upcoming

Community-Based Climate Justice Movement

What:

As part of the Sustainable Futures Speaker Series, Dr. Antwi Akom will present “Race, Power, and the Environment: Using Participatory Mapping and New Media to Build a Community-Based Climate Justice Movement.”

Dr. Akom, an associate professor of environmental sociology, STEM Education, and African American studies at San Francisco State University, is a leading expert on the green economy, climate change, and educational equity. His research focuses on the links between race, environmental health, and educational equity in cities and schools; the role of the green economy in facilitating pathways out of poverty for vulnerable populations; and the role of local knowledge in the production of environmental health and educational equity. Professor Akom’s research and practice works to build partnerships between local residents, schools and universities, environmental and educational experts, community-based organizations, labor unions, green businesses, and city planners working together to generate policy and planning solutions that improve community health, economic mobility, and the pedagogies and practices of community leaders and decision-makers.

Professor Akom is currently working with the Ella Baker Center, the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and the East Bay Green Corridor to create “Green Education Technology” (GET) academies that attract and engage students, especially low-income students, students of color, and other vulnerable populations who have been marginalized by the educational system, for career pathways into existing and emerging green energy careers.

The Sustainable Futures Speaker Series is co-sponsored by the Environment & Community Graduate Program and the Schatz Energy Research Center.

When/where: