ONLINE—Our Communities and Climate Change Panel

ONLINE—Join the Oakland Asian Cultural Center for a panel discussion featuring experts on the subject of climate change and environmental justice in Asian American and immigrant communities. Author and scholar Julie Sze will discuss how the climate crisis connects with struggles against racism, gender violence, and the exploitation of people and natural resources. In conversation with environmental justice activist Ratha Lai and Asian Pacific Environmental Network representative Shina Robinson, the panel will discuss how the immigrant and refugee communities are impacted by urban and rural pollution and how communities mobilize for change and justice. The panel will also explore recent questions on the  COVID-19 response in our communities.

This event will be streamed live via Zoom—RSVP is required to obtain access details. A recording of the event will also be posted online afterward for further viewing. About the author and panel: Julie Sze is Professor of American Studies and Founding Director of the Environmental Justice Project at the University of California, Davis. She has authored and edited two other books and numerous articles on environmental justice and inequality, culture and environment, and urban and community health and activism. Ratha Lai has worked for 10 years as an environmental justice activist with the Greenlining Institute, Greenlining Action, Sierra Club Bay Chapter, the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Richmond Our Power Coalition, and the  Solidarity to Solutions Week of Action in 2018. He is currently Executive Director of Critical Impact Consulting and a devoted father to his 4-year-old daughter. Shina Robinson currently serves as the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)’s Local Policy Associate. She organizes our member leaders to pass and implement policies for community resistance and resilience in Oakland, Richmond and statewide partners. This project is supported by California Humanities through a Humanities for All Project Grant.