When people talk about environmental justice, they’re often speaking about hazards such as incinerators and landfills that abut communities of color and cause them harm. That is but one definition of environmental justice. It’s also about the systems that underlie our national infrastructure and make it more likely that lower-income communities will suffer from blights less obvious than incinerators, like highways. And it also is about protecting culture and historical assets, which communities of color will be the first to lose due to climate change. This talk, by the founders of the Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative, addresses all of these facets.

Rona Kobell is the co-founder and founding editor of the Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative. Rona spent nine years at The Baltimore Sun and then eight at the Chesapeake Bay Journal. She was editor of Chesapeake Quarterly, a magazine Maryland Sea Grant produces, as well as a producer for several films about environmental justice. She will graduate in May with a Master’s of Arts from University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism, where she created and teaches an environmental justice course. She is also teaching an honors course at UMBC focusing on sounds of environmental justice. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and was a Knight-Wallace fellow at the university.

Donzell Brown Jr. is the executive director and co-founder of the Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative. Donzell has more than 20 years of political, community, and executive experiences working in and with leadership to improve the communities of Baltimore and the nation. He has organized, fundraised, and created coalitions to influence growth in multiple sectors. He is also a commissioner for the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability. He has experience working with farms and several nonprofit organizations. A graduate of St. Vincent College, he is also a top legislative aide to Sen. Mary Washington.

REGISTER.