University of Richmond to Host Panel Discussion About Environmental Justice and Pipelines Debate

The University of Richmond’s Department of Geography and the Environment is hosting a panel discussion focusing on environmental justice Oct. 2 in the Carole Weinstein International Center Commons.

Panelists will include Mary Finley-Brook, UR geography and the environment professor, and Patrick Bond, a geographer from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, to discuss the issues related to contested pipelines in both Virginia and Durban, South Africa.

“Our local and international research on pipeline construction demonstrates contested spaces and inequitable allotments of benefits and costs based on intersectionalities such as race, class, and gender,” says Finley-Brook who serves on the Governor's Advisory Council on Environmental Justice. “We find citizen movements creatively assert power from the margins to contest sacrifice zones--of safety risks, contaminated water, and toxic air emissions--to demand healthy air, clean water, and land rights.”

The event is part of the Global Environmental Speaker Series. Further programming includes:

●      Sept. 26 from 4:30-6pm in Carole Weinstein International Center Commons, When the Islands Sink, The Story of Climate Change and Micronesia

●      Oct. 24 from 4:30-6pm in Gottwald Auditorium, Effects of market integration on social structure and land use among the Tsimane' of Bolivia

The event, which is free and open to the public, also ties into the 2018 International Faculty Seminar. UR faculty from various disciplines across campus spent 12 days in South Africa over the summer and are drawing on their experiences to enrich their teaching and research.

# # #