WE ACT for Environmental Justice

WE ACT 2024 Policy Agenda: Check out the key campaigns and initiatives that we're fighting for in 2024 at https://lnkd.in/eGnKVQe5 Our fight for environmental justice at the city, state, and federal level in 2024 is centered around these key areas: ➡ Funding A Just and Equitable Future ➡ Accountability and Public Participation ➡ Civic Engagement and Voting Rights ➡ Clean Air ➡ Energy Justice ➡ Healthy Homes ➡ Extreme Heat ➡ Open and Green Space ➡ Sustainable Land Use ➡ Waste and Sanitation ➡ Toxics ➡ Affordable and Equitable Transit ➡ Workforce Development and Education A few of our priority campaigns including #NYHEAT, #GoodCauseEviction, #SafeCosmetics, #LeadPaint Right to Know, #CommunityLandAct, and #ExtremeHeat, are highlighted! For the full list of our campaigns, including background, where we're at now, and what we're planning to do in 2024 to advance justice and equity for low-income people and communities of color, read out full agenda at rb.gy/md9b5z

Join Peggy Shepard, Solar One's Chief External Affairs Officer Sara Radelet and Career Technical Education Program Manager Michaela Ritz for a discussion of #climatejustice, the importance of a just transition to solar and other renewable energy sources, and how investors can help advance that. Moderated by Domini Impact Investments LL's Director of Engagement Mary Beth Gallagher, this will be an in-person event on Thursday, July 11 from 6 - 7:30 pm at 180 Maiden Lane (between Front Street and South Street in the Financial District). It is hosted by Domini Impact Investments LLC, a women-led investment firm that is committed to harnessing the power of finance to help create a better world. RSVP: https://lnkd.in/eDzYAv2B

Last week, the WE ACT Federal Policy Office gathered Environmental Justice Leadership Forum (EJLF) @ejforum groups from across the country in Washington DC for a very special advocacy week and training! With almost 40 attendees from #Texas to #Connecticut and beyond, advocates were trained in engaging with their representatives - including many groups’ direct representatives - as well as reporting on key environmental justice data and stories, and made important connections with their fellow EJLF members. Groups met directly with U.S. House of Representatives members and staff and leaders within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The EJLF groups used infographics developed from our forthcoming ‘Air it Out’ report and digital dashboard showcasing representative voting records, air quality grades from the American Lung Association State of the Air Report, and oil & gas contributions, leading to eye opening and powerful conversations. These conversations allowed for both increasing support for the A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice For All Act - a landmark bill to codify #EJ and protect against cumulative impacts - and prioritization of local EJ issues. Together, the EJLF was able to meet with 21 offices and the DOE , establishing lasting relationships with decision-makers. We’re encouraged by the power of this group’s collective impact, and will continue to provide updates on the momentum behind vital legislation such as EJ4All and more! Deep South Center for Environmental Justice Adirondack Council NJEJA -NJ Environmental Justice Alliance Sowing Justice West Atlanta Watershed Alliance (WAWA) Connecticut Coalition for Environmental and Economic Justice DUWAMISH RIVER COMMUNITY COALITION Alternatives for Community and Environment Flint Rising Project S.W.A.N. Trinity Health MI The safety md Jesus People Against Pollution @Lola Hampton-Frank Pinder Center for Agroecology at FAMU

One of our WE ACT members, Mone Choy, shares her powerful story with Grist and reporter Gautama Mehta about her experience coping with the recent record #heatwave and what it's like living with #extremeheat on a fixed income in New York. As global temperatures are rising and summers grow hotter, vulnerable populations such as the elderly and low-income folks are already at the frontlines of #climatechange. That's why we're advocating hard to address extreme heat including improving cooling centers, making energy more affordable, and establishing a maximum indoor air temperature. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/gm5XT7zw https://lnkd.in/eD4KANfN

Good coverage from Columbia Daily Spectator on last week's Juneteenth Rally for Housing Justice! We joined NYS Senator Cordell Cleare, Assemblyman Al Taylor, Mark D. Levine, Dr. Yusef Salaam, and other local leaders and Harlemites in support of Senator Cleare's new bill to halt Columbia University's unchecked expansion into Harlem and calling for more affordable housing and an end to gentrification and displacement of people in West Harlem. https://lnkd.in/ePe5Cs8q

🌈 Read our full Pride and #environmentaljustice blog post by Tali Natter, Ashley Sullivan, MSc, and Briana Carbajal, M.A.: https://lnkd.in/eaKX-qf2 Today on the 55th anniversary of the #Stonewall uprising, it's long overdue time to center #Pride in #EnvironmentalJustice! At the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in 1991, leaders across the environmental justice movement, including from WE ACT, developed 17 Principles of Environmental Justice. Principle 2 “demands that public policy be based on mutual respect and justice for all peoples, free from any form of discrimination or bias.” In the environmental justice movement, we usually understand this to mean across race and class, but it can also be applied to the idea that we must stand in solidarity towards justice across the intersections of identity, including LGBTQIA2S+ folks. As we celebrate the end of #Pride2024, we must look at environmental justice through multiple lenses, including a queer lens. All people of every gender and sexuality deserve safe, inclusive, and healthy environments. And don't forget to join us Sunday in NYC for the Queer Liberation March! ✊🌈

In reaction to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s vote on #CP2 #LNG project, Anastasia Gordon, WE ACT for Environmental Justice’s Federal Policy Director has this to say:  “FERC’s authorization of CP2 misses the urgency of the moment, ignoring the profound and devastating impacts it will have on neighboring communities, public health, the economy, and the climate for many years to come. Continuing to greenlight LNG export projects jeopardizes the health and safety of frontline and environmental justice communities, drives up domestic energy prices, and perpetuates the climate crisis. This is why the Administration’s pause on permitting gas exports as DOE updates its public interest analysis is so critical. Accounting for these impacts should result in one conclusion – denial of new LNG projects like CP2 because they are not in the public interest. We will never let up in calling for the Commission to turn their promises into action by centering environmental justice into their decision-making processes to safeguard overburdened communities that bear the brunt of fossil fuel infrastructure and pollution.” READ MORE & SHARE: https://lnkd.in/ekH3eJ4g #WrongDirection #EnergyPolicy

Peggy Shepard joined a great conversation hosted by Tavis Smiley with fellow #climatejustice all-stars Robert Bullard, Jacqueline Patterson, Mustafa Santiago Ali, Majora Carter, Ben Jealous, and others at a town hall event in Los Angeles centered on #climatejustice and broadcast on CSPAN! Watch the replay: https://lnkd.in/eg62J7_E

A must-read op-ed in BK Reader by Caleb Smith on why NYC Department of Parks & Recreation funding should be a priority especially during the #extremeheat that we're experiencing this month. Mayor Eric Adams’ pledge to support urban forests and our city’s open spaces doesn’t square with his recent proposals to cut the Parks budget by another $55 million putting more strain on our green spaces and parks workers. https://lnkd.in/eW5t4DUz

#DidYouKnow #extremeheat can also impact #AirQuality? Pollutants like #ozone that harm the lungs and cause Asthma are made worse when they react with heat. As we face the #climatecrisis, not only will the direct harms of a warming climate and increasing natural disasters disproportionately impact people of color and those of low-income, but it also means growing respiratory threats for those same overburdened communities. Find out more about these pollutants, sources, and the inequity of air quality in our new storymap>> https://lnkd.in/eFS4knFK