Week 1- Sarah Hochstadt
This week’s readings covered a vast array of introductory concepts relating to Environmental Justice, which is essentially the pursuit of equal access to healthy air, water, education, disaster prevention, etc. to communities in need, including coastal communities, communities of color, poverty stricken communities, and women, who are disproportionately affected by climate change.
Because the range of topics covered in these readings is so large, I choose to focus on the readings on Climate Justice Superheroes by James Balog and Gender Aspects of Climate Change In The US Gulf Coast Region by Rachel Harris.
13 Climate Justice Leaders Imagined as Comic Superheroes offers a glimpse into the efforts of 13 different "climate superheroes"--or public advocates for climate change. The advocates depicted range from well known- figures like Neil DeGrasse Tyson, public figure and director of Hayden Planetarium, to other pioneers of Environmental Justice such as Patricia Espinosa Cantellano, secretary of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), with a special focus on People of Color activists who are often overlooked in the context of the greater Environmental Justice movement. These "heroes" are depicted (by various visual artists) as comic characters, a strategy likely aimed at appealing to a younger audience in an effort to inspire an environmentally friendly charged youth.
Gender Aspects of Climate Change in the US Gulf Coast Region by Rachel Harris is a more mature read focused on the inequities experienced by women of color during and after Hurricane Katrina. It discusses the concept of "vulnerable" populations. The word "vulnerable" in an environmental sense applies to physical characteristics like proximity to coasts as well as social vulnerability, for example, women and/or people of color, who have less access to aid and jobs in the aftermath of a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina. One devastating fact is that the majority of relief efforts for Katrina were led by women, yet, women in the Gulf Coast are still considered one of the most vulnerable populations to the effects of natural disaster. Critics of this concept believe that labeling women as "vulnerable" reduces women's complexity and paints them as permanent victims incapable of participating in their own liberation.
Because the range of topics covered in these readings is so large, I choose to focus on the readings on Climate Justice Superheroes by James Balog and Gender Aspects of Climate Change In The US Gulf Coast Region by Rachel Harris.
13 Climate Justice Leaders Imagined as Comic Superheroes offers a glimpse into the efforts of 13 different "climate superheroes"--or public advocates for climate change. The advocates depicted range from well known- figures like Neil DeGrasse Tyson, public figure and director of Hayden Planetarium, to other pioneers of Environmental Justice such as Patricia Espinosa Cantellano, secretary of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), with a special focus on People of Color activists who are often overlooked in the context of the greater Environmental Justice movement. These "heroes" are depicted (by various visual artists) as comic characters, a strategy likely aimed at appealing to a younger audience in an effort to inspire an environmentally friendly charged youth.
Gender Aspects of Climate Change in the US Gulf Coast Region by Rachel Harris is a more mature read focused on the inequities experienced by women of color during and after Hurricane Katrina. It discusses the concept of "vulnerable" populations. The word "vulnerable" in an environmental sense applies to physical characteristics like proximity to coasts as well as social vulnerability, for example, women and/or people of color, who have less access to aid and jobs in the aftermath of a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina. One devastating fact is that the majority of relief efforts for Katrina were led by women, yet, women in the Gulf Coast are still considered one of the most vulnerable populations to the effects of natural disaster. Critics of this concept believe that labeling women as "vulnerable" reduces women's complexity and paints them as permanent victims incapable of participating in their own liberation.
Good summary. Remember to define words and include a paragraph on the emotions and memories that the texts evoke. - Professor FRG
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