Justice First: Interdisciplinary Approaches in Environmental Justice Research and Efforts

Following the 1982 protests of Warren County, North Carolina, USA, which have been deemed the birth of modern environmental justice (EJ; Bullard 2020), many of the research efforts for EJ have focused on race/class disparities in environmental quality and health (see Cushing et al. 2015; Agyeman et al. 2016; Swope et al. 2022 for example). This research has highlighted the many disparities in environmental quality as well as human health, which is key for addressing and working toward the 17 principles of environmental justice (Mohai et al. 2009). Due to this, the understanding of EJ within ecology is often posited within the relationship between humans and environmental degradation. Yet, the "environment" is not just physical landscapes, it is "everything: where we live, work, play, go to school, as well as the physical and natural world," as described by Robert Bullard, the father of the modern EJ movement (Schweizer 1999, Bullard 2020). Moreover, the first EJ principle states, "Environmental justice affirms the sacredness of Mother Earth, ecological unity and the interdependence of all species, and the right to be free from ecological destruction" (Mohai et al. 2009), meaning that research should necessarily integrate non-human animals into the work of EJ (Agyeman et al. 2016). Our symposium, "Justice First: Interdisciplinary Approaches in Environmental Justice Research" brings together speakers who examine not as a people-free biophysical system but as the ambient and immediate surroundings of everyday life, people, and wildlife. This is essential for advancing EJ and recognizing that environmental injustices can occur beyond physical landscapes. Overall, the speakers in this symposium highlighted that engaging with urban health, environmental injustices, and education means addressing the inequalities in our society. To do so, speakers engaged with a wide range of scholars both in the private and public sectors, unknowingly emphasizing the need for de-siloing knowledge production in ecology. The primary goals of this symposium are to learn from Black scholars who have lived experience with systems of oppression that create environmental injustices and to highlight that work that engages EJ with communities rather than on EJ communities. Speakers showed that accomplishing EJ requires building new structures centered around placing humans as a part of the natural world rather than apart from it, and that incorporating EJ into a field requires a holistic approach that can produce transformative work. This symposium was moderated by Brandon Quintana at California State University, with talks given by, and open discussion with attendees amongst, Cesar Estien (Ph.D. Candidate – University of California Berkeley), Alycia Ellington (Ph.D. Student – University of California, Santa Cruz), Gabriel Gadsden (Ph.D. Candidate – Yale University) and Dr. Christopher Schell (Assistant Professor – University of California, Berkeley; Fig. 1). This article provides a summary of the presentations of the talks given at the symposium. Environmental injustice is more than a disproportionate exposure to pollution; it comes in many forms, including disruptions in relationships to land and adverse impacts on wildlife ecology (Groves 2015, Agyeman et al. 2016, Schell et al. 2020). This assemblage of scholars demonstrated new perspectives and opportunities for attendees to engage with and contribute to a new wave of EJ scholarship. We believe that conversations surrounding environmental injustice should be led by individuals whose identities and experiences overlap with the communities harmed the most by environmental injustice and who have lived experiences with systemic oppression, racism, sexism, and queerphobia. For that reason, the Justice First symposium hosted early-career Black scientists who are emerging experts in their field. Although all scientists can do EJ work and know the theory, lived experience is incredibly valuable for shaping the approach and framing of EJ work. For our speakers, their direct experiences and identities inform how they approach and form the foundation of their work (e.g., Schell et al. 2020, Ellington 2021, Estien 2023, Gadsden et al. 2023). This symposium is an act from Black and Latine organizers against the white supremacy that lingers in institutions because of the deep roots it holds within academia and science at large. For this reason, we wanted attendees to engage with new scholars at staggered career stages and disciplines who have been marginalized in their own fields. Cesar Estien's talk discussed the legacy effects of historical redlining on urban ecosystem health in California. Historical redlining, which was a discriminatory lending practice in the United States, has been noted to shape and influence the value of the land and was based largely on racist criteria (Hillier 2003, Mitchell and Franco 2018). The policy of redlining was institutionalized by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) by creating risk assessment maps, which represented neighborhoods that were treated as less valuable and more risky to offer loans in by the Federal Housing Association as well as local lenders (Fishback et al. 2022, Markley 2024). In the process, they graded neighborhoods, with neighborhoods that were composed mostly of Black and other minorized populations (e.g., low-income and immigrant) given Grade D, deemed as "hazardous" and mapped in red – birthing the term "redlined" (Hillier 2003). In contrast, neighborhoods that were composed of wealthy, white populations were given grade A, considered the "best," and mapped in green (Hillier 2003). Estien's talk goes deeper into the legacy effects of redlining and interrogates the extent to which redlining is associated with wildlife ecology via measurements of faunal biodiversity. Due to the fact that redlining can shape most of the environmental heterogeneity in cities (i.e., pollution, heat, and green spaces; Schell et al. 2020; Swope et al. 2022), Estien leverages the neighborhood grades given by the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) grades to ask what the legacy effects of redlining are on urban ecosystem health. Estien answered this question in two parts. First, Estien focused specifically on California, given access to the high-resolution environmental hazard screening tool CalEnviroScreen (California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment 2021). Alongside CalEnviroScreen, Estien also used other open data sources to investigate if redlining was associated with the spatial distribution of environmental hazards (i.e., pollutants and amenities). Specifically, Estien looked at 10 environmental hazard metrics: groundwater threat, lead risk from housing, hazardous waste and facilities, toxic releases from facilities, particulate matter 2.5, diesel particulate matter, vegetation via NDVI, thermal intensity, noise pollution, and overall pollution burden (Estien et al. 2024). From these questions, redlined neighborhoods (grade D) were found to have ~70% pollution burden on average compared to grade A (i.e., greenlined) neighborhoods, which were found to have ~30% pollution burden on average as well as significantly less vegetation, elevated temperatures, and higher levels of noise (Estien et al. 2024). Moreover, the now-published manuscript shows that redlined neighborhoods face disproportionately worse environmental quality than greenlined neighborhoods. For instance, 77% of redlined neighborhoods had higher pollution than their respective city's average, in contrast to 18% of greenlined neighborhoods (Estien et al. 2024). Estien then leveraged these findings to ask if redlining and environmental health are associated with faunal biodiversity, focusing on six major taxonomic clades, including mammals, birds, and insects in California. The preprint for a portion of this work, which investigates the relationship between HOLC grades and wildlife biodiversity in California, shows that species richness does differ across HOLC grades. Specifically, this research finds that previously redlined neighborhoods have significantly fewer species than greenlined neighborhoods, with disparities evident across the clades examined (Estien et al. 2023). Estien and colleagues found that there was variation in which HOLC grade had the highest amount of species, with grade B having the highest species richness in Oakland and Los Angeles (Estien et al. 2023). This research also showed that HOLC grades did differ in species assemblage, with grades A and D showing significantly different species assemblages (Estien et al. 2023). Estien also found that as pollution increased, species richness decreased, although there was city-level variation. Estien emphasized that as we progress in EJ, centering social justice will be critical, especially as areas with potentially unique species pools (such as Grade D) are subjected to great environmental pressures, such as high pollution and elevated temperatures. Alycia Ellington began their talk by examining the growing field of EJ to clearly situate where their research falls in the field. Ellington examined how students ages 12–20 contextualize EJ through communication. They did this by providing environmental education approaches to students and investigating how students use this to implement change or draw connections in their own communities. Through this kind of community engaged research (CER), an intersection approach to knowledge production (Fine and Torre 2021), Ellington aims to reposition key community leaders as collaborators and co-investigators (e.g., Estien et al. 2022). Here, Ellington identified the failure to engage youth as a gap in CER and emphasized that EJ should include and call for the education of present and future generations to therefore amplify social and environmental issues. This results in instilling youth as co-leaders of research projects rather than being the subject of the research taking place (Ellington et al. 2023). Ellington highlighted that the inclusion of youth in these research projects is most effective when they are given the opportunity and space to employ creative methods such as story mapping, photovoice, and documentaries. Ellington was able to perform youth-engaged research by conducting and leading youth participatory action research (YPAR; a critical and collaborative approach to research that centers youth as co-leaders of research projects; Cammarota and Fine 2010) workshops in lead water testing and photovoice (Ellington 2021). They supported Detroit youth in a project centered on lead contamination in residential water in Michigan. Here, Ellington led workshops and trainings for Detroit youth, allowing them to conduct research and social engagement. Youth communicated with Detroit residents by having them sign up for water testing, and they themselves tested the water and then disseminated the results of these tests to their own communities. This YPAR experience provided youth with professional development opportunities and exposure to EJ early on in their careers. Ellington co-designed and facilitated a month-long photovoice project with 8th graders in an afterschool program named Salud y Carino. In this project, youth attended workshops in which they learned about photovoice, photography, analysis, and creative writing. Here, youth were allowed to express what Salud (health) meant to them before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (Ellington et al. 2023). The result of this collaboration with their community partner was a documentary and photovoice exhibit that highlights the Latine, non-binary, and trans youths of Live Oak, an unincorporated town in Santa Cruz county, California. Ellington emphasizes the importance of CER and youth-engaged research in making ones work more inclusive for the community as well as for people of color and youth. In urban areas, large populations, permeable surfaces, and large infrastructures are widespread. Similarly, rodents are prevalent throughout urban areas, such as the white-footed mouse and the brown rat. Gabriel Gadsden, from Yale University, presented on the intersection of rodent infestations in varying neighborhoods based on income in Philadelphia and the environmental injustices present in this phenomenon. First, Gadsden highlighted the interconnectedness between human, animal, and environmental health, termed "One Health" (Atlas 2013, Murray et al. 2022). In this presentation, Gadsden talked about the well-being of homeowners at risk due to disease vectors that can be introduced into their homes via poor housing infrastructure that provides habitat for rats. The Philadelphia Rodent Study aimed to assess whether neighborhoods with more environmental justice concerns will have a significantly higher abundance of rodents and significantly less diverse rodent communities. The study was conducted in Philadelphia where varying health outcomes ranks are in place (Whitley et al. 2021). The study first considers neighborhood and park diversity, primarily due to the relationship between inefficient housing infrastructure and rodent exposure (i.e., energy injustice). To collect relevant biological samples from rodents, Gadsden used lethal non-toxic snap traps in alleyways, sidewalks, and human-altered park spaces. Gadsden used tissues collected as well as fecal samples to investigate the presence of zoonotic parasites. So far, Gadsden's preliminary results suggest that the brown rat and the house mouse populations carry Leptospira and thus, have great potential to make people sick. This study is relevant and explores a new avenue of environmental injustice via examining the relationship between energy injustice and wildlife ecology as well as the potential for zoonotic disease exposure. Gadsden's talk highlights the intricate connections between human, animal, and environmental health. Environmental justice is prevalent in urban areas, especially in low-socioeconomic communities that have been dealing with the repercussions of redlining. Chris Schell, an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, presented on how urban stressors can influence wildlife physiology. Under stressful environments, the activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis prepares organisms to fight or flee. However, chronic exposure to stress may have health consequences for an individual (Isaksson 2015). Past research has suggested that specific urban wildlife can experience less stress than their nonurban conspecifics (French et al. 2008, Murray et al. 2019) or no differences in stress (Iglesias-Carrasco et al. 2020). Schell talks about the unusual nature of these findings and notes that many studies fail to consider within-city heterogeneity that may lead to variance in stress. Schell's research explores the relationship between urban heterogeneity and thyroid hormones (glucocorticoid (GC), T3, and T4), that were otherwise left out in past studies. Schell's main questions aimed to address whether indicator hormones vary across an environmental health gradient within cities and whether hormones covary across populations. To address this question, Schell and his team collected coyote fecal samples across San Francisco to assess whether glucocorticoid and thyroid concentrations were related to environmental health in different urban gradients with varying pollution burdens. Schell found that GCs have a negative relationship with pollution burden, with coyotes in more polluted areas having less GCs. Schell et al. did not find a relationship between pollution burden and T3 and T4 hormones but did find covariance between GC and thyroid hormones (i.e., T3 and T4). This study suggests that environmental health may play an important role in urban wildlife physiology, and further analysis from the Schell lab will illuminate these potential connections. Schell concluded his presentation by discussing how urban wildlife ecology and environmental justice are both interrelated and impossible to research one while discounting the other. However, environmental justice principles are hardly mentioned in urban wildlife literature, despite several of the principles, such as principles 1, 4, and 12, holding application to non–human species as well as humans. Recognizing environmental justice is critical as heterogeneity in urban spaces is driven by logics of oppression via structural racism and classism (Schell et al. 2020). The Justice First symposium not only acknowledges existing environmental disparities but also calls for a paradigm shift in ecological research. It challenges the conventional silos within academia and promotes interdisciplinary scholarship that can have far-reaching implications in areas like conservation, policy, urban planning, public health, and education. This approach is vital in addressing the complex web of environmental challenges that we face today, where systemic issues like racism and capitalism are inextricably linked with environmental injustice. The speakers in the Justice First symposium are just a subset of the scholars who are paving the way for a more inclusive ecology by demonstrating that ecology must critically examine the environment in all its facets to understand the myriad factors that produce environmental injustices and impact wildlife. By inviting early-career Black scientists who have faced systemic oppression themselves, the symposium acknowledges the value of lived experiences in shaping research. Further, the symposium offered an opportunity for attendees to engage with scholars who bring fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to the forefront (Fig. 1), challenging the traditional portrayals of those who conduct ecological research. Although the research presented primarily focuses on EJ work in the United States, there is an urgent need around the world to fight environmental injustices by centering and fighting social injustice. This session provided a new direction for traditionally trained ecologists interested in incorporating EJ in their work by promoting the interdisciplinary work of ESA members. As organizers, we view our symposium as a call to action for ecologists to recognize the interconnectedness of environmental and social justice issues and to work across disciplines to create a more equitable and just future. Moreover, the work presented in the symposium highlights the critical work that still needs to be done to dismantle environmental injustices to create a healthy, just environment for all, as emphasized by the first principle of environmental justice (Mohai et al. 2009).