Archive
Coverage of the Event
Panelist Bios
David N. Pellow
Dehlsen Chair and Professor of Environmental Studies and Director of the Global Environmental Justice Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara
David N. Pellow is the Dehlsen Chair and Professor of Environmental Studies and Director of the Global Environmental Justice Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he teaches courses on social change movements, environmental justice, human-animal conflicts, sustainability, and social inequality. Professor Pellow has published numerous works on environmental justice issues in communities of color in the U.S. and globally. His two of his most recent books are:Ìý What is Critical Environmental Justice? (Polity Press, 2017); and Total Liberation: The Power and Promise of Animal Rights and the Radical Earth Movement (University of Minnesota Press, 2014).
In addition to his scholarly contributions, Professor Pellow has consulted for and served on the Boards of Directors of community-based, national, and international organizations including the Community Environmental Council, Global Action Research Center, the Center for Urban Transformation, Global Response, Greenpeace USA, International Rivers, and the Prison Ecology Project.
Professor Pellow earned his B.A. in Sociology and Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Northwestern University in.
The title of Professor Pellow’s talk was “Confronting Environmental Racism and Lifting Up Environmental Justice"
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Rev. Mariama White-Hammond
Founding pastor of New Roots AME ChurchÌý
ÌýDorchester, Massachusetts
David N. Pellow is the Dehlsen Chair and Professor of Environmental Studies and Director of the Global Environmental Justice Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he teaches courses on social change movements, environmental justice, human-animal conflicts, sustainability, and social inequality. Professor Pellow has published numerous works on environmental justice issues in communities of color in the U.S. and globally. His two of his most recent books are:Ìý What is Critical Environmental Justice? (Polity Press, 2017); and Total Liberation: The Power and Promise of Animal Rights and the Radical Earth Movement (University of Minnesota Press, 2014).
In addition to his scholarly contributions, Professor Pellow has consulted for and served on the Boards of Directors of community-based, national, and international organizations including the Community Environmental Council, Global Action Research Center, the Center for Urban Transformation, Global Response, Greenpeace USA, International Rivers, and the Prison Ecology Project.
Professor Pellow earned his B.A. in Sociology and Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Northwestern University in.
The title of Professor Pellow’s talk was “Confronting Environmental Racism and Lifting Up Environmental Justice"
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Student Impact
“I felt inspired to increase my knowledge of environmental justice and engage more with local issues pertaining to environmental justice. I hope to bring more elements of environmental justice, racial justice and socioeconomic justice into my job and student groups on campus. ”
Student Discussions
December 2, 2020
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The day after the panel talk, Rev. Mariama White-Hammond and Dr. David Pellow each held a student-only Zoom session with undergraduate and graduate students from across Boston College’s schools and college.
Rev. White-Hammond spoke about topics, such as the pillars of the intersection of faith communities and environmental justice, incorporating environmental justice into various career paths, food justice and how Boston College can make a difference, and the history of the term environmental justice and how to truly practice it. She said if you truly want to practice environmental justice then you have to ask who is being hurt the most and who has the most resources to withstand it, not just how many people are going to be impacted.
Dr. Pellow spoke about topics, such as the responsibility to control environmental risks resting with multiple levels (individuals, companies, government), the importance of work in the nonprofit sector, the importance of including everyone if we're really taking environmental justice seriously, and the importance of making environmental justice intersectional. He also encouraged students that the only constant is change, and that we are the ones that can make change possible. What feels impossible can become inevitable.
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