Environmental & Social Justice

Fellow

Caroline Howe

2013 Fellow
Caroline works with communities to address local environmental and social challenges through interventions that combine technology, social enterprise, and education. Working both in urban and rural areas, internationally and in her own...
Fellow

Mike Antos

2013 Fellow
Mike helps people and institutions navigate place, time and culture to achieve sustainable, just, and equitable outcomes. His experience includes extensive work and research about effective engagement between agencies and communities...
Fellow Story

Vorhees on why pollution risks worse for developing world women

Standing ankle deep in black oil in a green field in Nigeria, Donna Vorhees was startled not by the pollutant inching up her boots, but by the two barefoot women inching past her.
May 28, 2013
Fellow Story

Climate Change Hits Disadvantaged Hardest

Low-income neighborhoods are more often exposed to poor environmental quality when compared to wealthier communities, and scientists are saying this gap will increase as climate change is more widely felt.
May 15, 2013
Fellow Story

Ditching Dirty Diesel

Diesel-powered vehicles are a significant source of pollution, impacting health and contributing to climate change. The Ditching Dirty Diesel Collaborative, a coalition of community, environmental advocacy and public health departments, is working together with the Pacific Institute to reduce the impact of this pollution on low-income communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.
April 17, 2013
Fellow Story

Balazs study of drinking water and arsenic in the Central Valley featured on KQED

Public health advocates cheered when the Environmental Protection Agency approved a stricter standard for arsenic in drinking water in 2001. Arsenic, a naturally occurring element in the earth’s crust, contaminates water supplies when it migrates from rocks into groundwater. Chronic exposure to arsenic in drinking water can cause serious skin and digestive problems and has been linked to several types of cancer.
March 20, 2013
Fellow Story

Plug-in Cargo Ships on West Coast of California

It is estimated that shipping produces 4 to 5% of global carbon dioxide emissions. In most cases, these ships are powered by diesel fuel. On today's report we learn about an innovative California technology aimed at reducing this pollution. 2007 Switzer Fellow Francisco Donez is an environmental engineer with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9.
February 6, 2013
Leadership Grant Grant

Delivering Grassroots Conservation Initiatives Internationally, Year 2

Global Diversity Fund, Inc. (GDF), received a $30,000 second-year grant to continue funding for Susannah McCandless's position as International Program Director. GDF is an international community-based conservation organization focusing on...
January 7, 2013
Leadership Grant Grant

Cumulative Impacts and Sustainable Solutions for Central Valley Water, Year 2

The Community Water Center (CWC) received a second year of Switzer funding for Dr. Carolina Balazs's position as Research Scientist. Carolina is developing short- and long-term research projects for CWC that will inform its advocacy efforts...
January 7, 2013
Fellow Story

Balazs study links dirty drinking water, small Central Valley towns

The evidence keeps mounting that people living in impoverished, Latino towns around the San Joaquin Valley are in danger if they drink water out of their taps. Researchers this year linked dirty drinking water with many towns, such as Seville, Orosi and Tooleville in Tulare County. The culprit is widespread nitrates, which come from fertilizers, septic systems, animal waste and rotting vegetation. This month, a new study reveals people living in similar communities also are at a high risk of drinking arsenic in their water.
December 3, 2012