Panel discussion "The Nature of Environmental Justice"

March 3, 2015—A panel discussion titled “The Nature of Environmental Justice” will be held at Williams College on Thursday, March 12, in Griffin Hall, room 3, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Panelists include Sylvia Hood Washington, Brentin Mock, Al Huang, and Aaron Mair. David L. Smith, the college’s John W. Chandler Professor of English, will moderate. The panel is free and open to the public.

Washington, an epidemiologist and editor in chief of Environmental Justice, is a co-advisor for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and president and CEO of Environmental Health Research Associates, LLC. Her research involves the effects of pollution on health, health care safety, and infection control, among others. She is the author of Packing Them In: An Archaeology of Environmental Racism in Chicago, 1865-1954. Washington holds an M.P.H. from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University.

Mock is the justice editor for Grist, an online magazine focused on environmental news. His work focuses on the intersections among race, politics, history, and environmental justice. Previously, he was a reporter for Colorlines and The Lens NOLA. Mock holds a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh.

Huang is a senior attorney in the Natural Resources Defense Council’s urban program in New York. His work involves coordinating environmental justice work, litigating and advocating on behalf of low-income communities, and advocating policy at the local, state, and federal levels. He currently serves on the Environmental Justice Committee of the American Bar Association. Huang holds a law and master’s degree from Vermont Law School.

Mair is an urban environmental activist and strategist. He served previously as the chair of the New York Sierra Club’s Atlantic chapter, and was a recipient of the Citizen Environmentalist Activist Award. He is the creator of two nonprofit community service organizations and four majority Minority legislative seats in Albany County.

This event is sponsored by the Center for Environmental Studies, Lecture Committee and Oakley Center for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives, Africana Studies Program, Gaudino Fund, Department of Anthropology and Sociology , The Davis Center, Leadership Studies Program, Public Health Program, and Justice and Law Studies Program.