The annual Ecology Law Quarterly Symposium, "Toxic Exposures: Within and Without," will explore toxic exposures through the lens of environmental justice,
looking at both outdoor and indoor exposures.
By participating, members of our community will be encouraged to ask the question: what are the boundaries of our lived environments and ecosystems? For a long time, our understanding of “the environment” was restricted to the forests, mountains, and rivers. Today, we understand the interrelatedness of humans and the natural world, insofar as humans facilitate the climate crisis. This Symposium proposes an intermediate level of interconnectedness, to be understood on a “micro” scale: our homes, workplaces, agricultural centers, and built communities collectively constitute our “ecosystem,” and we live within them as we do the Great Outdoors. Vice versa, our environment lives within us. We will employ interdisciplinary frameworks to contemplate ourselves
as victims of systemic injustices, corporate greed, and limited environmental protections in the same way we conceive of flora, fauna, and the planet itself as casualties of late-stage industrial capitalism.
April 4th, 2025 from 10:30am-3:30pm
Goldberg Room at Berkeley Law
SCHEDULE
- 10:30am-10:40am: Opening Remarks
- 10:40am--11:40am: Centering Pesticide-Affected Communities Through Outreach, Organization, and Advocacy
- 11:45am-12:30pm: Beauty Justice: A Primer
- 12:30pm-1:15pm: Lunch
- 1:15pm-2:15pm: Building Electrification: Protecting Public Health, Mitigating Climate Change, and Supporting Housing Justice
- 2:20pm-3:30pm: Toxic Exposures in Your Community: Strategies and Successes
EVENT DETAILS
Centering Pesticide-Affected Communities Through Outreach, Organization, and Advocacy
Pesticides are extremely hazardous to human health, and pesticide exposure carries a host of devastating consequences including asthma, cancers, and reproductive harm. The use of pesticides is disproportionately clustered in predominantly Mexican-Indigenous communities. Farmworkers face enormous toxic loads, but other community members are also at risk. Moreover, a changing climate can heighten exposure risk and exacerbate the volatility of these chemicals. This panel will explore the “slow violence” of pesticide exposure, the role of advocates in improving outcomes for pesticide-affected communities, and best practices for centering those communities in the conversation.
Beauty Justice: A Primer
This presentation by representatives from Black Women for Wellness will discuss the environmental injustice of beauty: the confluence of Eurocentric beauty standards, systemic racism, corporate greed, and underregulation that results in dangerous toxic exposures for predominantly Black women. The chemicals in many personal care products sold to Black women can cause significant health problems, and salon workers in particular face heightened toxic loads. Beauty justice is a novel approach to addressing the root causes of these exposures.
Building Electrification: Protecting Public Health, Mitigating Climate Change, and Supporting Housing Justice
Gas stoves, gas water heaters, and other gas appliances are common in many apartments and homes. They pose significant risks to both human health and environmental health because of their effects on indoor and outdoor air quality. These risks, as well as the costs of electrification, disproportionately burden low-income communities and can threaten housing security. This panel aims to discuss the exposures caused by gas appliances, potential solutions, and proper implementation strategies to ameliorate the root issue while ensuring a just transition.
Toxic Exposures in Your Community: Strategies and Successes
In this presentation series, local activists from Oakland, Richmond, and San Francisco will highlight recent victories and successes they have achieved on behalf of environmental justice communities. Topics include nuclear waste remediation in Hunter’s Point, battles against the Chevron refinery in Richmond, and opposition to the expansion of the Oakland International Airport.
