Dates/Time
August 21, 2020
10:30 am-12:30 pm
As the Black Lives Matter movement has made clear, white supremacy and systemic racism are root causes of injustice, violence, and inequality, and these forces contribute to environmental injustice, degradation, and destruction. For generations, the mainstream environmental movement has willfully ignored issues of race and power, with many environmental organizations still led by white men, with boards and staff that don’t reflect the diversity of the country or the communities they work in. While the environmental justice movement has successfully put frontline communities of color into the environmental movement, the mainstream environmental movement has not yet made anti-racism an essential part of the environmental agenda.
What will it take for the environmental movement to lead with anti-racism? Who are leading voices making this case and what can environmental funders learn from them? At this turning point in our history, philanthropy has an opportunity to support a fundamental change in the environmental movement, advocacy, and policy.
Join us for a conversation with dynamic leaders who are taking on issues of race, racism, and anti-racism within the environmental movement. Each have provided a set of frameworks for the environmental movement to be an anti-racist ally with other movements fighting for social, environmental, and economic justice.
This session builds upon the last several Environmental Funders convenings (Environmental Leadership, Just Transition and Power Building, Leadership and Civic Engagement).
Speakers:
- Gisele Fong (moderator), Program Manager, Long Beach — The California Endowment
- Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright, Green New Deal Policy Lead, Climate Justice Alliance
- Dr. Mijin Cha, Assistant Professor, Urban and Environmental Policy — Occidental College
- Ramya Sivasubramanian, Deputy Director and Senior Attorney, Environmental Justice, Healthy People & Thriving Communities Program, NRDC
- Taylor Thomas, Research & Policy Analyst, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice
