Photo: WE ACT
Environmental justice may seem to some like a new buzzword that has arisen in recent years as we reckon with climate change and racial bias. But five minutes talking to Peggy Shepard can set you straight.
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“I was rummaging around in a drawer recently,” she said. “I found a copy of–are you ready? A telegram.” She laughed. “We sent a telegram to the governor about the sewage plant.”
Shepard is one of the founders of West Harlem Environmental Action, known as WE ACT for Environmental Justice, a powerhouse of organizing in New York City and a cornerstone of the environmental justice movement nationwide. WE ACT has successfully organized large demonstrations and actions in Harlem for decades. Even amid the pandemic, Shepard pointed out that more than 100 people routinely attend the organization’s weekly Zoom meetings are nearly all people of color, many of whom live in public housing. The long-running and continuously debunked stereotype from