In the past eight months of quarantine in the U.S., two prevalent movements have taken on new meanings: social and environmental justice. A new set of socioeconomic concerns revolves around the fragility of living conditions in the face of large corporations. Simultaneously, a new form of environmental responsibility is often overlooked.
Over the span of five years, Linda Garcia, recipient of the 2019 Goldman Environmental Prize, acted to mitigate these concerns within her community. By voicing her concerns and advocating for change, she overturned the Tesoro Corporation’s construction plans, which aimed to build an industrial oil terminal near her community and put vulnerable families at risk of pollutant exposure.
In an interview, Garcia explains the interdependence of social and environmental justice.To protect marginalized demographics, she calls for awareness and action on both the household and community level.
In lieu of current shutdowns and the resulting surplus of time spent at home, Garcia stresses the importance of sustainable domestic practices to conserve and redistribute resources. She emphasizes that it starts with small, conservation-based actions. When asked for suggestions of how to implement these practices, she said, “In your own home, there are ways to conserve resources, like electricity. It could be as small as changing your lightbulbs from the old standard to the new LED, and there are a lot of organizations that will help get you started.”
However, these solutions are inaccessible to underserved communities. Based on the current economic climate, Garcia said,“There are a lot of people simply surviving. They have enough money to buy food, maybe pay rent. They can’t be bothered to change lightbulbs.” She emphasizes the importance of energy-assistance organizations, which provide economic aid to switch to greener alternatives. During the pandemic, typical methods of raising funds and gaining public attention have become obsolete. As a result, these prominent resources of accessible sustainability are largely unavailable.
In tandem with reduced funding for these organizations, the pandemic has disrupted reliable employment and residential stability, and this disproportionately impacts underserved communities. The risks of losing employment and housing prevent individuals from taking an active stance against abuse from large corporations.
Corporations have been taking advantage of this. Garcia says, “Big corporations, mostly oil, methane, and fracked gas, target the oppressed and already marginalized populations.Too many people think that social and environmental justice are mutually exclusive, but they’re absolutely not.”
According to Garcia, this is where social and environmental justice work hand in hand. Taking small actions to educate communities brings awareness to this issue, which is the first step in solving it. Garcia advocates that by making a small choice, like using reusable cups instead of plastic bottles, “You’re not just saving the Earth from the dumping of the plastic and the improper disposal, but you’re sending a message to the big corporations and saying, ‘Hey I’m choosing to do something different.’”
For example, only a few years ago, using reusable metal and paper straws instead of plastic straws was an unpopular choice. As this has picked up steam, millions of people, educating themselves on the environmental benefits, have made the switch. And plastic corporations got the message. Now, cities like San Diego and Seattle and global cafe chains like Starbucks have ditched plastic straws, opting for greener alternatives.
In Garcia’s words, once your actions convey that message to larger corporations, “your family, friends, and neighbors may see you and ask you what you’re doing, and that’s your golden opportunity to educate. You start small. You do whatever you can you feel is right. Then you talk about it. You have conversations about it. Your impact becomes limitless.” ❦
Sanjana Gurram is an internationally awarded researcher and scientific writer. She leads Peer Counseling and Young Leaders in Healthcare at her school and is in the works of publishing a youth interdisciplinary research journal. In the next few years, she aims to study environmental engineering, biomedical engineering, and/or global health. In her free time, Sanjana can be found watching corny horror movies on the edge of her seat and tweaking her putting stroke with her portable golf mat.
