Increasing Capacity for Environmental Justice Education in North Carolina through Spidey Sens-r
Organization: North Carolina Environmental Justice Network
North Carolina Environmental Justice Network (NCEJN) is a grassroots, people of color-led coalition of community organizations and their supporters, who work with low-income communities and people of color on issues of climate, environmental, racial and social injustice.
Location: Greensboro, Warrenton, and Clinton, NC
Communities benefiting directly from the project: Bingham Park Environmental Justice Project, Warren County Environmental Action Team and Environmental Justice Community Action Network.
Country: United States
Other Organizations Involved: Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC, North Carolina State University, Research Triangle Institute International, Bingham Park Environmental Justice Project, Warren County Environmental Action Team and Environmental Justice Community Action Network.
@ North Carolina Environmental Justice Network
Background
In North Carolina, environmental racism manifests through the placement of coal ash facilities, concentrated animal feeding operations, wood pellet facilities, landfills and other high-pollution sources in lower income neighborhoods of color. North Carolinians’ advocacy efforts started the environmental justice movement in the US in the 1980s, which led to environmental justice policies backed by unprecedented funding through the Justice 40 program. As these leaders become elders, there is an increasing need to establish succession plans. Education on the sources of environmental injustice and promoting youth activism are crucial to ensuring the long-term sustainability of their organizing efforts. Spidey Sens-r is a community science project that uses spider webs from funnel weaver spiders to monitor air quality. The project provides data and education support for local environmental justice organizations and activists.
Goals
Our goals are to increase youth advocacy in environmental justice communities by engaging them in Spidey Sens-r. To do this, we will increase the capacity of the project to support education at high school and college levels and conduct analyses to enhance the rigor and scope of analyses capable through the project.
Main activities
- We will host Spidey Sens-r air monitoring events in environmental justice communities in North Carolina to help increase youth advocacy efforts.
- We will increase our capacity to support Spidey Sens-r at different levels of education. We will develop high school curriculum resources for different science classrooms and training resources for university students to process and analyze samples.
- We will also increase the suite of possible analyses that we are able to conduct using Spidey Sens-r. We will develop methodologies for comparing webs across space and time and for expanding the contaminants for which we can test.
Expected outcomes
Ultimately, this will enhance youth advocacy in environmental justice communities as well as our organization’s capacity to carry out the project.