Huston-Tillotson University will host the third annual Building Green Justice Forum, this year focusing on “Race, Health, and the Environment” from scientific, sociological, political, and historical perspectives.
Keynote speakers will include Mario Sims, social epidemiologist with the Jackson Heart Study and a professor in the University of Mississippi’s Department of Medicine, addressing the Jackson study’s research on the greater prevalence of cardiovascular disease among African Americans and the reasons for the disparity.
Also delivering a keynote address will be Israel Anderson from the Environmental Protection Agency and Mary Nash of the Sandbranch Development and Water Supply Corporation, who will discuss the fight for environmental justice in Sandbranch, a community southeast of Dallas that has been battling for water rights for over 30 years.
A panel will report on public health interventions and environmental hazard investigations from Argentina to Austin. Moderated by Dominique Bowman Vining of HT, the panel will include Emily Spangenberg from the University of Texas’ Department of Sociology and Shannon Jones, director of Travis County Health and Human Services.
Other presentations will feature activists, community members, students, and researchers working on issues of environmental justice and health.
Registration and coffee begins at 8:30 am, with speakers, panels, and workshops throughout the day.
The forum—which is sponsored by Green is the New Black, The Dumpster Project, and the Third Coast Activist Resource Center—is free but please register online. For more information, contact Karen Magid, kmagid@htu.edu, or Amanda Masino, ammasino@htu.edu.
In the past three years, Huston-Tillotson University has introduced an Environmental Studies major; created the Center for Sustainability and Environmental Justice with a full time Sustainability Director; made green improvements to campus such as a 240kW rooftop solar array and organic food garden; and supported student environmental leadership development through campus organization Green is the New Black. HT also just launched, in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, the Sandra Joy Anderson Community Health and Wellness Center, which will focus on access and disparities in HT’s historically diverse neighborhood.
Location: Dickey-Lawless Science Building, Huston-Tillotson University, 900 Chicon St., Austin, 78702, with free parking in the Chalmers Avenue lot and free street parking around campus.