Today we had a meeting with the fundraising/grants director of the Department of Environment, Shawn Rosenmoss. It was interesting to see what she had to say about social justice with regards to sustainability. She mentioned that environmental justice is an important goal the Department of Environment tries to achieve. Environmental justice is equal treatment of all citizens in regards to environmental laws, regulations and policy. One specific example that she talked about was the cities decision to shut down a power plant in a minority neighborhood. The city originally made the decision to put the power plant in this neighborhood because it was lower income and cheap to build. This is an example of a city planners taking advantage of people based on socioeconomic status. The city chose to rectify the situation by shutting down the power plants and citing reasons of environmental justice.
Another topic we discussed was different programs the city was implementing to address social justice problems throughout San Francisco. She said that the city has an environmental justice fund which funds programs such as the city's food security program which helps ensure that low income citizens have access to healthy food options. They also put together an educational program that helped educate the public about different minority leaders in the environmental field. They put together a poster and card series which makes it easy for the public to learn about these important figures. Another program they are implementing is the Governing for Racial Equity Network, which puts in place policies to promote racial equality.
Another topic we discussed was different programs the city was implementing to address social justice problems throughout San Francisco. She said that the city has an environmental justice fund which funds programs such as the city's food security program which helps ensure that low income citizens have access to healthy food options. They also put together an educational program that helped educate the public about different minority leaders in the environmental field. They put together a poster and card series which makes it easy for the public to learn about these important figures. Another program they are implementing is the Governing for Racial Equity Network, which puts in place policies to promote racial equality.