As a child José regularly visited family in Mexico, where they had abundant natural space to explore, but he was disappointed in the lack of safe parks to play in when he would return to Los Angeles. As a community organizer, he saw the value of quality greenspace to working class communities. These experiences ultimately led him to pursue a career as a landscape architect working to advance park equity.
David is researching how the community organizing strategies of two environmental justice organizations in Oakland and San Diego get air pollution issues onto their local government’s policy agendas. He is an environmental justice advocate and mentor for students of color.
Nishaila studies urban resilience and the interdisciplinary role of policy. With experience in green infrastructure, she explores climate adaptation that prioritizes environmental justice. As a recent Revolutionary Power Fellow, she assisted with the Justice40 Initiative to ensure 40% of benefits flowed to disadvantaged communities nationally.
“When you look at roadway density and proximity to roadways, there’s the highest density in non-white and low-income communities, which leads to disproportionate exposures and consequently disparate health impacts."
The study adds to the evidence that structural racism in federal policy is associated with the disproportionate siting of oil and gas wells in marginalized neighborhoods, and an op-ed argues for considering this history in policy decisions about siting and leasing of new oil and gas drilling.
Schmidt Science Fellows envisions a world where interdisciplinary science can flourish and accelerate discoveries that tackle major challenges and have a positive impact. Christine Wilkinson plans to use the opportunity to pivot from ecology to computer science.
The Adaptive Land Lab aims to reveal how current institutions contribute to unjust and unsustainable adaptation to enable policy reforms that redress underlying causes of societal vulnerability to climate change.
The award from the Ecological Society of America recognizes the authors of the scholarly work that makes the greatest contribution to the emerging science of ecosystem and regional sustainability through the integration of ecological and social sciences.
“We know that under the right conditions, houses will burn, and people will be faced with the tragedy of losing their houses, their livelihoods and potentially their lives,” said Nick Jensen. “Are these projects really worth it?”
Check out the books authored, edited or co-authored by Switzer Fellows in 2021 and dive into topics such as Indigenous teachings, the biology of climate change and sustainable urban planning.
