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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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PROGRAM DIRECTOR:
Swati Prakash

RELATED NEWS:

[4/07/08] April 2008 Update: Spring Cleaning: River and Air

[11/21/07] Consider air pollution in Trade Corridor Improvement Fund spending (PDF)

[5/09/07] Online Update: Freeway Collapse, Corp. Water Reporting, more

[5/03/07] More than a Detour: West Oakland's Environmental History

[1/16/07] West Oakland Community Meeting: Health Risks of Diesel Soot

[11/14/06] Cleaning Up Freight Transport Pollution Costs Pennies, Saves Billions

[10/13/06] Oct. Online Update: Inst. Welcomes Program Director; FRP, CSR, & NGOs

[6/21/06] West County Crematorium: More Information on Air Pollution

[2/03/06] Diary: Smelling Like Petrol

[1/23/06] Diary: Happy Pongal!

[10/18/05] Institute, Collaborative Refuse to 'Sit Idle' on Diesel Exhaust

[7/18/05] New Report: Solutions Abound to Diesel Pollution in Contra Costa, California

[11/15/03] New Report on Diesel Pollution: West Oakland Breathes Too Much Pollution

[4/02/03] "Research, Advocacy Help Shutter Major Polluter in West Oakland"

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