About the Initiative

The Environmental and Epistemic Justice Initiative at Wake Forest University is a Mellon Foundation funded research and pedagogical project that brings together students, scholars, activists, journalists, and public officials in a multi-pronged effort to imagine, design, and develop a humanistic Science and Technology Studies curriculum that places at its center environmental and epistemic justice in critically examine how and in what ways race and regimes of racial knowledge shape and inform our scholarly practices, public policies, and normative concerns.

“The ultimate goal of this initiative is to cultivate a new generation of students and scholars who understand that a complex knowledge of race and processes of racialization are critical to comprehending and responding to our current environmental crisis.”

Robert D. Bullard

“All people are entitled to equal environmental protection regardless of race, color, or national origin. Environmental justice is the right to live and work and play in a clean environment.”

Robert D. Bullard

Environmental Justice Pioneer and Distinguished Professor at Texas Southern University


About the African American Studies Program

Institute

Learn more about our signature environmental justice summer institute

African American Program Academic Information

Programs

Learn more about our diverse environmental and epistemic justice programs

African American Studies Program Faculty

People

Learn more about the diverse group of Wake Forest University environmental justice scholars


2024 Mellon EEJI Summit

Headlines & Footnotes:
Environmental Justice in an Age of Planetary Crisis

Please visit our YouTube channel to view all the panels.


News

Sanitation blues in Alabama’s Black Belt

November 22, 2024

This week, we’re on the road in Alabama. Environmental Justice reporter Danny McArthur looks at wastewater issues in the Black Belt, reporting that sanitation is a struggle for people who live in manufactured homes.


Alabama Black Belt’s sewer crisis a tougher fix for residents in manufactured homes

November 21, 2024

Willie Perryman pulls up to his manufactured home in Letohatchee, Alabama. He was down at his church, helping distribute food, but had to come back to meet with the Black Belt Unincorporated Wastewater Program (BBUWP), a local nonprofit visiting his home to check out his sanitation situation.


Washington state farm workers worry about boom in legal foreign workers

November 14, 2024

The H-2A program might grow under Trump and mass deportations


Melba Newsome takes 1st place at 2024 Science Communicators of North Carolina awards

Melba Newsome was awarded first place at the 2024 Science Communicators of North Carolina awards for her article “River Guardians.” A distinguished journalist, Melba Newsome is project coordinator for the Wake Forest University-Mellon Foundation Environmental and Epistemic Justice Initiative.


New legal agreement aims to stop water pollution at largest NC landfill

A constant stream of 18-wheeler trucks file into the Sampson County landfill, located next to a small, historically-Black community named Snow Hill. The front of the facility is adorned with lush landscaping. From afar, it looks like a large hill of dirt.

“I call it a toxic dump, but most people here call it a landfill,” said longtime resident Whitney Parker.


Summer heat in schools makes indoor learning insufferable

September 5, 2024

Summer may be coming to a close, but that doesn’t guarantee that many classrooms opening across New York City this week won’t be stifling, as lingering elevated outdoor temperatures and indoor temperatures keep old buildings and everyone in them feeling the heat.



Event Calendar

Check back later for upcoming events in this category.
See full calendar

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