Environmental Justice, Science and Technology
Learn about the environmental justice movement, its history, and how science and technology can be used to tackle environmental challenges and injustice.
Course Information
Certificate deadline passed
Learn MoreAbout this Course
Over the past few decades, scholars have documented how people of color and other socio-economically marginalized groups around the globe experience a disproportionate burden of environmental challenges. This pattern of unequal exposure to air pollution, contaminated water, and corresponding health risks, as well as habitat loss and disrupted livelihood due to natural disasters and climate change, is known as environmental injustice. The field of study working to address these challenges is referred to as environmental justice (EJ).
EJ activists and scholars have long utilized a broad range of methodologies to pursue environmental justice outcomes including the collection and dissemination of scientific evidence. However, scientists do not always see themselves as implicated in these liberation struggles.
In this online course from the Environmental Solutions Initiative, part of the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, we will investigate two core questions:
- How has science and technology historically caused harm to EJ communities?
- How can science and technology be employed in the study of and fight against environmental injustice?
We will engage with these questions by first examining the EJ movement’s foundational history. We will then study the role of science and technology in the environmental justice movement, and how different theoretical frameworks and methodologies can address environmental injustice. You will also learn about engineering climate justice and community engagement, and you’ll hear the voices and experiences of different local organizations working on real-world environmental challenges.
This bootcamp-style course will utilize a mix of readings, guest presentations, and interactive workshops to explore the topic of science, technology and environmental justice. We hope this course will help learners begin to integrate environmental justice as a core framework in their science and technology work.
Anyone with an interest in environmental justice, civil rights, or climate activism will benefit from this course. It will be of particular value to professionals and practitioners working in community organizations and non-profits, and graduate and undergraduate students interested in studying the intersection between environmental justice and science and technology.
What you'll learn
- Describe the foundational history, principles, and values of the EJ movement
- Explain the roles of capitalism, colonialism, racism and other forms of oppression in the production and examination of environmental inequality
- Describe diverse strategies and tools, with a special attention to science and technology, that environmentally burdened communities have employed to combat injustice
- Explain opportunities, challenges, and limitations of employing science and technology in the pursuit of environmental justice
- Apply environmental justice theory and science/tech and technology methods to analyze environmental injustice case studies
- Learn directly from community organizations engaging in environmental justice related work. These include HEET, GreenRoots, and Earth Hacks.
Prerequisites
None
Meet your instructors
Chris Rabe
Education Program Director, MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative
Chris is the Education Program Director at the MIT Solutions Initiative, where his main area of research focuses on better understanding and expanding climate justice and sustainability education at MIT and beyond. Chris is also interested in exploring environmental education and community engagement that centers inclusive and anti-racist practices and supports students who experience challenging emotions in relation to the climate crisis.
In addition, Chris helps advance the varied goals of ESI’s education program by supporting faculty, advising students in the Environmental and Sustainability Minor, building curriculum, co-teaching courses, and conducting research on educational practices. Current examples of this include leading the Climate Environment and Sustainability Infusion Fellowship (CESIF), developing and promoting The Climate Justice Instructional Toolkit, and conducting a cross-disciplinary study on climate justice teaching and learning experiences at MIT. Chris also serves as an affiliate postdoc in the Social and Ethical Responsibility in Computing project, where he leads a reading group that is exploring the intersection of climate justice and computing.
