Beverly Wright Explained

Beverly Wright
Workplaces:Dillard University
Alma Mater:Grambling State University
State University of New York at Buffalo

Beverly Wright is an American environmental justice scholar and the founder of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Dillard University. Her research considers the environmental and health inequalities along the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor. Her awards and honours include the Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Justice Achievement Award.

Early life and education

Wright was born in Louisiana, close to a highly polluted area that was known as ‘Cancer Alley’.[1] She has said that these childhood experiences were essential in shaping her research career. Wright studied sociology at Grambling State University. She moved to State University of New York at Buffalo as a graduate student. During her early research, Wright realised the racial disparities of cancer alley, noticing that the majority of people who lived along the polluted corridor were communities of colour.[2] In an interview with Vice magazine Wright remarked, “All the birds had disappeared except for the crows. Screens on their windows were rusting and falling off in like three months. The air was so corrosive that the paint on their cars was being melted off,”. In 1991 she attended the People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C., where she met Damu Smith. Smith was the founder of the National Black Environmental Justice Network (NBEJN).

Career

In 1992 Wright became the founder and executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) at Dillard University.[3] [4] The DSCEJ is a community–university partnership that investigates the impacts of environmental and health inequality along the Lower Mississippi River Industrial Center, which is so polluted that it became known as Cancer Alley.[5] [6] Her research combined population and demographic data with Toxics Release Inventory reports to better understand the correlations between race and pollution.[7] She has shown that almost 80% of African-Americans live in polluted neighbourhoods. Wright and the DSCEJ developed an environmental justice curriculum for elementary schools in New Orleans. She worked on the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Minority Worker Training and Brownfields Minority Training Program, which helped people from underserved communities find careers in environmental and health sciences.[8] Working with Robert D. Bullard, Wright popularised the Latinx term “the wrong complexion for protection”.[9]

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Wright focussed on outreach and training programmes for the African-American community in New Orleans. She has worked to support displaced residents in returning to their homes, working with policy makers to address issues surrounding environmental restoration.[10] Hurricane Katrina's flooding resulted in lead saturation in New Orleans soil.[11] Wright showed that lead exposure was particularly bad in areas where there were significant numbers of Black families. She worked with American steelworkers to design a programme known as A Safe Way Back Home, which looks to clean abandoned homes and neighbourhoods of pollutants. The DSCEJ were involved with the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.[12]

Wright has worked with Mitch Landrieu on his Sustainable Energy and Environmental Taskforce. In 2017 she delivered expert testimony to the Council of the City of New Orleans to describe the risks associated with a Entergy gas power plant. In 2019 Entergy were fined $5 million for bringing in paid actors to influence to council's decision making process.[13]

Academic service

As Wright became more involved with environmental issues she started to realise how underrepresented Black people were at international climate events. In response, she organised a climate change conference for students at historically black colleges and universities, hosted at Dillard University and including a tour of East Plaquemines Parish. Wright is a member of the National Black Environmental Justice Network, which reformed in June 2020.[14] With the newly reformed NBEJN Wright has been serving as an advisor for Joe Biden's climate emergency plan alongside Tamara Toles of 350.org.

Awards and honors

Selected publications

Books

Book contributions

Peer-reviewed articles

Monographs

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Beverly Wright The EPA Blog. 2020-10-09. en-US. 2020-10-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20201011100344/https://blog.epa.gov/tag/beverly-wright/. dead.
  2. Web site: A Legendary Black Environmental Group Is Back and Advising Joe Biden. 2020-10-09. www.vice.com. 30 July 2020 . en.
  3. Web site: Prominent Black Environmental Historians and Authors University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability. 2020-10-08. seas.umich.edu.
  4. Web site: Climate Change Is Not Just an Environmental Issue. 2020-10-09. www.csrwire.com. en.
  5. Web site: Beverly Wright, advocate for environmental justice, to lecture at Rice Tuesday night. 2020-10-08. news.rice.edu.
  6. Web site: Louisiana's Chemical Corridor Is Expanding. So Are Efforts To Stop It. 2020-10-09. NPR.org. 20 March 2020 . en. Wendland . Tegan .
  7. Web site: 2017-01-06. Environmental Justice Analysis of Racially Disproportionate Risks and Burdens Associated with the Proposed Entergy Gas Power Plant. City of New Orleans.
  8. Web site: Brownfields. 2020-10-08. tools.niehs.nih.gov.
  9. Web site: 2020-04-17. One reason why people of color are dying at higher rates in the US? The air they breathe Mustafa Santiago Ali. 2020-10-09. the Guardian. en.
  10. Web site: 2017-02-21. Black History Month: Honoring Beverly Wright. 2020-10-08. Multiplier. en-US.
  11. Web site: 2009-02-01. TheGrio's 100: Beverly Wright, Bringing environmental justice to post-Katrina New Orleans. 2020-10-08. TheGrio. en-US.
  12. Web site: Environmental Justice Advocate Beverly Wright to Deliver Annual Davis Lecture at Williams College. 2020-10-08. Office of Communications. en-US.
  13. Web site: Times-Picayune. Kevin Litten, NOLA com The. City Council fines Entergy for paid actors scandal, affirms power plant vote. 2020-10-09. NOLA.com. 22 February 2019 . en.
  14. Web site: 2020-06-16. Black environmentalists are organizing to save the planet from injustice. 2020-10-09. Grist. en-US.
  15. Web site: Grants Explorer. 2020-10-08. RWJF. en.
  16. Web site: The Heinz Awards :: Beverly Wright. 2020-10-08. heinzawards.net.
  17. Web site: 2014-03-18. Five Questions with Scholar/Activist Christine Drennon -. 2020-10-09. en-US.

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