Issue 2: Envisioning Environmental Equity
More than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic we are faced with contrasting pictures from around the world. While countries higher income countries are slowly opening up against a backdrop of vaccine programmes, countries such as India, Peru and Brazil are seeing a surge in cases and their health systems on the brink of collapse. With most African countries and a number of Asian and South American countries at risk of vaccine inaccessibility, we call for equitable global vaccine distribution to protect health workers and the most vulnerable of all societies.
In this edition we focus on environmental justice as racial justice. We look at back at our recent webinar and podcast releases, interview activists and artists working to amplify voices of colour and share our reviews of recent academic publications and popular culture pieces. We remain an unfunded organisation fighting for racial justice and ask that, if you believe in our work, you join us, support us and, importantly, fund us.
Read Issue 2:
Person Spotlight: Climate Justice Activist Mitzi Jonelle Tan
Person Spotlight: Interview with the directors of Death by Pollution
Commentary: Air pollution and racial inequalities
Pop Culture: Podcast reviews
Academic Highlights
Our Updates
Envisioning Environmental Equity Webinar:
On March 12th we held a webinar entitled ‘Envisioning Environmental Equity: Climate Justice is Racial Justice’. Hosted by Abi Deivanayagam, the panel included Mitzi Jonelle Tan, convener of Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines (​YACAP​), Simmone Ahiaku, an award-winning changemaker, campaigner and activist, Keston Perry, a lecturer in economics at the University of the West of England and Heizal Nagginda, founder of Climate Operation in Uganda. Click here to watch the discussion on intersectional action in the environmental movement, power imbalances and the necessity of centring marginalised and indigenous voices.
Check it out here.
New episodes of the Race & Health Podcast:
Deforestation
On the most recent episode of the Race & Health podcast, join host Dr Delan Devakumar and Race & Health collective member Dr Abi Deivanayagam in conversation with environmental justice advocate and Executive Director at Amazon Watch, Leila Salazar-Lopez, and Dr Sandra de Souza Hacon from the National School of Public Health at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation.
In this episode, indigenous health and human rights takes centre stage in highlighted issues of deforestation and colonialism happening in the rapidly shrinking Amazon rainforest. This episode invites lessons from environmental justice and public health to inform our thinking about the interconnectedness of our actions, environmental racism, and indigenous health. We’ll touch on an array of topics such as individual purchasing, corporate responsibility, and the systems that shape health inequity in the Amazon.
For more information on deforestation in the Amazon and ways to stand up for indigenous rights, visit https://amazonwatch.org/.
HIV
This episode features R&H representative, Dr Rageshri Dhairyawan and invited guest, Ms Bakita Kasadha, walks us through racism’s effect on treating and understanding HIV in the United Kingdom. Bakita draws from her experiences working with the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, WHO’s Global Validation Advisory Committee, and her writings for NAM aidsmap.
Together, we explore how racism suppresses the very process of health research and services designed to combat ill health; and how ultimately, pervasive issues of misrepresentation, stereotypes, and stigma stand between HIV care and those who need it.
New Episodes of Global Health Lives
This quarter, Race & Health's founder Delan Devakumar released new episodes of his biographical global health series: Global Health Lives. His most recent guest, Mr Dinesh Deokota, is a Nepalese film maker and founder of Media for Development. This episode details Deokota's motivation to tell stories about humanity and structural violence. He touches on how cycles of poverty and migration interplay across gender, labour, and exploitation.
Upcoming episodes will also include another Race & Health collective member: Rageshri Dhairyawan, a Consultant in Sexual Health and HIV Medicine at Barts Health NHS Trust, London and a Honorary Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London.
Find Global Health Lives on your preferred listening platform here: