Across the United States, low-income communities and communities of color are subject to an array of environmental burdens such as pollution, limited healthcare, and systemic racism. These stressors aren’t independent: one burden can make individuals disproportionately vulnerable to others. However, cumulative impacts are not always considered by environmental justice screening tools and other policy processes. There have been some recent changes in the US to address this problem. New state laws are attempting to address cumulative impacts, and federal funding through the Inflation Reduction Act and Justice40 is largely geared toward Environmental Justice initiatives. With these new policies, the tools policymakers are using to carry out environmental policy must incorporate cumulative impacts.

Join Resources for the Future (RFF) on Wednesday, April 10 for “Environmental Justice: Understanding Cumulative Impacts,” the second webinar in our 2024 Exposure event series. At this event, we will dive deep into these cumulative impacts and the importance of understanding them when shaping environmental policy.

Speakers:

• Ana Baptista, The New School

• Peggy Shepard, WE ACT for Environmental Justice

• Lucija Muehlenbachs, University of Calgary and Resources for the Future (Moderator)