This is my Op-Ed. It focuses on current social justice issues. The requirements were that it had to be at most 450 words long, there had to be at least one quote from the NY times and one other quote from any other reliable new source. It really was a big challenge to condense everything…
Environmental Justice
Presentation with WeAct for the class on 3/9/17
by Willem
David Chang along with Taylor came to LREI to present what the meaning of environmental justice is, how we are affected by it, and what we can do. Cole had emailed them in advance to set up a time to come. Cole and I introduced them to the class, then they began their presentation. They…
David Chang and Taylor talk to our grade about Environmental Justice 3/9/17
by Cole
On Thursday, March 9th David Chang along with his colleague Taylor came in and talked to our grade about Environmental Justice and what We Act does. I had emailed them before asking if they were available to come in and finally, we organized a time when both we were available as well as them being available.…
Conversation on Trump’s Executive Orders and What We Can Do About It (with city council member Mark Levine) 3/2/17
by Cole
On Thursday, March 2nd I headed up to a meeting with my fellow social justice group member Spencer to talk have an insightful conversation on Trump’s executive orders and what we can do about it. The meeting was held up on 125th street and was held by city councilman Mark Levine. I had gotten an…
Flow the movie (documentary made about the world water crisis) 1/18/17
by Cole
On Wednesday, January 18th my social justice group and I started to watch the movie flow which talked about the world water crisis and how people didn’t have access to clean and safe water. I had found this movie for us to watch when I was talking to my teacher Sarah and I had brought…
Conference with We Act and Costa G. Constantinides (The Chair of the Environmental Committee for City Council ) 1/14/17
by Cole
On Saturday, January 14th part of my social justice group, Willem, Jack and I attended We Act’s annual monthly membership meeting. We Act is a group made up of scientists, lawyers and devoted workers to help make not-as-privileged communities environmentally safe. The meeting was a great opportunity to hear first-hand people’s stories of environmental injustice…
1/9/17 Rally in Front of Chuck Schumer’s Office
by Cole
On Monday, January 9th after interviewing Jacqueline Patterson head of Environmental Justice for the NAACP, my social justice group along with Suzanne and I head out to protest Donald Trump’s cabinet picks at Chuck Schumer’s office. Trump’s picks would be horrible looking through the environmental justice perspective. Most of his picks were climate deniers who…
Documentary FLOW, made in 2008
by Willem
My social justice group watched a documentary called FLOW which was about the world water crisis. In the documentary itself, several topics came up like dangerous bottled water, and poor communities who didn’t have access to clean water due to big companies polluting their water supply. An example of water contamination was in Florida, when…
Rally at Senator Chuck Schumer’s Office 1/9/17
by Willem
On January 9th, the same day we had interviewed Jacqueline Patterson we went to a rally in front of Chuck Schumer’s office to speak against Trump’s cabinet. I hate Trump and his cabinet picks. Every one of them would personally see to it that every tree would be burned down to scorching ashes if it financially benefits…
Phone Interview with Jacqueline Patterson, the head of the Environmental Justice branch of the NAACP on 1/9/17
by Willem
On that day we talked to Jacqueline Patterson who is the head of the Environmental Justice branch of the NAACP. The NAACP stands for: National Association for Advancement of Colored People. This was a good association to talk to because most of the communities suffering from environmental injustice are African American ones. We took turns asking…
FLOW For Love of Water a documentary made in 2008 about the World Water Crisis
by Spencer
On January 18th my Social Justice group watched a documentary called FLOW For Love of Water, which was about the world water crisis. I learned many interesting things about this huge problem, for example, many Americans only buy bottled water, which pushes the bottled water industry into low-income communities, it may cost double but they…
Phone Interview with Jacquelyn Patterson
by Jack A
Our group interviewed Jacquelyn Patterson, who is the head of environmental Racism for the NAACP. We learned about the work that they do, and how much the government does not care about the poor neighborhoods in NYC. She taught us about superfund sites. A superfund site is an area where there has been a hazardous waste…
Rally in from of senator Schumer’s office
by Jack A
During this fieldwork we attended a protest against Trump’s cabinet and how they do not believe in global warming. Something that I thought was interesting was the huge age range of the crowd. There were some really old people and some middle-aged people and some young people. I thought it would mainly be younger people because…
1/9/17 Interview with Jaqueline Patterson Head of Environmental Justice at NAACP
by Cole
On January 9, 2017, my other group members Spencer, Jack A, Willem, and I were fortunate enough to get an interview with Jaqueline Patterson Head of Environmental Justice at NAACP. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as a bi-racial organization to…
Rally in Front of Senator Chuck Schemers Office 1/ 9/17
by Spencer
On January 9th, after eating lunch and quickly discussing a plan, Cole, Jack, Willem, Susannah and I bundled up in 3+ layers, opened the doors and flinched at the freezing weather. Our goal was to go to a rally to say no to Donald Trump’s appointments to his cabinet. We arrived at 48th and were…
Interview with Jaqueline Patterson Head of Environmental Justice at the NAACP on 1/9/17
by Spencer
On January 9th, Cole, Willem, Jack and I called Jaqueline Patterson who is the head of the NAACP. We interviewed her asking questions, ranging from more philosophical questions like if you could change one thing about how we treat the environment and more specific questions like what are some examples of superfund sights. In specific,…
Phone interview with David Chang, Indoor Environmental Specialist
by Willem
My group members and I interviewed David Chang from We Act on December 16th, 2016. During our conversation many topics were spoken of in great detail. All of these topics were about the environment, and David answered our questions very thoughtfully and fruitfully, which is what we expected and more, since he is an Indoor…
Interview with David Chang, Indoor Environmental Specialist
by Cole
On December 16th, 2016 my social justice group and I interviewed David Chang with We Act. David specialized in indoor environmental justice. We decided as a group that we wanted to go more into depth in that field and decided that David would be perfect to interview. We interviewed him after school one day and…
Urban Communities Organizing for Climate Resilience Conference 1/12/16
by Cole
On Saturday, November 12, 2016, we went to a conference titled Urban Communities for Climate Resilience up at Columbia University. We met up with our contact David Chang, the Environmental Health Coordinator for We Act Organization. We Act is a group made up of scientists, lawyers and devoted workers to help make not-as-privileged communities environmentally…
Phone Interview with David Chang
by Jack A
We met with one of WEACT’s head officials David Chang. We had an interview with David Chang over the phone. David Chang’s goal is to provide poor communities with the tools he has to offer. his he works with the tools to improve their health and their environment. We learned about how our new President, Donald J.…
Interview with Mr. David Chang, WEACT for Environmental Justice
by Spencer
On December 16th, 2016 Me, Cole, Jack A. and Willem called and interviewed Mr. David Chang, who works at WEACT for Environmental Justice, he specializes on indoor environmental justice. We talked to him about, examples of Environmental Injustice, the Flint Water Crisis and Environmental Injustice in the future. One thing I learned about are superfund…
Environmental Racism
by Clair
Our group is studying environmental racism which is the unfair treatment of people, by putting low income communities close to or in a environmentally unsafe areas. Click here to read more of our work.
We Act Conference on Urban Communities Organizing for Climate Resilience, 11/12/16
by Spencer
On Saturday 11/12 Cole, Jack and I went to a conference at Columbia University called Urban Communities for Environmental Resilience run by We Act for Environmental Justice (WEACT). We Act is an organization of scientist and lawyers to help make all communities clean and safe. We helped David Chang, the environmental health coordinator at…
