By Rachel Correll. It’s Monday morning. The coffee pot is empty. Staff of the Huron River Watershed Council (HRWC) are filing into the South Conference room. It’s my first staff meeting and chance to meet everyone. Going into this internship, I felt a severe case of imposter syndrome. I had only ever known academia, spending Read more

By Antionette Fowlkes. The drive to Minneapolis, MN from Ames, IA for my summer environmental justice fellowship with Pillsbury United Communities and the North Minneapolis Environmental Justice Coordinating Council (EJCC) was a peaceful and exciting ride. Often, I pass up the opportunity to take a road trip, but this one was necessary. As I made Read more

By Stephanie Hung. From the EFP orientation, I was under the impression that my placement site would give me an assignment related to diversity, equity, and inclusion or environmental justice. When I arrived at PSE Healthy Energy, I was tasked with identifying the chemicals in oil and gas wastewater and evaluating the efficacy of existing Read more

By Rebeca Villegas.   As a young professional of color and environmentalist, I have had both the privilege to witness and burden to be involved in the ongoing evolution of the environmental field. But before we begin, it’s important to recognize that the plea for expanding what it means to be an environmentalist has been Read more

By Rashidah H. Farid.  New England. I am no stranger to travel and having worked across the lower 48 states and Alaska. I might say I am experienced, particularly with rural communities.  Working in rural New England, however, has presented some unique experiences for me. The prevailing culture is of inclusion and openness. Everyone is Read more

By Victoria Loong. I took my first educational dive into environmental justice issues through an interactive article by MSNBC on Cancer Alley. This article struck me by how it put the communities at the center of the story; how Brunetta Sims of Baton Rouge, Louisiana was coping among Exxon Mobil’s refineries, how she lived with Read more

By Tabaris D. Smith. Coming from the South, and not having to rely on public transportation made me take this asset for granted. Where I’m from we rely most on automobiles so I had no idea how central transportation equity is and how it intersects with so many issues we face in our culture today. Read more

By Sarah Naiman. Companies like Wheelabrator [a waste incinerator company] come in here because they can. They can come in they can use their wealth and their power to really buy their way into communities and that’s the sad reality and that’s why we really do need to protect communities of environmental justice. They’re usually Read more

By Fantasia Williams. During my summer as an Environmental Fellow, I had the opportunity to take part in an equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) history and culture project for one of the largest conservation organizations in North America. This project made it clear that while the global field of environmental conservation is making headway in Read more

By Shanna Williamson. As an environmental fellow with the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance (MSGA), I participated in their Great Neighborhoods Campaign which is a collaborative effort aimed at addressing housing challenges in the Boston region. This 10-year campaign focused on reforming Massachusetts’s zoning and permitting laws to encourage healthy, diverse, and equitable community development. One Read more