Program on the Environment

Environmental justice (EJ) policies aim to promote equity, yet they often obscure entrenched power dynamics through inaccessible, technical language. Motivated by the principle that the right to health and a safe environment must be equally accessible to all, this project asks: how can EJ be implemented equitably if the policies meant to uphold it reinforce exclusion? During my internship with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) Region 10, I created a database cataloging two decades of public health assessments for contaminated sites across Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. I compiled metadata, geolocated sites, and piloted a method to integrate social vulnerability indicators into spatial analysis. Parallel to the work I conducted on that project, I conducted an independent literature review and interviewed a state-level environmental justice practitioner to explore how language shapes access to environmental health information. My research showed that technocratic communication often creates barriers to trust and participation, particularly among communities historically marginalized by race, class, and language. Community-based participatory research models, co-governance structures, and citizen assemblies offer more inclusive pathways to decision-making. This research emphasizes that achieving true environmental justice requires democratizing policymaking processes, restructuring how knowledge is defined and used, and directly addressing the historical injustices embedded within environmental governance. Transparent, community-centered communication must be recognized as foundational, not peripheral, to creating policies that empower rather than exclude those most impacted by environmental harm.