Event: AAPIs 4 Environmental Justice
Climate crisis is happening now. The recent extreme winter storm ravaged Texas, the Midwest, and Southeast, leaving hundreds of thousands of families without power, water, and heat for weeks. In California, we continue to face extreme heat waves, wildfires, and power outages year after year. None of these are “natural disasters” when we know climate change is a product of people’s actions driven by capitalism.
From Wallstreet to Big Oil to corporations that privatize public resources, pollute our air and land, and develop unsustainable models of business, low-income communities, communities of color, and indigenous peoples continue to bear the brunt of harm most intensely. Many Asian American and Pacific Islander communities have historically faced environmental destructions and injustices, struggled living near toxic sites and polluting power plants, and organized at the intersections of land, housing, workplace safety, etc.
Now more than ever, we feel the urgency to build towards an alternative and protect our future. What work can we do to promote environmental justice in our local communities? How do we hold corporations accountable in the larger fight against rapid climate change?
Join AAPI FORCE-EF, Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA), Independent Guåhan, and Pacific Climate Warriors for an expert panel of activists and organizers delving into AAPI organizing environmental justice issues, and learn how you can contribute concretely to progressive efforts and calls to action!
The panel will be hosted as a webinar on Zoom and broadcasted on Facebook live on April 13th at 5:30PM PT. We will also be hosting a 15 minute Q&A with the panelists that you won’t want to miss!
Co-sponsor: Project by Project San Francisco
RSVP to AAPIs 4 Environmental Justice:
Introducing our panelists:
My name is Ashley Phuthama, I am a youth leader at Asian Pacific Environmental Network. I’m in 10th grade, and was born and raised in Hercules, CA. My history with APEN started in 2019 when I attended their Youth Academy program. I come from a Laotian family, and I appreciate APEN’s background in Laotian immigrant and refugee organizing, this is why I’m excited to be a part of APEN’s youth leadership and give back to my community.
Mabel Tsang – As Civic Engagement Program Manager for CEJA and CEJA Action, I work to build the political power, self-governance and self-determination of EJ communities and communities of color burdened by health, economic and environmental impacts. I build the bridges of accountability between California’s elected leaders and voters, manage ballot measure campaigns, and expand democratic participation for environmental, racial and social justice by centering and including members of our community who have been historically barred from voting. I’ve successfully led the campaign to beat down Proposition 70 which preserved critical public funds to fight climate change.
Michael Lujan Bevacqua, Ph.D. (Familian Kabesa yan Bittot) is the co-chair for the organization Independent Guåhan, which is dedicated to educating the Guam community about the need for decolonization and joining the world as an independent country. He hosts a weekly podcast on Facebook for the group called Fanachu! With his brother Jack, they run a creative collection called The Guam Bus that publishes Chamoru language books, comics and learning materials (www.theguambus.com).
Kevin Lionga Aipopo (all pronouns, Pacific Climate Warriors) is a community advocate, storyteller, and student leader based in traditional Kalupuya, Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, and Atfalati lands (Beaverton, Oregon). Their work centers around the intersections between their ethnic identity as a Black American and Samoan person and their gender fluidity. Kevin uses their platforms to interrogate systems of power, challenge normalcy, and uplift voices within their communities. Through interpersonal connection, community organizing, poetry, and education, they have found space as an emerging voice for Black, Indigenous, Queer, Trans, and Climate liberation
