“Environmental Justice and Environmental Racism”

What is environmental racism? Why DO the most polluting industries tend to end up in certain parts of town? Isn’t it just about class? Learn about the realities of environmental racism. This workshop discusses the principles of environmental justice and what it means to be involved in the environmental justice movement. We will explore the differences between NIMBY “not in my backyard” and NIABY “not in anyone’s backyard” politics, the difference between environmental “equity” and justice, and how corporate propaganda systems undermine environmental justice through sophisticated divide and conquer tactics.

Mike Ewall is the founder and director of Energy Justice Network, a national support network for grassroots community groups fighting dirty energy and waste industry facilities such as coal power plants, ethanol plants, natural gas facilities, landfills and incinerators of every sort. He has been actively involved in student and community environmental justice organizing since high school in 1990. He’s taught hundreds of workshops at college campuses and activist conferences throughout the U.S. His grassroots support work has helped many communities achieve victories against power plants, landfills, incinerators, medical waste facilities and other polluting industries.