The Future of EJ
Issues of environmental justice are ever-evolving. As the climate crisis continues, environmental racism emerges as climate-based racism, where marginalized communities are disproportionately impacted by rising temperatures, flooding, and an overall lack of service.
In Confronting Environmental Racism, a movement-defining collection of essays on environmental justice, Robert Bullard offers a “Model Environmental Justice Framework,” explaining the fundamentals of creating a world that is environmentally just and where polluters must prove they are not actively harming communities, not the other way around. Bullard calls for eliminating threats before harm occurs. We do not want more “case studies,” and preventative measures must be taken to ensure healthy environments for everyone!
It can be overwhelming to read about the widespread disasters and harmful things in the world, but we must acknowledge that environmental injustice and racism are ongoing and do not simply exist in archival records.
But activism continues as well.
This website is meant to inform but also encourage you to seek out local and accessible ways to help. When you leave this website, consider what you might do next, whether that be learning, speaking with faculty, or joining a club. As we see with the pioneers of the Environmental Justice Movement, change begins with the people–with grassroots organization and activity, starting small and growing big.
Beyond the Archives: Homegrown EJ at UMD
School of Architecture: Building Hope
From Strong Foundations: Exploring the role of educational architecture in mitigating Baltimore’s racial disparities by Melonee Raquel Quintanilla (B.S.ARCH ’18 Summa Cum Laude, M.ARCH ’21), 2021. Building Hope Podcast.
Activism and protest are just one way of creating environmental justice. At the University of Maryland, students in the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation work to create spaces that are sustainable and promote environmental justice ideals. In the podcast “Building Hope,” students Melonee Quintanilla and Jemimah Asamoah discuss “Building Hope with Environmental Justice.” Quintanilla, whose drawings appear in this exhibit, presents a redesign of a school in Baltimore’s Harlem Park neighborhood, grappling with the current school’s asbestos and pest problems and creating a sustainable, healthy learning space for students and community to thrive. This project functions as a remedy for issues caused by urban renewal in Harlem Park during the late twentieth century, and Quintanilla went into her thesis and designs with the goal of creating a sort of blueprint for projects intended to deal with the aftermath of urban development. Jemimah Asamoah’s project tackles “regenerative architecture,” architecture designed with the intention of reversing past ecological damage. Asamoah’s thesis included redesigning the Anacostia Recreation Center in Anacostia, MD. Specifically integrating biophilic design strategies, meaning that people are being brought into healthy, green spaces with buildings that blur the threshold between indoors and nature.
UMD Environmental Finance Center
From the Environmental Finance Center site, “Personnel from UMD’s Environmental Finance Center and the Anacostia Watershed Society install conservation landscaping.” UMD School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.
UMD’s Environmental Finance Center covers a wealth of projects pertaining to environmental justice in local, Maryland communities. A project called “The Port Towns Walkable Watershed (WW)” has the EFC working with Prince George’s County’s Port Towns to create a sustainable infrastructure planning tool in order to address the flooding residents of the Port Towns face. Another project includes partnering with Maryland Black Mayors, Inc. (MBM), offering training sessions to better educate public officials on stormwater management solutions. Due to the success of this program, the EFC continues to partner with these communities and the Anacostia Watershed Society, working with community leaders on communicating knowledge about clean water initiatives to community members and homeowners. This level of communication allows communities the chance to engage in conservation efforts that will reduce stormwater runoff. The overall mission of this project and many of the projects at the EFC is to give communities the education and tools they need to create a more sustainable, ecologically-sound environment where they can live, work, play, and learn.
CEEJH
CEEJH Logo, Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, & Health.
The University of Maryland is home to the “CEEJH Laboratory,” CEEJH standing for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health. The Laboratory, founded by Dr. Sacoby Wilson, works with community groups across the Eastern United States to address environmental and health issues impacting low-wealth BIPOC communities. CEEJH conducts research on many different pressing issues, including food sovereignty, climate justice, and environmental health disparities. This past September, CEEJH had its 10th annual Environmental Justice Symposium, a four day symposium with talks and discussions covering a variety of topics, including uranium mining on Indigenous lands, reproductive justice, and the intersections of immigration and environmental justice.
List of UMD clubs students can join
Coming Soon!