Ana Baptista, Co-Director of the Tishman Environment and Design Center, and other Environmental Justice Leaders Join President Biden for the Signing of a New Executive Order on Environmental Justice
On the Friday before Earth Day, Ana Baptista; The New School’s associate professor of Professional Practice, Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management Program and Co-Director, Tishman Environment and Design Center, joined with other environmental justice leaders from around the country to participate in the signing of a new Executive Order on Environmental Justice by President Joe Biden. The last Executive Order on Environmental Justice was signed by President Clinton in 1994 at a time when few people in the public or private sectors took the cumulative impacts and historical legacy of environmental racism seriously. Today, environmental justice has gained a prominent policy agenda thanks to the tireless work of grassroots and frontline organizations.
Baptista, who works directly with environmental justice organizations and whose work focuses on a range of related issues including environmental justice policies, climate justice and renewable energy policies, land use and zoning tools for environmental justice, zero waste systems, cumulative impacts, and goods movement, discussed the significance of this new executive order and the importance of local, grassroots activism.
1. What’s the significance of this new executive order?
The executive order (EO) directs the federal government to promote environmental justice (EJ) across a wide array of programs and investments that can directly benefit environmental justice communities across the country. It takes a whole of government approach to raising the accountability of agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy to improving conditions on the ground for communities suffering from a legacy of environmental racism and it also provides new institutional powers that can help direct resources and attention to the most pressing issues these communities are facing.
2. It’s been nearly 30 years since the last time there was an executive order that addressed environmental justice. What has changed since then?
This EO unlike the one signed in 1994 under President Clinton, is much more explicit about the role that racism has played in the pervasive patterns of environmental injustice in Black, brown, indigenous and low wealth communities over time. It also is more attentive to the intersections of public health, economic justice and climate justice to achieve environmental justice. This EO also commits much more attention to the problem of cumulative impacts in communities facing multiple, overlapping burdens.
3. You were invited to the signing because of your work with local community groups and the Tishman Environment and Design Center. How have local organizations spearheaded efforts to combat environmental racism?
Local, grassroots environmental justice organizations are the heart and soul of the environmental justice movement. These groups have been persistent in pushing governments to do more to protect communities and help EJ communities thrive. Today EJ is a popular term and many organizations tout this issue as a central focus but frontline and fenceline communities have always persevered in the face of opposition and kept the central focus on the lived experiences of people most impacted. Many EJ advocates from community-based groups like the Ironbound Community Corp and WeAct helped to formulate the key demands that were then reflected in the EO.
4. If someone is interested in learning more or getting involved, what are some resources they should check out?
Folks can check out our website www.tishmancenter.org to learn more about our work and the work of our EJ collaborators.