Environmental Justice at Western

Class Projects: Carceral Environmental Justice

In Spring 2023, students in WWU’s ENVS 499D: Readings in Environmental Justice learned about the intersections between environmental justice and incarceration. We concluded the 1-credit seminar with several student-designed projects (shared with permission): Writing letters to incarcerated people: About half of the class wrote letters to incarcerated people. If you would like to do the…

Class Projects: Power, Privilege, and the Environment

In the Spring 2023 ENVS 467: Power, Privilege, and the Environment class, students completed five use-inspired research projects (shared with permission): York Community Farm Capacity Building Indigenous Acknowledgement in Parks HEAL Act Assessment East Whatcom County Safety and Recreation (coming soon!) Cross-border Environmental Justice

What Might Schools Be Like When the School-to-Prison Pipeline Ruptures?

In Spring 2023, students in WWU’s ENVS 499D: Readings in Environmental Justice are learning about the intersections between environmental justice and incarceration. This post reflects some of the group’s learning and discussion By Logan, Bianca, & Casper What is the School-to-Prison Pipeline Exactly? The school-to-prison pipeline came about in the 1990s when zero-tolerance policies in…

Justice Architecture as an Application of Restorative Justice

In Spring 2023, students in WWU’s ENVS 499D: Readings in Environmental Justice are learning about the intersections between environmental justice and incarceration. This post reflects some of the group’s learning and discussion By Shirley, Mallory, & Natalie In Deanna Van Buren’s TedTalk, “What a world without prisons could look like,” she introduces the idea of…

How a Culture of Individualism Hinders Prison Abolition

In Spring 2023, students in WWU’s ENVS 499D: Readings in Environmental Justice are learning about the intersections between environmental justice and incarceration. This post reflects some of the group’s learning and discussion By Emma, Laila, & Noah A reading by the Marshall Project outlines The Case for Abolition as a “practical program of change rooted…

Prisons: Environmental Injustice, Toxic Exposure, and a Lack of Humanitarianism

In Spring 2023, students in WWU’s ENVS 499D: Readings in Environmental Justice are learning about the intersections between environmental justice and incarceration. This post reflects some of the group’s learning and discussion By Olivia, Morgan, Emily, and Taylor In the article, “Tombstone Towns and Toxic Prisons: Prison Ecology and the Necessity of an Anti‑prison Environmental…

Are sustainable prisons possible?

In Spring 2023, students in WWU’s ENVS 499D: Readings in Environmental Justice are learning about the intersections between environmental justice and incarceration. This post reflects some of the group’s learning and discussion. By Charlotte, Sydney, Cassidy, and Sophia In a piece for the Prison Policy Initiative, titled “Prisons are a daily environmental injustice,” author Leah…

Criminalizing Public Drug Use May Push Even More People into an Overcrowded, Inhumane Jail

In Spring 2023, students in WWU’s ENVS 499D: Readings in Environmental Justice are learning about the intersections between environmental justice and incarceration. This post reflects some of the group’s learning and discussion. By Megan, Anneka, Kait, & Brigid The current Whatcom County Jail, located downtown near the public library and post office, is overcrowded. Sheriff…

What Catherine Coleman Flowers Tells us About Coalition Building and Activism

by Jaimie, Caroline, Bianca Most quarters, a group of students at WWU gathers to discuss a recent book or set of podcasts about environmental justice. This post reflects our discussion of Cathrine Flowers’: Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret, in Spring 2022. Catherine Coleman Flowers’ book, Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty…

The “Germ of Laziness” in Legislature: How Lowndes County is Being Blamed for Political Neglect

By Sophia, Aoife, Jann, and Katya Most quarters, a group of students at WWU gathers to discuss a recent book or set of podcasts about environmental justice. This post reflects our discussion of Cathrine Flowers’: Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret, in Spring 2022. One theme our group attempted to investigate in our…