By: Allison Seidel
A new initiative to improve environmental justice in Maryland and other states launched last month, thanks to a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and efforts from a University of Maryland School of Public Health professor, Dr. Sacoby Wilson.
The Mid-Atlantic Climate Action Hub, also known as the MATCH initiative, was created to promote environmental justice in areas hit the hardest by climate change. Wilson helped to launch the initiative and has been working on this project for quite some time.
Wilson has been involved in environmental justice for almost 30 years. He explained that with the help of community leaders and others, they were able to come together to commit to a future of refined environmental justice.
The initiative will work on environmental justice issues in four states: Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Delaware, along with the city of Washington.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provided a $2.2 million grant to help UMD start the initiative, along with help from other donors. With this new initiative, Wilson said he is hopeful that progress will be made and that these hard-hit communities will receive some relief.
“Environmental justice is a social movement,” Wilson said. He explained that the initiative is focused on “communities that have been historically and contemporarily disadvantaged, marginalized, underserved, and folks who don’t have power.”
Wilson said that many of these places that are underserved tend to be communities of color and low-wealth neighborhoods. The places that he mentioned deal with different environmental hazards and situations that cause damage to their districts.
Wilson described the types of environmental issues impacting these communities, including power plants, industrial chicken farming, fracking and pollution, all of which happen in the Mid-Atlantic Region.
Wilson mentioned that what they are trying to do with the initiative is to support and assist “communities who are experiencing environmental, climate, and also energy injustices.”
Rona Kobell, an environmental journalist and adjunct professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, said Wilson has been a “pioneer for environmental efforts in Maryland,” she said.
She also mentioned that environmental justice is a concept that needs to be addressed with regard to several communities, which, over the years, received little to no funding for climate change concerns.
“It’s frequently, but not always, impacting Black and brown Americans, and others,” Kobell said when speaking of the general effects of environmental injustice.
Grace Hartnett, a sophomore in the School of Public Health, explained how she thinks this initiative will impact underserved communities. She mentioned that she has learned a lot about “social determinants” of health and their contribution to social inequity as a whole.
“Many families are not wealthy enough to afford housing that is not located in a largely polluted area,” she said, which she explained is “an example of health disparity.”
Hartnett said how hopeful she is that MATCH will not only raise awareness for environmental justice but will also “educate and spread awareness about the dangers of climate change.”
Featured image: The School of Public Health building at the University of Maryland on March 5. Photo by Allison Seidel.