On Sunday, April 29, Sacramento ACT people of faith and local environmental justice activists gathered at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento (UUSS) to learn about environmental racism in Sacramento and how to organize to address it.  We learned that environmental racism is about systematic overburdening of environmental hazards and deprivation of environmental resources in low-income communities of color, and how these communities have been excluded from decision-making about their physical community.

We saw how environmental justice communities experience higher asthma rates, lack tree canopies that can help to filter some toxic air pollutants and decrease temperatures in the area by 5 – 7 degrees, do not have safe walkable/bikeable communities, do not have adequate quality food access, and have more toxic cleanup sites.  And we met Sacramento-area environmental justice leaders with whom we can partner to address some of these issues.

Our speakers included (from top) Reggie Hola, Sacramento ACT organizer; Mary Westfall, Sacramento ACT Clergy Caucus and Sacramento ACT Environmental Justice Committee; Jonathan London UCD Professor of Human Ecology and Director of the UCD Center for Regional Change; Katie Valenzuela, Principal Consultant for the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies and Sacramento EJ organizer; Kirin Kumar, Executive Director of WALK Sacramento; Jackie Cole, and Social and Environmental Justice Consultant and EJ organizer. Dr. Ruth McDonald, Sacramento ACT Environmental Justice LOC member facilitated the Q & A session.

If you are interested in engaging in this work, please come to our Sacramento ACT Environmental Justice LOC meeting on the second Wednesday of each month at UUSS, 2425 Sierra Blvd.  Our next meeting is May 9th.