Environmental Justice and Sustainability Seminar

The first meeting of the Environmental Justice and Sustainability Seminar: 

Rachel Morello-Frosch, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley

Abstract: Legacies of structural racism, discriminatory market forces, and biases within environmental decision-making have created a disproportionate prevalence of environmental hazards among communities of color and the poor in the US.  Evidence indicates that the cumulative effects of environmental hazard and chronic social stressor exposures play an important role in the origins and persistence of health disparities. In addition, research suggests that more unequal societies have more polluted and degraded environments, perhaps helping explain why more unequal societies are often less healthy.  This talk will discuss scientific assertions regarding how social inequality shapes environmental health disparities and implications for novel strategies that integrate sustainability and environmental justice goals.

Bio: Rachel Morello-Frosch is Professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management and the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley. Her research examines social determinants of environmental health disparities among diverse communities in the US with a focus on environmental chemicals, air pollution and climate change.