The Environmental Justice Lab

“Fair treatment and meaningful involvement.” That’s how the EPA defines environmental justice. Sounds good on paper. But here’s the question that I'm asking in this episode: What does meaningful involvement actually mean when a community is still told what’s coming, not asked? In this seventh installment of our walk through the Principles of Environmental Justice, we take on Principle 7: “Environm...

What does environmental justice look like when you stop waiting for permission? In this episode, I sit down with two titans of the movement — Dr. Sacoby Wilson (University of Maryland, founder of the Center for Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health) and Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali (Executive Vice President of the National Wildlife Federation, founding member of the EPA’s Office of Environmenta...

Hunters Point Naval Shipyard sits on 638 acres of San Francisco waterfront. It was listed as a Superfund site in 1989. And 37 years later, plutonium has been detected in the air and soil — and still, nothing has been cleaned up. This week on the Environmental Justice Lab, I am joined by award-winning broadcaster Sabrina Jacobs, host of A Rude Awakening on 94.1 KPFA in Berkeley, to unpack one of th...

What is the true cost of the global transition to clean energy? As the world embraces electric vehicles, renewable energy, batteries, and new technologies, the demand for minerals such as cobalt and other critical resources continues to grow. But behind many of the technologies powering our so-called sustainable future is a story that too often remains invisible: the story of the Democratic Republ...

In this episode, I get to talk with Kibri Everett - environmental scientist, GIS specialist, PhD candidate at UNC-Charlotte, and founder of Key Environmental Consulting - to pull back the curtain on the data center boom sweeping the nation. Kibri has been on the front lines of this issue long before it hit the headlines. She recently testified before the Charlotte City Council, helping to secure a...

What happens to a place built on punishment when a movement demands it be rebuilt for life? On this episode, Dr. Lesley Joseph sits down with two frontline fighters in the battle to close Rikers Island and transform it into something radically different: a hub of renewable energy and community sustainability. Manuel Figueroa — Member of Freedom Agenda, and a justice-impacted individual who lived t...

Environmental justice isn’t about making sure pollution is evenly distributed. It’s about making sure there is no pollution to distribute. In this episode of the Environmental Justice Lab, I break down the 6th principle of Environmental Justice. The principle demands the cessation of the production of all toxins, hazardous waste, and radioactive materials, and holds producers strictly accountable...

The EPA has been gutted. Scientists are being sent home. NOAA is being dismantled. And in the middle of all this deregulation, our elected officials keep voting against what we actually want. So what do we do about it? On this episode of the Environmental Justice Lab, I sit down with Sadie Holzmeyer, National Organizing Director of the Digital Democracy Project — a nonpartisan nonprofit building a...

What happens to the earth when we wage war? Dr. Lesley Joseph - environmental engineer, scholar of environmental justice, and author of the forthcoming book War Crimes Against the Earth - joins Sabrina Jacobs, host of The Rude Awakening on 94.1 KPFA, to answer that question with chilling clarity. A Rude Awakening is an award-winning climate crisis and environmental justice radio show based in Berk...

What happens when a group of high schoolers turns a $5,000 competition win into a global movement? In this episode, Dr. Joseph sits down with Abhi Tenneti and Ayush Garg — the high school founders of Green Silicon Valley — an organization run entirely by students, for students, bringing free STEM and environmental education to elementary and middle school classrooms around the world. We talk about...

In this episode of The Environmental Justice Lab, Dr. Lesley Joseph sits down with journalist and award-winning author, Jaha Avery, creator of the podcast series The Corridor, to dig into the truth about “Cancer Alley” - an 85-mile stretch along the Mississippi River where more than 150 petrochemical plants operate in the shadow of Black communities . But this story is about more than pollution. I...

What does it really mean to have power over your own life? In this episode, Dr. Lesley Joseph unpacks the fifth principle of environmental justice: a bold and uncompromising declaration that all people have the fundamental right to self-determination. This isn’t just about the environment. This is about power. From who controls political systems to who decides what industries enter a community, th...

In this episode, Dr. Joseph breaks down the fourth principle of environmental justice - a principle rooted in resistance, survival, and the fundamental right to live free from toxic harm. It starts with nuclear testing, but it isn’t just about nuclear testing; it’s about who gets sacrificed in the name of progress. From the radioactive legacy of U.S. nuclear testing in Indigenous communities to to...

In this episode of The Environmental Justice Lab, Dr. Lesley Joseph breaks down the third principle of Environmental Justice, which demands the ethical, balanced, and responsible use of land and renewable resources in order to sustain life on this planet. Too often, powerful corporations and political leaders treat land, water, and air as commodities to be exploited. Communities are left out of de...

Environmental justice isn’t just about protecting the planet. It’s also about who gets protected and who gets ignored. In this episode, Dr. Lesley Joseph discusses the 2nd principle of environmental justice, which demands that public policy be built on mutual respect and justice for all people, free from discrimination or bias. That sounds simple, but the reality is far more complicated. Too often...

In this episode, Dr. Joseph unpacks the first principle of environmental justice, which affirms the sacredness of Mother Earth, the ecological unity of all life, and the right of humans and non-humans alike to be free from ecological destruction. This episode challenges the dominant idea that the environment exists solely for extraction and profit. Instead, Dr. Joseph reframes environmental justic...

Environmental justice is not just about pollution. It's about freedom. In this episode, Dr. Joseph takes listeners deep into the Preamble to the Principles of Environmental Justice, first articulated at the 1991 First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit. But this is not just a technical introduction. Dr. Joseph describes how the preamble is a bold declaration of resistance, co...

Environmental justice didn’t begin as a theory - it began as a movement. In this episode of The Environmental Justice Lab, Dr. Lesley Joseph traces the roots of environmental justice, unpacking how race, class, power, and policy collide to determine who gets clean air, safe water, and healthy communities - and who is forced to bear the burden of pollution and neglect. From the lived experiences of...

What does it take to confront generations of environmental racism and win? In this episode, Senior Attorney Chandra Taylor-Sawyer of the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) pulls back the curtain on what it really means to fight for environmental justice in the U.S. South. From zoning decisions that quietly turn Black neighborhoods into dumping grounds, to federal rollbacks that threaten the...

You probably do not know this, but your morning cup of coffee carries a dark story. It's a story riddled with deforestation, child labor, slavery, corporate denial, and environmental injustice.  This week, Etelle Higonnet , founder of Coffee Watch , joins the Environmental Justice Lab to expose how the global coffee industry profits from environmental destruction and human suffering, and what must...

What happens when the leaders in your hometown turn a Black neighborhood into a dumping ground? In part 2 of our conversation, environmental scientist and advocate Kibri Hutchison Everett takes us back to my hometown of Rock Hill, South Carolina, to confront the legacy of the so-called “Trash Pile.” What began with the placement of unlined landfill in the heart of a Black neighborhood, the Trash P...

What does it mean to fight for environmental justice when the very language of justice is under attack? In this first episode (of a 2-part series), I talk with environmental scientist, small business owner, and consultant Kibri Hutchison Everett about the fight for environmental justice. We trace her journey from growing up in Rock Hill, South Carolina (my hometown), to working in federal environm...

In this episode of The Environmental Justice Lab, Dr. Joseph is joined by scholar, strategist, and activist Dr. Bruce Strouble, the founder of Citizens for a Sustainable Future and author of By Any Dreams Necessary - Anti-Racist Strategies for Sustainability, Resilience, and Environmental Justice in African-American Communities. Dr. Strouble's expertise made for a dynamic conversation about what i...

In this episode of The Environmental Justice Lab, Dr. Lesley Joseph sits down with public health expert Dr. Diana Hernández of Columbia University and sociologist Dr. Jennifer Laird of Lehman College to talk about their new book,  Powerless: The People's Struggle for Energy . More than 1 in 4 U.S. households struggle to afford their utility bills, with many facing shutoffs, debt, and the constant...

In this episode, Dr. Lesley Joseph sits down with author, conflict practitioner, and activist Somia Sadiq to discuss her new novel, Gajarah, a story that challenges how we understand land, justice, grief, and the tangled threads of human resilience. Born in Pakistan, raised in Canada, and shaped by a life between cultures and continents, Somia brings her lived experience, and her deep work in just...