Tuesday, August 21, 2018
Monday, August 20, 2018
EJAG in Action at Michigan Environmental Justice Summit
 |
| Monica Lewis Patrick of We The People spoke at the Summit |
I’m proud of the Sierra Club Michigan
Environmental Justice Action Group’s (EJAG’s) hard work to support the Michigan
Environmental Justice Coalition in organizing the event. We contributed in a
number of ways, including:
●
Developing and being featured in
the opening “Flint in Focus” session where, on stage, we discussed the Flint
water crisis status, myths, environmental justice demands for the next
administration of Michigan government, and what needs to be done for Flint to
heal from the water crisis;
●
Curating the water justice track
by reviewing and selecting proposals
 |
| Flint pediatrician/activist Dr. Lawrence Reynolds appeared on a panel. |
●
Organizing the 2-hour “Water
Warriors Unite!” session, where we educated an audience of about 50
participants on the importance of policy development and how to use power
mapping as a tool for analyzing powerful influencers for/against an issue, and
gathering information to support the EJAG’s power mapping work regarding water
issues; and,
●
Recommending the event location
and local vendors.
The energy at the Summit was buoyant and
hopeful, with people networking and connecting across communities and
organizations to address pressing - and often interconnected - environmental
issues. For example, the dangerous presence of Enbridge pipelines is both an
energy justice issue and a water justice issue. Participants discussed
strategies to make room for new generations of environmental leaders, and the
intentional inclusion of a youth-organized youth justice track was a way for
the Summit itself to grow youth environmental justice leadership. Summit
participants also explored how to broaden environmental movements to be
inclusive of Native, First Nation and People of Color’s environmental matters
of concern like the Rights of Nature movement, and polluting
facilities (e.g. incinerators, petrochemical refineries, plastics
manufacturing), environmental disinvestment, and unaffordable drinking water
rates which tend to be concentrated in Native, First Nation and People of Color
communities.
In addition to our power-mapping session, the
water justice track highlighted an Anishinaabe-led workshop on grassroots
action on threats to Great Lakes water and a panel about forming just and
equitable research partnerships between academic institutions and communities
to address environmental injustices. One of the EJAG’s next steps is to circle
back to the full range of groups and organizations that participated in the
Summit to gather more information on how groups are working on water quality
and water affordability issues so that we can complete our internal power
mapping project and identify additional partners to work with to achieve
relevant Chapter priorities.
I was pleased to see Sierra Club Michigan
staff well-represented at the Summit, both to support the power-mapping session
and bridge tracks by learning from energy justice sessions that related to the
Chapter’s priorities. Great work, everyone!
In solidarity,
Mona Munroe-Younis
EJAG Chairperson
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