Why environmental justice is crucial for today’s climate careers
It’s now abundantly clear: every technical, strategic, staffing and advocacy choice you make will be influenced by environmental justice. Embodying that will set you apart as a genuine leader.
Michelle Romero is a perfect example of such a leader. As national director of Green For All, she’s bringing together unlikely coalitions to find new solutions for reducing poverty while building a clean-energy economy.
This is Part I of a two-part series we’re doing on environmental justice.
- Follow Green For All on Twitter and Dream Corps on Instagram
- View episode transcript (PDF)
02:31 – Michelle talks about “the great eco-divide” that’s at the heart of environmental justice.
04:04 – What’s at stake? Why right now is so critically important.
06:22 – What are the long-term costs if we fail this moment?
08:35 – On becoming an “accidental environmentalist”: how Flint’s water crisis and Richmond’s Chevron explosions changed her life.
12:45 – On what keeps her going when the going gets hard: community innovation, like the Green Raiteros program.
14:24 – Finding unity via “The Common Ground Summit”: issues that the right and left can agree on.
18:14 – What lies ahead because of her recent Bezos Earth Fund Grant.
19:37 – Green jobs that are also “good” jobs.
21:49 – Bringing together stakeholders who are at odds with each other.
24:28 – Michelle’s advice on how any person, in any job, can make a difference.
27:17 – Michelle’s personal Board of Directors.
Want to explore Michelle’s work, DreamCorps and Green for All? Follow these links:
- Green for All: 10 Actions the New Administration Can Take to Boost the Economy & Cut Pollution
- Green for All: Building An Inclusive Economy
- DreamCorps:Big Moment for Transportation Equity
- Great music video about EJ and air pollution: #FuelChange Anthem
- Brene Brown’s Dare to Lead
- Green Raiteros: Electric rideshares for rural Huron
More episodes
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Building a Black community for green jobseekers
The environmental workforce remains overwhelmingly white. But not if Wes Gobar of BlackOak Collective can help it. Yesh talks with him about his journey.
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10 ways to save the planet
Yesh goes deep into the job opportunities of the future with Ryan Panchadsaram, co-author of the book Speed & Scale, an action plan to get global emissions to zero by 2050.
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The woman greening the golden arches
Can you use your MBA to save the planet? Yesh teams up with Mike Toffel of Climate Rising to ask the chief sustainability officer at McDonald's, Jenny McColloch.
