Projects
Beyond Environmental Injustice Research and Teaching Collective
connects and supports researchers and educators working against environmental injustice in diverse settings, in diverse ways. The goal is to build capacity to teach and learn about environmental injustice through the sharing of experiences, expertise and teaching materials. Learn more about and join the collective here.
Beyond the Tailpipe Project
funded by the California Department of Justice, brings together researchers in air chemistry, environmental health, the social sciences, and a community-based organization to understand pollution from vehicle brakes and tires (pollution that will continue to be a problem once all vehicles are electric). The project is led by AirUCI. EcoGovLab leads the social science component, working closely with MPNA-GREEN, a community-based organization in Santa Ana, California, a city cross-cut by high traffic roadways and ringed by freeways. Learn more about the project here.
EcoEd
is where we translate our research into teaching for students of all ages, in different disciplines, and for community activists and environmental professionals.
At the University of California-Irvine, EcoGovLab’s EcoEd initiative includes a lower division, general education course, “Environmental Injustice,” that teaches students the analytic, interpretive and research skills for understanding uneven distributions of environmental harms across different settings and social groups. The focus is on communities across California with high pollution burdens and health inequities. In examining and writing about these communities, students actively implement understanding of systemic racism, intersectional injustice, and other critical concepts. They also work with diverse knowledge forms, including Indigenous and community knowledge. Many student members of EcoGovLab came through this course.
EcoEd also reaches K-12 students and teachers – through field trips, classroom activities and a research intern program. In 2022, we are running intern programs in Santa Ana, California, and in Azusa, California.
In earlier work – in upstate New York, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) – EcoGovLab co-director Kim Fortun launched EcoEd, working closely with elementary school students and teachers in their classrooms, and with middle school students in an after-school research program. Learn more about RPI EcoEd here.
Current Projects
Disaster STS Network
PECE Project
Disaster STS Network is a digital research platform designed to link researchers working to understand, anticipate and respond to disaster. The platform provides space to archive, share, and collaboratively analyze research material. It also supports creative forms of research communication, and translation of research into educational programs. Explore the platform here.
Environmental Injustice Global Record
PECE Project
The Global Record Project is a collaborative initiative to build an expansive set of case studies and associated archival material demonstrating different forms and dynamics of environmental injustice in different settings. The goal is to build capacity among researchers through side-by-side and collaborative work while also building research resources for use in both teaching and later research. Learn more about the initiative here.
Anthropology 25A: Environmental Injustice
EcoEd Project
This series brings people together to build understanding of the problems that environmental governance needs to be addressed, and to strategize what needs to be done going forward. It recognizes that investment in both environmental protection and new ways of organizing the economy will be critical to inclusive prosperity. Learn more about the series here.
Reaching for Just Transition Talks
Seminar Series
This series brings people together to build understanding of the problems that environmental governance needs to be addressed, and to strategize what needs to be done going forward. It recognizes that investment in both environmental protection and new ways of organizing the economy will be critical to inclusive prosperity. Learn more about the series here.
Formosa Plastics Global Archive
PECE Project
The Formosa Plastic Global Archive supports the work of researchers and activists concerned about the operations of Formosa Plastics Corporation, a large multinational corporation headquartered in Taiwan. Collaborators include the San Antonio Bay Waterkeepers in Calhoun County, Texas and Justice for Formosa Victims, focused on Formosa’s operations in Vietnam. Explore the archive here.
Climate Change and Environmental Justice Program
EcoEd Project
This is a set of two 15 hour high school units developed for the California Department of Education and Ten Strands, an environmental non-profit. The units focus on learning about environmental injustice across places and developing an original environmental justice case study.
Past Projects
The Asthma Files
PECE Project
The Asthma Files is a digital research platform that connects researchers and educators focused on air pollution and air governance. Projects have focused on air pollution in California’s San Gabriel Valley, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and Delhi, India. The Asthma Files was also the home of RPI EcoEd, which brought research on air pollution to elementary and middle school students and teachers in upstate New York. Explore the platform here.
Beyond the Tailpipe
Project
This project was funded by the California Department of Justice and brought together researchers in air chemistry, environmental health, the social sciences, and a community-based organization to understand pollution from vehicle brakes and tires. The project was led by AirUCI. EcoGovLab led the social science component, working closely with MPNA-GREEN, a community-based organization in Santa Ana. Learn more about the project here.
RPI EcoEd
EcoEd Project
The Asthma Files is a digital research platform that connects researchers and educators focused on air pollution and air governance. Projects have focused on air pollution in California’s San Gabriel Valley, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and Delhi, India. The Asthma Files was also the home of RPI EcoEd, which brought research on air pollution to elementary and middle school students and teachers in upstate New York. Explore the platform here.