Environmental justice topic of UW summer forum

Several nationally known experts on environmental justice — where environmental and civil rights issues meet — will be among the speakers in a free public University Summer Forum lecture series at UW–Madison beginning Tuesday, June 19.

The line-up includes Paul Mohai of the University of Michigan, the Ford Foundation’s Vernice Miller-Travis, Robert Knox of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Rutgers University law professor Sheila Foster, co-author of the book, “From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement,” published last year by New York University Press.

UW–Madison professors Kerry Vandell, business/environmental studies, and Gregg Mitman, history of science/history of medicine/environmental studies, also are scheduled to speak, as are Kenneth Fish, director of the Menominee Treaty Rights and Mining Impacts Office, and Zoltan Grossman, a Ph.D. dissertator in geography at UW–Madison.

The eight-part series takes place 7-9 p.m. Tuesday and Thursdays evenings, June 19-July 12, 1100 Grainger Hall, 975 University Ave.

Environmental justice has been a hot topic in academic and activist circles since the 1987 publication of a report, Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States. Sponsored by the United Church of Christ’s Commission for Racial Justice, the report demonstrated that waste disposal sites and other environmental hazards are disproportionately located in minority communities. A wealth of academic research has corroborated and expanded those findings.

Herb Wang, an associate dean in the university’s College of Letters and Science and professor of geology and geophysics, and Barbara Borns of the university’s Institute for Environmental Studies staff are co-directing the forum. Wang will give the opening lecture Tuesday, June 19, on “What is Environmental Justice?” Other lectures are:

— Thursday, June 21: “Understanding Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in the Location of Environmental Hazards,” Paul Mohai, associate professor, School of Natural Resources and Environment University of Michigan.

— Tuesday, June 26: “The EPA’s Program in Environmental Justice,” Robert J. Knox, associate director, Office of Environmental Justice U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

— Thursday, June 28: “The Challenge of Environmental Justice,” Sheila Foster, law professor, Rutgers University.

— Tuesday, July 3: “Economic Perspectives on Environmental Justice,” Kerry Vandell, director, Center for Urban Land Economics Research, School of Business.

— Thursday, July 5: “Native American Environmental Justice Issues,” Kenneth Fish Director, Menominee Treaty Rights and Mining Impacts Office, Menominee Nation; Zoltan Grossman Ph.D. dissertator, Department of Geography, UW–Madison

— Tuesday, July 10: Topic to be announced, Vernice Miller-Travis, program officer, Community and Resource Development, The Ford Foundation.

— Thursday, July 12: “Global Environmental Justice,” Gregg Mitman, professor, History of Science, History of Medicine, Environmental Studies, UW–Madison.

For more information, contact the UW–Madison office of Continuing Studies, (608) 262-1156, or Herb Wang, (608) 262-5932, wang@geology.wisc.edu.