A $60K grant from UC Berkeley’s The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF) has been awarded to four students from the Goldman School of Public Policy for their Mapping for Environmental Justice (MEJ) project. 

The MEJ team, consisting of public policy graduate students (clockwise from top left) Irene Farnsworth, Kimia Pakdaman, Adam Buchholz, and Kelly Armijo answered the following questions about their exciting project. The project is housed at GSPP’s Center for Environmental Public Policy.

What is the Mapping for Environmental Justice Project?

Mapping for Environmental Justice (MEJ) aims to create easy-to-use, publicly-available maps that paint a holistic picture of how different communities across the US are disproportionately burdened by environmental hazards, adverse health outcomes, and socioeconomic challenges. The maps show a long-told story by environmental justice advocates: that environmental pollutants and hazards, which cause health problems, are far more likely to be present in low-income communities of color and communities that have been historically marginalized. 

Especially in the light of COVID-19 and its disproportionate effect on Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities and the recent discussions about the connection between police violence and environmental work, it is more important than ever to shine a light on the links between environmental hazards and Black and brown neighborhoods. There is a long history of environmental justice communities being met with police brutality. For example, in 2016-2017, protests surrounding the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline were met with police violence. This scene has been replayed throughout US history and is reminiscent of recent protests.

MEJ’s goal is to empower these communities with undisputable data to influence policymakers and secure resources and protections. Using the examples of CalEnviroScreen and the Washington Environmental Health Disparities Map Project, MEJ’s maps demonstrate the intersection of poverty, racial discrimination, and disproportionate environmental impacts to audiences who haven’t listened to the stories residents have been telling for years.

How did this project come about?

In Fall 2018, Kelly Armijo, Adam Buchholz, and Kimia Pakdaman took the Environmental Justice Law class at Berkeley Law. The class sparked discussions about the usefulness of maps such as CalEnviroScreen in identifying disproportionately impacted communities and directing funding and protective regulations toward these communities. Kelly and Adam started a partnership with the Data Science Discovery Program, which allowed five undergraduates studying data science to receive credit toward creating a demonstration map for another state. In Spring 2020, Irene Farnsworth & Kimia Pakdaman joined the team to focus on an important aspect of creating the maps -- outreach to impacted communities and advocates as well as seeking partnerships with governments and community-based organizations. 

I know that you've made some good progress with some state stakeholders. Can you give one or two examples of exciting partnerships?

We have had dozens of conversations since January 2020 with Colorado nonprofits, advocates, city council members, and government agencies. MEJ has presented its demonstration map to staff within the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). Through these discussions, we are supporting CDPHE in their efforts to create a useful map that includes community feedback. 

We have also become a party to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s (COGCC) rulemaking process, which is aiming to redefine its role in protecting the health and safety of Coloradans. In this process, we are collaborating with several local nonprofits and advocacy groups to provide technical support during the comments period. We aim to make this map a resource for decisions made at the COGCC.

What role did undergraduate team members play?

Undergraduates from the Data Science Discovery Program spent the spring semester gathering, cleaning, and analyzing datasets on environmental, public health, and socioeconomic indicators, and combined these indicators to create a demonstration map. The undergraduate team gained a deeper understanding of environmental justice, the role that data can play in policymaking, and the importance of grounding environmental justice data in communities’ lived experiences with their direct input. Two of these students are continuing to work with us over the summer to expand our set of indicators and maps. 

What do you hope to accomplish with the UC Berkeley The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF) grant?

We hope to provide more opportunities for UC Berkeley students to become involved in this project and learn relevant skills in data science and mapping, community outreach, coalition building, legislative reform, and environmental justice.  Opportunities to apply our skills to real-world situations will increase our success once leaving UC Berkeley. Over the course of the TGIF grant, we will be able to fund five Master of Public Policy students during the summer (the four founding members and Alex Pfeifer Rosenblum, MPP 2021), one Master of Public Policy student during AY 2020-2021, and two undergraduate students (Tiffany Huynh and Zain Khan, B.A. 2020), and to host a D-Lab workshop and two presentations to share lessons learned and progress with the broader UC Berkeley community.

As you dream big, what hopes do you have for the MEJ's future and policy impact?

Our  dream is to create environmental justice maps for all states that are interested in implementing community-centered reforms and investments, and to foster consideration of the map’s findings in policy- and decision-making by state regulators.

While the TGIF grant will give us a boost, we are pursuing more funding opportunities and applying for fiscal sponsorship by the Earth Island Institute. We hope to be able to continue this work for years to come.