Students will be paired and may choose to use questions submitted by their classmates or to facilitate an activity. Office hours can be a resource for brainstorming questions, activities, and key takeaways.

The discussion leader’s role will be to lead a 45-minute class discussion or activity. Students may choose to prepare questions about the readings that challenge others to think about the readings in a new way, or to share a short reflection or critique of the readings. Discussion leaders may also lead the class in an activity or exercise that demonstrates a particular point, organize a debate, play a game, etc. What ideas will you challenge or explore? What do you want your classmates to take away from the discussion? How can you foster an exchange of ideas and perspectives? Be creative!

Midterm Paper (30%) - Due Week 10, October 27 at 6:00 PM

The midterm will be a literature review and interview-based paper (5 pages, 12 pt font, single-spaced) analyzing contributions of 2 approaches to environmental justice -- grassroots organizing, political lobbying/litigation, sociology, planning, care, etc. -- on a topic of active inquiry in an urban context, either in New York City or elsewhere.

Students will set up interviews with two experts representing those perspectives. It may be inspiring to observe a public meeting or event hosted by their team. Plan to select a topic in Week 4 and submit your interviewees in Week 5. Papers are due in Week 10. All interim milestones and final assignments are due on Thursdays at 6:00 PM.

The paper should unpack the role and impact of the chosen approaches at major milestones in an environmental justice campaign, explain the historical and institutional context that equips those approaches with changemaking capacity, as well as limitations of the approach.

Public Meeting Role Play and Report (25% report, 15% presentation, 5% teamwork) - Due on Week 17, December 15 at 6:00 PM
The final project will be a group assignment to define an environmental justice problem rooted in a place and develop a hypothetical campaign to organize potential stakeholders, define desired outcomes, research and develop expert testimony, and advance a position. Final projects will be a collaboration in groups of 4-5 students.

There will be group project deadlines throughout the semester. Students will receive their group assignments in Week 5 and should submit a topic and Work Plan in Week 7. A Report Outline and Campaign Flyer are due in Week 12. A Run-of-Show describing the meeting agenda, roles, and schedule is due in Week 13. A Final Report is due in Week 17. All interim milestones and final assignments are due on Thursdays at 6:00 PM.

Teams may want to assign roles across the team, including: (1) “Project manager” to schedule meetings and track milestones in the work plan, (2) “Research lead” to organize research efforts, (3) “Report production lead” to organize assembling the final report, and (4) “Public meeting lead” to track objectives and organize a timed run-of-show for the role play.

For the final presentation, students will present their campaign at a hypothetical public meeting with an audience of class members and guest lecturers, using role play to frame the EJ issue, its impacts, and present different expert perspectives (e.g., community member, community organizer, engineer, sociologist, lawyer, scientist, elected official) Each team member should plan to speak for at least 3-5 minutes.

The final report should be composed of the problem framing, campaign position, data and expert testimonies, and other information needed to advance the campaign. Include a section on “What We Heard” from stakeholders in your public meeting. Reports should be a maximum of 20 pages, single spaced, including graphics and layout, and not including the cover, table of contents, acknowledgements (if any), and references. In addition to a strong narrative, you are also encouraged to use graphic design, images, data/figures, and case studies to create a compelling final product.

Class Schedule and Readings
Part 1: Foundations of Environmental Justice

Week 1 - Aug 25 (NO CLASS - Rescheduled to Saturday, September 10, 12 to 2 PM)
What are the origins of EJ? A Brief Survey of Histories
An introduction to environmental justice in American/U.S. cities and its challenge to mainstream environmentalism and sustainability movements. Applying a racial justice lens to histories of place that result in disproportionate environmental harm in communities of color.

Readings:
Environmental justice and environmental racism in two 3-minute videos:

• ●  Grist. Environmental justice, explained. (Video)

• ●  Al Jazeera. What is Environmental Racism? (Video)

  Robert D. Bullard. 1999. Dismantling Environmental Racism in the USA. Local Environment, 4:1, 5-19, DOI: 10.1080/13549839908725577. (PDF)

  Week 2 - Sep 1
  Class Values and Addressing Structural and Environmental Racism
  Class will open with introductions and creating class values and community agreements. Readings in Week 1 and 2 explore frameworks and debates in environmental justice. What is environmental racism? How does environmental injustice show up? How do EJ movements name, establish sound evidence of, and organize against the specific impacts of environmental abuse and oppression?

  Readings:
  Race Forward. What is systemic racism? Nine 1-minute videos. (Videos)

  Iris Marion Young. 2009. Five Faces of Oppression. In George L. Henderson & Marvin Waterstone (eds.), Geographic Thought: A Praxis Perspective. New York, USA: Routledge. (PDF)

  Laura Pulido. 2000. Rethinking Environmental Racism: White Privilege and Urban Development in Southern California, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 90:1, 12-40, DOI: 10.1111/0004-5608.00182, (PDF)

  Ryan Holifield. 2001. Defining environmental justice and environmental racism. Urban Geography. 22(1): 78-90. (PDF)

  Week 3 - Sep 8
  Privilege, Power, and Risk Perception

A safe healthy environment for whom? An examination of privilege in environmental advocacy and conflicting narratives on environmental risk. Introduction to power analysis frameworks, debates on scarcity/abundance, and pathways to power-sharing.
Assignment due: Social Media/Blog Post

Receive Discussion Leader Assignments

Readings:
O'Neill, Catherine, Risk Avoidance, Cultural Discrimination, and Environmental Justice for Indigenous Peoples (2003). Ecology Law Quarterly, Vol. 30, 2003. - Read p. 1-27, 35-40. (PDF)

Thomas Macias. 2015. Environmental risk perception among race and ethnic groups in the United States. Ethnicities, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796815575382. - Focus on Overview (p. 111-117) and Discussion (bottom of 120-126). (PDF)

Garrett Sansom, Philip Berke, Thomas McDonald, Eva Shipp, Jennifer Horney. 2016. Confirming the Environmental Concerns of Community Members Utilizing Participatory-Based Research in the Houston Neighborhood of Manchester. International journal of environmental research and public health, 13(9):839. - Read all sections (PDF)

Week 3 - Saturday, Sep 10, 12 to 2 PM (Week 1 makeup class)

This class will be on campus in SH-107 and will focus on in-class group activities.

Week 4 - Sep 15
Social Movements against Harm: Achieving EJ through Sociology, Law, Impact Assessment, Organizing
The sanitary city, pollution, and urban growth impacts on environmental health. Urban growth, highways, urban renewal, and control of land use after WWII and siting decisions to accommodate urban density. Emergence of EJ from sociology, community organizing, and legal action against air and water pollution. What progress has been made? What gaps and blind spots remain?
Assignment due: Midterm Topic
Receive Final Project Groups

Readings:
Eric Liu, How to Understand Power. (7-minute video)

Susan Cutter. 1995. Race, class and environmental justice. Progress in Human Geography. 19(1), 111-122. https://doi.org/10.1177/030913259501900111. (PDF)

Jill Lindsey Harrison. 2017. ‘We do ecology, not sociology’: interactions among bureaucrats and the undermining of regulatory agencies’ environmental justice efforts,

Environmental Sociology, DOI: 10.1080/23251042.2017.1344918. (PDF) - Read the

"Introduction," "Study Context," and "Findings and analysis" sections.

Optional: EJ in federal and state policy

Interview with EPA Environmental Justice Director:
● Yvette Cabrera. 2021. Matthew Tejada is keeping the EPA’s eyes on

environmental justice. Grist. (Interview with Matthew Tejada, Director of the US EPA Office of Environmental Justice)

New Jersey’s Environmental Justice Legislation (S232) and interview with leading advocate:

• ●  Samantha Maldonado. August 2020. How a long-stalled ‘holy grail’ environmental justice bill found its moment in New Jersey. Politico. (Article)

• ●  Julius M. Redd, Hilary Jacobs, Stacey Sublett Halliday. September 2020. New Jersey Governor Signs Landmark Environmental Justice Legislation Into Law. National Law Review. (Summary of bill)

  Week 5 - Sep 22
  Social Movements for Cultural Transformation: Cultivating a Vision for Climate Justice Our narratives shape our built environment, our communities, and our relationships with one another. Who is telling the stories? Whose stories are told? Whose stories are erased or silenced?
  In-Class: Small group discussion to develop a problem statement, vision, and call to action on climate justice.
  First discussion leaders
  Assignment due: Midterm interviewee list and initial outreach

  Readings:
  Dorceta Taylor. 2000. The Rise of The Environmental Justice Paradigm: Injustice Framing And The Social Construction Of Environmental Discourses. American Behavioral Scientist 43(4): 508-566. (PDF) - Read p. 508-517, 524-525

  David Schlosberg, Lisette B. Collins. 2014. From environmental to climate justice: climate change and the discourse of environmental justice. WIREs Climate Change. 5(3): 359-374. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.275. (PDF)

  National Association of Climate Resiliency Planners. 2017. "Community-driven Climate Resilience Planning (PDF) - Read: p. 1-16 “What is community-driven resilience planning?" and p. 26-34 "Visioning”

  Week 6 - Sep 29 (NO CLASS)
  Public Policy and Legislation: EJ Principles in Practice
  Codification of EJ principles in domestic and international law and institutions. Recent dialogues and debates in public policy and civic life.

Readings:
Presidential Executive Order 14008, of January 27, 2021: Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. The White House. (Article)

The White House. Justice40: A Whole-of-Government Initiative. ( FAQs page) Angela Mahecha. September 4, 2021. Biden's Justice40 climate plan will be only as

successful as its frontline investments. The Hill. (Article)
Cathleen Kelly. 2021. Implementing Biden’s Justice40 Commitment To Combat

Environmental Racism. Center for American Progress. (Report)

The American Presidency Project. 2022. ICYMI: Biden-Harris Administration Organizes Justice40 Week of Action to Highlight Historic Environmental Justice Investments. UC Santa Barbara. (Article)

Go to http://news.google.com and search “biden environmental justice.” Find an additional news article to reference in your discussion questions.

Part 2: People, Places, and Power

Week 7 - Oct 6
Clean Water
Explore issues of water polluting facilities including combined sewer overflows and their impact on water bodies and natural areas, creek and basin cleanup, restoration and just access. In-Class: Activity using pollution data, such as this online map of Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Locations in New York City’s Waterways.
Group Project Deadline: 1-Page Work Plan Due

Readings:
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. CSO Long-Term Control Plan (LTCP). (Website)

New York City Department of Environmental Protection. Long-Term Control Plan and LTCP Public Participation Plan. (Website + Plan)

Rebekah Breitzer. 2018. Institutional Roadblocks to Achieving Environmental Justice Through Public Participation: The Case of CSO Control in US Cities. Metropolitics. (PDF)

Swim Coalition. July 2019, updated September 2020. New legislation introduced calling on the NYC DEP to rethink its flawed CSO LTCP’s. (Article)

David J. Farnham, et al. 2017. Citizen science-based water quality monitoring: Constructing a large database to characterize the impacts of combined sewer overflow in New York City. Science of The Total Environment. 580: 168-177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.11.116. (Abstract) - Read Abstract. Full article is optional. To navigate to article, click the gray “PDF” button on the right.

Optional:

• ●  Laura Pulido. 2016. Flint, Environmental Racism, and Racial Capitalism. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 27:3, 1-16, DOI: 10.1080/10455752.2016.1213013. (PDF)

• ●  Sylvia Hood Washington and Sheila R. Foster. 2016. The Legal Discourse Surrounding the Water Crisis in Flint, Michigan: Interview with Sheila R. Foster. Environmental Justice, 9(2): 59-64. (PDF)

  Week 8 - Oct 13
  Clean Air
  Explore air quality topics including the siting of trucking facilities and highways, access to open spaces and natural areas; their health impacts. Understand that disparate exposure is rooted in the legacy of residential segregation. Examine NYC environmental justice legislation of 2017 and discuss opportunities for and barriers to implementation.

  Readings:
  Rachel Morello-Frosch and Russ Lopez. 2006. The riskscape and the color line: Examining the role of segregation in environmental health disparities. (PDF) - Read Sections 1-3, 5, 7-8

  Jenni A. Shearston, A. Mychal Johnson, et al. 2020. Opening a Large Delivery Service Warehouse in the South Bronx: Impacts on Traffic, Air Pollution, and Noise. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 17(9), 3208. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17093208 (PDF)

  City of New York. Local Law 60 & Local Law 64 of 2017 (PDFs linked) - Consider how the laws relate to your midterm and final project topics.

  Optional:

• ●  Ramirez, Jennifer Santos. 2020. There Was Never A New York "Pause" For The South Bronx. Tishman Center blog. (Article)

• ●  New York City Environmental Justice Interagency Working Group. 2021. New York City’s Environmental Justice for All Report Draft Scope. (Draft Scope)

  Week 9 - Oct 20
  Land Rights
  Land rights are key to environmental justice. Who holds power in decisions about land and property and who is marginalized or excluded by existing structures? Explore issues of

intersectionality, abolition (“freedom as a place”), disaster justice, and community-led models for land ownership. Critically examine use of procurement and grantmaking documents, including RFPs and RFEIs, as tools to advance environmental justice.
In-Class Activity / “Work Time:” Meet with your Final Project Group to discuss this storytelling framework: Climate Justice Narrative Toolkit.

Readings:
Ryder, S. 2017. A Bridge to Challenging Environmental Inequality: Intersectionality, Environmental Justice, and Disaster Vulnerability. Social Thought & Research, 34, 85-115.http://www.jstor.org/stable/44807699. (PDF)

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. May 2021. Disaster Justice: New Efforts to Define “Disaster” for Communities Facing Oppression. (Link)

Nik Heynen and Megan Ybarra. (2021). On Abolition Ecologies and Making “Freedom as a Place.” Antipode Vol. 53 No. 1 2021 ISSN 0066-4812, pp. 21–35. (PDF)

Part 3: Movements for a Just Future

Week 10 - Oct 27
Standing Rock, Indigenous Land Rights, and the Red Deal
The movement for a Red Deal, which is rooted in the EJ injustice of the dispossession of Native nations and extinguishment of rights to ancestral lands. Discussion of barriers and opportunities for indigenous justice in urban contexts, including New York City.
Midterm Paper Due

Readings:
Dana Gilio-Whitaker. 2019. As long as grass grows: The indigenous fight for environmental justice, from colonization to Standing Rock. Beacon Press. -- Read Chapter 2: Genocide by Any Other Name, p. 35-52 (Google Books)

The Red Nation. April 2021. “The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth.” Progressive International. (Article)

Optional:

Nick Estes. 2019. Our History is the Future. Verso Books. -- Read Prologue: Prophets, p. 1-23. Chapter 1: Siege, p. 24-62. (Google Books)

David Truer. May 2021. Return National Parks to the Tribes. The Atlantic. ( Article) United Nations. 2007. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

(PDF) Week 11 - Nov 3

Clean Energy: Just Transition, Green New Deal, and Degrowth

The Just Transition movement to build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy, which advances the promise of clean energy and has roots in a history of labor organizations allying with environmental justice groups. Critically examine ongoing debates on economic transformation from an EJ perspective.

In-Class: Work time for final group projects through a mind mapping activity using Miro focused on the question, “What’s going on?”

Readings: Just Transition

• ●  Climate Justice Alliance. Just Transition: A Framework for Change, including: What Do We Mean By Just Transition?; History & Context; Analysis, Framework, & Strategy; and Just Transition Principles. (Website - landing page) -- Read this page, including the Just Transition Principles.

• ●  Optional:

■ Climate Justice Alliance. The Our Power Plan: Charting a Path to Climate Justice (PDF) -- Read Our Plan, Our Assessment, and Our Proposals (p. 10-27)

Green New Deal

• ●  U.S. House of Representatives. House Resolution 109, aka the ‘Green New

  Deal’ (Full Text)

• ●  J.B. Ruhl and James Salzman. 2020. What Happens When the New Green Deal

  Meets Old Green Laws? Vermont Law Review, 44:693-721. (PDF)

• ●  Optional:

  • Robinson Meyer. 2021. “The Green New Deal Does Not, Strictly Speaking, Exist.” The Atlantic. (Article)

  • Jessica McDonald. February 15, 2019. The Facts on the ‘Green New Deal.’ FactCheck.org (Article)

    Degrowth

• ●  Jamie Tyberg. 2020. “Unlearning: From Degrowth to Decolonization.” Rosa

  Luxemburg Stiftung. (Article)

• ●  Optional:

■ Beth Stratford. September 2021. Green growth vs degrowth: are we missing the point? Open Democracy. (Article)

Newsreel
● Go to http://news.google.com and search some combination of “just transition,”

“green new deal,” “degrowth,” or another economic theory you are following. --

Read 1 additional news article and be prepared to discuss in class.

Week 12 - Nov 10
Latino Environmentalists, Labor Reform, and Food Justice

Focus on the intersection of Latino and Hispanic-led environmental justice campaigns and food justice. Reflect on shift in EJ from proving environmental “bads” to the production of environmental “goods,” including food sovereignty, cultural connection, and place identity. In-Class: Work time for final group projects using MURAL digital whiteboard and focused on identifying key objectives for your stakeholder meeting, including (1) What do we want to learn from stakeholders? And (2) What do we want stakeholders to walk away with?

Group Project Deadline: Report Outline Due Group Project Deadline: Campaign Flyer due

Readings:
About Cesar Chavez (2-Minute Video) and 1992 Interview (10-Minute Video)

Carter, E.D. 2016. Environmental Justice 2.0: New Latino environmentalism in Los Angeles. The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability. 21(1): 3-23. (PDF)

Isabelle Angeuolovski. 2013. From Environmental Trauma to Safe Haven: Place Attachment and Place Remaking in Three Marginalized Neighborhoods of Barcelona, Boston, and Havana. City & Community, 12:3, 211-237. (PDF)

Gerda Wekerle and Michael Classens. 2015. Food production in the city: (re)negotiating land, food and property. 20:10, 1175-1193. (PDF)

Week 13 - Nov 17
Radical Futurisms
Exploration of speculative fiction as a path to justice through short stories. What will justice look, taste, smell, sound, and feel like? What will it cost to maintain the status quo in seven or seventy generations? Which histories are being retold? What futures can we imagine? What will be created and what will be lost? Who will lead and how?
Group Project Deadline: Run-of-Show due

Readings:
Lynch, B. 1993. The Garden and the Sea: U.S. Latino Environmental Discourses and Mainstream Environmentalism. Social Problems, 40(1): 108-124. doi:10.2307/3097029. (PDF)

Octavia Butler. 1995. “The Book of Martha.” A short story from Bloodchild and Other Stories. Seven Stories. (Short story)

Iliana Vargas, translated by Michelle Mirabella. 2019. “Seed.” Exchanges: Journal of Literary Translation. (Short story)

Audra Mitchell and Aadita Chaudhury. 2020. Worlding beyond ‘the’ ‘end’ of ‘the world’: white apocalyptic visions and BIPOC futurisms. International Relations 2020, Vol. 34(3) 309–332. (PDF)

Optional:

Priscilla Solis Ybarra. 2016. Writing the Goodlife: Mexican American Literature and the Environment. University of Arizona Press. -- Preface, page xi-xvi and Introduction, page 3-31. (Google Books)

Two additional short stories: “The Beginning,” by Radha Zutshi Opubor and “Poem to My Daughter,” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner (Article and short stories)

Week 14 - Nov 24 (NO CLASS)

Optional readings to go deeper on topics that the class raises in discussion. No discussion questions due this week.

Readings from last year:
On organizing: adrienne maree brown. 2017. Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds. Chico, CA: AK Press. (Google Books) -- Read page 1-32

On fiction and climate change: Amitav Ghosh. 2016. The Great Derangement. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. (Google Books) -- Read page 1-11

On Palestine and anticolonialism: Edward Said. 1992. The Question of Palestine. New York City: Vintage Books. (Excerpts) -- Read page 51-52, 56-57, 122-125

On antiracist allyship: Alliance for Visible Diversity in Science. 2020. Resources to Understand Race and Racism. (Link)

Week 15 - Dec 1
Standing In Solidarity - Part 1
Students will lead and facilitate final projects, which will be set up as public meeting role play. Group Project Deadline: Public Meeting for Groups 1 and 2

Week 16 - Dec 8
Standing In Solidarity - Part 2
Students will lead and facilitate final projects, which will be set up as public meeting role play. In-Class: Personal reflections activity to develop and share EJ Vision Stands.
Group Project Deadline: Public Meeting for Group 3

Week 17 - Dec 15 (Final Exams)
Group Project Deadline: Final Report Due