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Community Strategies for Sustainability
and Justice
The Community Strategies for Sustainability and Justice Program
integrates the Institute's research skills with
the strengths of community-based groups to foster
environmental justice.
Social justice has long been the missing element from
the debate over environmental pollution and economic development.
Why are some neighborhoods plagued with toxic air while
other nearby communities breathe easy?
What are the links between political power, economic
development, and environmental pollution? How can voices
traditionally ignored become a productive part of policy
and planning decisions?
Environmental justice compels us to uncover and address
the gulf in resources, capacity, and quality of life among
different communities; the Pacific Institute's Community
Strategies program brings science-based scrutiny and innovative
solutions to this work.
Our program, launched in 1995, has grown out of the recognition
that certain groups-often people of color, immigrants,
or poor people-are left out of critical decisions that
affect their neighborhoods and face serious health and
environmental risks as a result. In response, the Community
Strategies program works with local organizations and
residents to give those that live in polluted neighborhoods
the tools they need to advocate for change, clean up pollution,
and protect the health of their families.
Working in West Oakland
The West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project is one
of the best examples of this approach.We are working closely
with a long-ignored community to decide what issues are
most important, what indicators-measurements of pollution,
human health, and economic power-to scrutinize, and what
the best solutions are.
The report that we produced after more than two years
of community-directed research, "Neighborhood Knowledge
for Change," shows that the West Oakland neighborhood
has some of the most polluted air in the region, with
childhood asthma hospitalization rates seven times that
of the state of California. Other indicators show that
West Oakland residents are vulnerable to displacement
and gentrification, face five times more toxic chemicals
per capita than residents of the city of Oakland, and
live closer on average to contaminated sites and industrial
areas than other Oakland residents.
The good news is that this research is helping the community
lobby elected officials, educate their neighbors, and
focus the attention of agencies and political leaders
on the health and environmental burdens that West Oakland
residents face.
Research Topics and Projects:
West Oakland
Environmental
Indicators Project
Freight Transport
Ditching Dirty Diesel Collaborative
Healthy Cities Initiative
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