Items

• Report: White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council Recommendations from the Carbon Management Workgroup

  The White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC) represents urgent initial recommendations on carbon management, highlighting regulatory, data, and risk challenges. Key recommendations include halting carbon management investments, clarifying federal initiatives, reviewing associated risks, ensuring transparent communication, and securing informed consent from affected environmental justice communities. WHEJAC plans ongoing review and requests specific responses at its December 2023 public meeting. This report of recommendations has been written as part of the activities of the WHEJAC, a public advisory committee providing independent advice and recommendations on the issue of environmental justice to the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and to the White House Environmental Justice Interagency Council (IAC). Dr. Ana I. Baptista was on the Carbon Management Workgroup and contributed to these recommendations.
• Report: White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council Recommendations - Scorecard Workgroup

  This document presents recommendations from the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC) to the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Environmental Justice Interagency Council (IAC) to inform Phase Two of the Environmental Justice (EJ) Scorecard. It recognizes the contributions of the Scorecard Workgroup members in developing the report and continuing efforts to advance federal accountability in environmental justice such as Peggy Shepard, Maria López-Núñez, LaTricea Adams, Dr. Beverly Wright, Jerome Foster II, Dr. Rachel Morello-Frosch, Harold Mitchell, and Michele Roberts. Dr. Yukyan Lam, Research Director at the Tishman Center, was an external contributor.
• Report: White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council Recommendations - Climate & Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) Workgroup

  This document contains recommendations from the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC) to the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regarding the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST). It acknowledges CEQ’s responsiveness to previous feedback and reaffirms the Tool’s purpose: identifying underserved and overburdened communities to guide Justice40 investments. The recommendations support the continued refinement of CEJST ahead of its Version 2.0 release and future updates as new data becomes available. WHEJAC acknowledges the efforts of the CEJST Workgroup in preparing this report such as co-chairs Dr. Rachel Morello-Frosch and Dr. Nicky Sheats, along with Jade Begay, Jerome Foster II, Juan Parras, LaTricea Adams, Michele Roberts, Tom Cormons, and Vi Waghiyi. Dr. Yukyan Lam, Research Director at the Tishman Center provided comments on the recommendations.
• Report: WHEJAC Recommendations on Climate Planning, Preparedness, Response, Recovery and Impacts

  The White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC) submitted its final report to White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory and President Joseph R. Biden, offering recommendations on a whole-of-government approach to environmental justice, including climate change, disaster preparedness, and community planning. WHEJAC emphasized that their recommendations are a starting point for deeper, transformational change and rejected the overuse of the term "resilience," noting that it can be used to ignore communities’ needs. The report underscores the urgent and unequal impacts of climate change, especially on communities already burdened by poverty, pollution, and systemic inequality. Tishman Center prepared a literature review for WHEJAC members as preparation for the report.
• Letter and Report: White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council's Carbon Management Recommendations

  Letter and Report from WHEJAC co-chairs Richard Moore and Peggy M. Shepard, on behalf of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC) to provide recommendations on carbon management strategies must not harm disadvantaged communities. Its recommendations prioritize human rights, health, and inclusive decision-making. WHEJAC stresses that environmental justice is essential to effective climate action and rejects any federal actions that create new injustice. Dr. Ana I. Baptista was part of the Carbon Management Workgroup.
• Publication: Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad

  Executive Order 14008 by Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad was signed on January 27, 2021. The executive order outlined the Biden Administration’s plans to center the climate crisis in United States foreign policy and national security, as well as implement a government-wide approach to reduce climate pollution across all sectors of the economy, strengthen climate resilience, protect public health, conserve land and biodiversity, deliver environmental justice, and create jobs and economic growth. Executive Order 14008 also established the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and its body of work, to which Tishman Center staff contributed as recognized external advisors, as well as public commenters.
• Report: The Cost of Burning Trash

  The Cost of Burning Trash. Looking at the Human and Ecological Impacts of incineration in Florida, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota. A collaborative research report created by the research team at the Tishman Center in consultation with GAIA and Moja Robisnon.
• Report: U.S. Municipal Solid Waste Incinerators

  Report: U.S. Municipal Solid Waste Incinerators. This report examines three major economic vulnerabilities in the MSW incinerator industry. This report was prepared by Ana Isabel Baptista, PhD, and Adrienne Perovich, MPA, with assistance from Amanda Sachs, Anna Yulsman, Brandon Jordan, Claudia Rot, and Kevin Capuno, Research Assistants at the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School with support granted by Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) in collaboration with Ahmina Maxey. Contributors to the report include Doun Moon, Aiko Fukichi, Claire Arkin, Denise Patel, and Monica Wilson at GAIA as well as Destiny Watford at United Workers, KT Andresky at Breathe Free Detroit, and Whitney Amaya at East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice.
• Report: Environmental Justice and Philanthropy: Challenges and Opportunities for Alignment Gulf South and Midwest Case Studies

  Environmental Justice and Philanthropy: Challenges and Opportunities for Alignment Gulf South and Midwest Case Studies. This final published report was prepared by Ana Isabel Baptista, Ph.D., and Adrienne Perovich, MPA, with assistance from Anna Yulsman, Program Coordinator, as well as doctoral students, Molly Greenberg, and Jennifer Santos Ramirez, who serve as research assistants at the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School.
• Report: Local Policies for Environmental Justice

  Local Policies for Environmental Justice is a report that provides a comprehensive look at recent efforts in 23 cities, three counties and two utilities across the United States to address environmental injustices through innovative reforms of zoning, land use, and other local policies. It was prepared by Ana Isabel Baptista, PhD, with assistance from Amanda Sachs and Claudia Rot, Research Assistants at the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School. Contributors to the report include Meleah Geertsma, Senior Attorney and the Midwest Director for Health Equity and Water at the Natural Resources Defense Council. This is the final published version of the report.
• Report: False Solutions for Just Climate Mitigation and Clean Energy Policies

  False Solutions for Just Climate Mitigation and Clean Energy Policies is a report prepared by Ana Isabel Baptista, Ph.D., and Jennifer Ventrella, Ph.D. student at the New School and research assistant at the Tishman Center for Environment and Design, and was released in September, 2022. The report draws on a review of policies and interviews with community leaders to explore how false solutions are present or emerging in the energy policies New Jersey, Delaware, and Minnesota.
• Report: Understanding the Evolution of Cumulative Impacts Definitions and Policies in the U.S.

  This report, titled "Understanding the Evolution of Cumulative Impacts Definitions and Policies in the U.S.," and released in August, 2022, was prepared by Ana Isabel Baptista, Ph.D., Adrienne Perovich, MPA, and Tishman Environment and Design Center research assistants Maria Fernanda Pulido-Velosa, Enrique Valencia, Marisa Valdez, and Jennifer Ventrella. The research detailed in this report is aimed at supporting environmental justice movement stakeholders and policymakers with a searchable tool of definitions, methodologies, indicators, and thresholds used in statewide cumulative impact policies developed at the time of the report's release.
• Report: Equitable and Just National Climate Platform Justice40 Recommendations

  This report contains Justice40 recommendations that emerged from convenings of environmental justice (EJ) advocates, academic experts, and national environmental groups on December 2, 2020, and January 27, 2021, organized by The Equitable and Just National Climate Forum, the New School’s Tishman Environment and Design Center, and the Center for American Progress. The report recommends actions for the Biden administration to take to implement the goal of delivering 40 percent of overall benefits from climate investments to disadvantaged communities, as outlined in Executive Order 14008 on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.
• Report: Climate Justice in Action: Communities Working Toward Just Transitions

  Report titled "Climate Justice in Action: Communities Working Towards Just Transitions," prepared in collaboration with the Climate Justice Alliance and sponsored by the Tishman Environment and Design Center at the New School. Released in January 2016, this report highlights best practices, community-centered strategies, and overarching lessons gleaned from eight grassroots climate justice organizations working to achieve a just transition.
• Report: Environmental Justice and The Clean Power Plan: The Case of Energy Efficiency

  Report titled "Environmental Justice and The Clean Power Plan: The Case of Energy Efficiency," by Cecilia Martinez, PhD, co-founder of the Center for Earth, Energy and Democracy (CEED). The report was created as part of a Visiting Scholars Series on the environmental justice implications of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan rule. This paper examines environmental justice issues of the Clean Power Plan, specifically with respect to energy efficiency.
• Report: Garbage, Power, and Environmental Justice: The Clean Power Plan Rule

  Report titled "Garbage, Power, and Environmental Justice: The Clean Power Plan Rule," by Ana Isabel Baptista, PhD and Kumar Kartik Amarnath, MS, released in April 2016, was created as part of a Visiting Scholars Series on the environmental justice implications of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan rule. The report examines waste incineration under the Clean Power Plan rule, and how the rule may impact environmental justice communities.
• Remarks: Ana Isabel Baptista's Testimony to the House Select Committee 2020

  Testimony of Ana Isabel Baptista to the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis in 2020, regarding the Committee's Climate Crisis Action Plan and ways to invest and prioritize spending in environmental justice communities.
• Remarks: Michelle DePass' Testimony on the Clean Power Plan

  Michelle DePass' testimony on the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to repeal the Clean Power Plan in 2017.
• Publication: Grassroots Environmental Justice Work and Philanthropy: Challenges and Opportunities

  Article published in The Foundation Review, Volume 14:1, titled "Grassroots Environmental Justice Work and Philanthropy: Challenges and Opportunities" and authored by Jennifer S. Ramirez, Ph.D., Ana I. Baptista, Ph.D., Molly Greenberg, M.S.W., Adrienne Perovich, M.P.A., Anna Yulsman, M.A., Antonio Lopez, Ph.D., (Chicago Frontlines Funding Initiative), and Andrew Rosenberg, Ph.D., (Union of Concerned Scientists). The article describes a landscape assessment study of environmental funders and grassroots environmental justice organizations in the Gulf South and the Midwest, conducted by Building Equity and Alignment for Environmental Justice and the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School. The study found that the philanthropic foundations examined in this research awarded the majority of their funding to mainstream environmental organizations rather than grassroots environmental justice groups, and highlighted drivers of misalignment and funding disparities between the two sectors.
• Publication: Landscape Assessment of the US Environmental Justice Movement: Transformative Strategies for Climate Justice

  Article published in the Environmental Justice journal, Volume 00, Number 00, 2022, titled "Landscape Assessment of the US Environmental Justice Movement: Transformative Strategies for Climate Justice," and authored by Ana Isabel Baptista, Sujatha Jesudason, Molly Greenberg, and Adrienne Perovich. The article outlines the methodology and results of the landscape assessment, during which more than 200 environmental justice movement (EJM) activists across the U.S. were surveyed and interviewed on their priorities, strategies, and challenges. The assessment found that climate justice is ranked among the highest priority issues of EJM activists, and that climate justice as a shared framework can help shift narratives and action on climate change, promoting an intersectional conceptualization of the climate crisis that encourages transformative action and disrupts the status quo.
• Publication: Environmental Justice and Philanthropy - Challenges and Opportunities for Alignment One-Pager (Opportunities)

  In 2020, Building Equity and Alignment for Impact (BEA-I) collaborated with the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School to conduct an assessment of the misalignment between the environmental justice and philanthropic sectors in the Gulf South and Midwest regions. Through interviews with foundation and environmental justice organization staff, the study identified specific opportunities for better aligning funding and relationships over time, representing both long-term and short-term actions that can be implemented across the sectors. This document highlights specific recommendations for funders and environmental justice organizations, organized into categories including capacity building, leveraging the role of intermediaries, relationship building and access, and racism & structural power.
• Publication: Environmental Justice and Philanthropy - Challenges and Opportunities for Alignment One-Pager (Funding Disparity)

  In 2020, Building Equity and Alignment for Impact (BEA-I) collaborated with the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School to conduct an assessment of the misalignment between the environmental justice and philanthropic sectors in the Gulf South and Midwest regions. This one-pager focuses on the funding disparities identified within environmental grantmaking efforts in these regions. Specifically, the study highlights how from 2016 and 2017, only one percent of total environmental grantmaking dollars was awarded to environmental justice organizations in the Gulf South and Midwest regions, and only nine percent of funding allocated to "environmental justice activities" was awarded to environmental justice organizations.
• Publication: Environmental Justice and Philanthropy - Challenges and Opportunities for Alignment One-Pager (Alignment of Priority Issue Areas)

  In 2020, Building Equity and Alignment for Impact (BEA-I) collaborated with the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School to conduct an assessment of the misalignment between the environmental justice and philanthropic sectors in the Gulf South and Midwest regions. The one-pager focuses on identified areas of opportunity to build greater alignment over time, highlighting the overlap between priority issue areas of environmental grant makers and environmental justice organizations in the Gulf South and Midwest, while acknowledging that each sector's understanding of and approaches to these issues can diverge significantly.
• Document: Gulf Coast Fund Emergency Response Grant Recipients

  List of Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health grants distributed for the June 15, 2010 grant cycle. A total of $41,600 was distributed in this grant cycle.
• Document: Gulf Coast Fund Priority Areas of Funding

  List of Gulf Coast Fund priority areas of funding and associated descriptions.