Equity and Justice Within Sustainability

Sustainability:

“The ability to meet the needs of the present while enhancing the ability of future generations to meet their needs in a just and equitable manner.”  – Tufts Sustainability Council, 2022

Just Sustainabilities:

“The need to ensure a better quality of life for all, now and into the future, in a just and equitable manner, whilst living within the limits of supporting ecosystems.”  –Julian Agyeman, Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University.

Environmental Racism:

The practice wherein “public policies and industry practices disproportionately place the burden of pollution, waste, and the climate crisis on Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color... Pollution, waste, and risk of disaster are assigned to communities of color through intergenerational discrimination and political neglect.”    –Marie Beecham, racial and climate justice activist.

Environmental Justice (EJ):

“The principle that all people are entitled to equal environmental protection [and equal enforcement of environmental laws and regulation], regardless of race, color, or national origin. It’s the right to live and work and play in a clean environment.”–Robert Bullard, sociologist. 

Climate Justice:

“Climate Justice recognizes the disproportionate impacts of climate change on low-income communities and communities of color around the world, the people and places least responsible for the problem.” –University of California, Center for Climate Justice.

Intersectional Environmentalism:

“An inclusive version of environmentalism that advocates for both the protection of people and the planet. [It] identifies the ways in which injustices happening to marginalized communities and to the earth are interconnected. [It] brings injustices done to the most vulnerable communities, and to the earth, to the forefront and does not minimize or silence social inequality. Intersectional Environmentalism advocates for justice for people [and] the planet.”–Leah Thomas, environmentalist.

Community Context

Sustainability and social justice are inextricably linked. Although climate change and environmental degradation are global issues, they do not impact all people and environments equally. Low-income people, people of color, and women, are disproportionately affected by environmental injustice. Poorer populations, who are majority people of color, are experiencing the brunt of the negative effects of climate change, but are often at the same time the least industrialized and have therefore contributed the least amount of carbon emissions, the root cause of climate change.

There are multiple communities near Tufts that are disproportionately affected by climate change and environmental degradation. Only 5 miles away from our Medford/Somerville campus, climate change is causing severe impacts in Chelsea, MA. Air pollution caused by traffic from the many distribution centers in Chelsea makes cases of COVID-19 more dangerous than in other cities, and scientists consider the flood risk levels high. Furthermore, because of the proportionally large Latine and low-income populations in Chelsea, the city serves as an example of how environmental injustice hurts people of color and other disadvantaged groups. The goal of environmental justice work is to acknowledge these systems of power and take institutionalized discrimination into account when addressing climate change and environmental issues.

Intersectional Environmentalism

In 1989, Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” as a way to consider how race, gender, sexual orientation, and other personal identities simultaneously influence the human experience. Specifically the concept examines how discrimination against personal identities (such as racism or sexism) can overlap in individuals and groups that have multiple marginalized identities.

This concept of intersectionality has been adapted by environmentalist Leah Thomas, who discusses “intersectional environmentalism,” or the idea that personal and cultural identities impact people’s environmental experiences and privileges. In practice, intersectional environmentalism considers the historical and ongoing structural discrimination against BIPOC, women, people with disabilities, low income, and LGBTQ+ communities when examining how the degradation of people and out planet are connected.

Environmental Justice

"Environmental justice" can be defined as “The principle that all people are entitled to equal environmental protection [and equal enforcement of environmental laws and regulation], regardless of race, color, or national origin. It’s the right to live and work and play in a clean environment.”–Robert Bullard, sociologist.

Many people point to the 1982 protests in Warren County, North Carolina, as an important starting point for the environmental justice movement. Warren County was a predominately African-American community where a hazardous waste landfill was set to be located. The protests in Warren County were not the first, nor the only, early examples of the environmental justice movement, but the activism that took place there is often considered to have sparked a broader discussion of equitable environmental protection. In 1987, the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice published the landmark “Toxic Wastes and Race” report, which provided important empirical evidence regarding the way environmental racism influenced decisions about where hazardous waste sited should be located. Additionally, the concept of environmental justice was elaborated and specified in the Principles of Environmental Justice, written at the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held on October 24-27, 1991, in Washington DC. Using the words of Dana Allen at that meeting in 1991, environmental justice continues to be about protecting and supporting the places where we all “live, work and play” in a just and equitable way.

Just Sustainability

Tufts Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Julian Agyeman Ph.D. FRSA FRGS, works at the intersection of social justice and environmental sustainability by attempting to depoliticize the idea of intersectional environmentalism. Professor Agyeman coined the term “just sustainabilities” as “the ability of people as individuals and communities to have a good quality of life and well-being in a just and equitable manner while living within the limits of supporting ecosystems.” Working with “just sustainabilities” in mind makes justice inherent within any topics of sustainability.

Integrating social justice and sustainability is not the work of one person; it needs to be embedded into all programs and practices. Below are the commitments we have agreed upon to guide our work as an Office:

1. We commit to encouraging and providing education, training, time, and resources to develop the connections between justice, equity, and sustainability. Using our own lived experiences as a guide post, staff will engage in this work in a way that makes the most sense for their own personal growth.
2. We commit to embedding equity and justice into the work we do as an office. This means including equity and justice in our office mission, vision, culture, hiring and other practices. 
3. We commit to embedding equity and justice into the work we do in our individual roles and responsibilities. This means including equity and justice in our communications and programs. 
4. We commit to continuous evaluation, measurement and reporting of our progress towards these commitments and goals, in service of accountability. We will meet on a regular basis to discuss goals and our progress. We will also solicit feedback from our university partners.

Recognizing the need for actionable and measurable goals, our office has created SMART goals based on our commitments to pursue during FY24. Below each goal is the progress achieved by our office in response to these goals during FY24.

1. Senior staff will individually participate in at least 3 hours of professional development directly connected to equity and justice.
Progress: Senior staff have individually attended between 1-3 hours of professional development related to intersectional environmentalism, DEIJ, and community wellbeing.

2. Senior staff will collectively attend at least 6 events hosted by another office on campus related to justice and equity, that allow us to learn something new.
Progress: Senior staff have attended 4 events with other departments on topics including DEIJ and the Israel-Hamas war.

3. Senior staff will create a statement of inclusion, with a focus on the micro and macro connections the Office of Sustainability has with equity and justice.
Progress: Senior staff have researched key elements of and drafted a statement of inclusion that is currently under internal review.

4. Senior staff will center and make visible equity and justice throughout programming, communications, and other work of our office. What this looks like individually will be reflected in annual performance goals.
Progress: Examples of how senior staff are making equity and justice visible in their work include
- Creation of a sustainability fellowship program, in partnership with UEP, to fund the M.S. Sustainability program each year for a person whose identity has been historically marginalized in the sustainability field.
- Integration of equity and justice into events and activities of cocurricular student programming.
- Inclusion of environmental justice concepts in presentations to senior leadership and other university stakeholders.
- Ensuring 20% of content on office channels directly centers equity and justice.
- Implementing the inclusive and accessible communications guide, created last year, into communications processes and practices.

5. Senior staff will meet once in December for an accountability and progress check-in. All staff will meet once at the end of the academic year to report on progress.
Progress: Senior staff completed December accountability check-in and will host an End of Year Equity and Justice meeting on 5/2 that will be open to all OOS staff.

Recognizing the need for actionable and measurable goals, our office has created SMART goals based on our commitments to pursue during FY23. Below are the accomplishments achieved by our office in response to these goals during FY23.

1. Senior staff will collectively participate in at least 6 hours of professional development directly connected to equity and justice.
Progress: Our senior staff surpassed this goal, participating in over 12 hours of professional development concerning equity and justice. 

2. Create a vision and mission statement for our office that incorporates equity and justice as a core component.
Progress: We have crafted a new vision and mission statement which expresses our commitment to upholding equity and justice. 

3. Assess current engagement with “just sustainability” in our Eco Reps and Eco-Ambassadors curriculum. Update curriculum where appropriate.
Progress: Our office reached this goal, collaborating with several local organizations. GreenRoots and the Mystic River Watershed Association joined in order to support the Eco Reps' efforts to integrate justice and equity into their training, weekly meetings, and event planning. We are also planning to have a speaker come for winter Eco Rep training and spring weekly meetings. Additionally, we have set aside money to pay honorariums. 

4. Create a guide to inclusive language for our communications and ensure that our website and videos meet accessibility standards.
Progress: Inclusive and accessible comms guide has been drafted and is being beta-tested within the office. All new video content now has captioning and our images include alternative text. We have also incorporated accessibility into our web design and social media practices.

5. Senior still will collectively attend at least 6 events hosted by another office on campus related to justice and equity that is not centering the environment.
Progress: Senior staff have attended several events with other departments on topics including Race Colonialism and Diaspora and campus climate research.

6. Review hiring practices and policies for inclusivity. Get feedback from HR specialist on these documents.
Progress: We have worked with Tufts Human resources to develop inclusive strategies for hiring procedures and have confirmed that they will offer feedback.

7. Senior staff will meet in December for an accountability check-in. All staff will meet at the end of the academic year to report out on progress.
Progress: Senior staff completed December accountability check-in.

Our entire staff meet at the end of the academic year to review our office’s progress on the current fiscal year goals and plan for the next fiscal year’s annual SMART goals. Senior staff also meet in December to check in on progress towards our annual goals and make any necessary plans for completing them by the end of the fiscal year. Progress on our annual goals are updated on our website twice a year and shared with our key stakeholders.