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Organized Oral Session

Session: : Designing for (in)justice in Urban Social-ecological Systems

OOS 34-5 - Ciencia comunitario es la mejor ciencia (Community science is the best science)

Wednesday, August 9, 2023
9:00 AM – 9:15 AM PDT
Location: 253
Historic perception of air, water, soil, and the lives of lower income, BIPOC communities as expendable commodities, has created a catastrophic ecology in modern day Los Angeles (Gabrielino-Tongva Territory). This has severely desecrated our relationships with relatives (biotic and abiotic) in our environment. Strengthening community research capacity equips community members to disentangle their physical environment from the polluters and polluter allies threatening their health and relationship to the land.

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) leverages community expertise to foster an ecology of environmental and social justice that creates solutions by the community, for the community. It is fueled by a multidirectional communication structure between academic research spaces and community members, that is further enhanced by having community members in equitable roles in institutions.

This discussion delivers solutions to foster an ecology of environmental and social justice including organizing mindful research initiatives in solidarity with frontline communities that are working towards achieving environmental justice. This re-conceptualized ecology will then translate results to policy change to create a vibrant environment that lower income, BIPOC communities have been historically, intentionally, deprived of. Examples of solutions will be illuminated by previous CBPR studies throughout Los Angeles County that investigated toxic metal exposure from lead contamination and neighborhood oil drilling operations.