UNCF on Sustainability in Black Colleges and Universties

Credit To: Felicia M. Davis, United Negro College Fund

Under the leadership of Dr. Michael Lomax, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) has embarked upon a course designed to position Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) on the frontline of the transition to a green economy. Working in collaboration with established environmental organizations, green building experts, and environmental justice leadership, the UNCF Building Green Initiative merges a renewed commitment to academic excellence with an emerging focus on sustainability. The goal of the Initiative is to usher in an eco-renaissance penetrating deep into African American and other communities of color to reignite a commitment to educational and environmental stewardship.

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The first Principle of Environmental Justice affirms the sacredness of Mother Earth. The seventeenth and final principle urges individuals to make personal choices to consume as little of Mother Earth's resources and produce as little waste as possible, and to make the conscious decision to challenge and reprioritize our lifestyles to ensure the health of the natural world for present and future generations

The Clark Atlanta University Environmental Justice Resource Center was established in 1994 with an interdisciplinary approach to environmental studies that connects environment and human rights. The Center works in broad areas including transportation equity, sprawl, energy, and climate change with human impact and equity as central research considerations. Environmental justice and sustainability are virtually synonymous except that environmental justice places people squarely in the landscape, elevates race and equity as significant considerations, and focuses on “where we eat, sleep, study, work, play and pray” as environmental priorities.

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Representatives from the Clark Atlanta University Environmental Justice Resource Center, Xavier’s Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (now housed at Dillard), the Indigenous Environmental Network, and a diverse coalition of U.S. environmental justice, religious, climate justice, policy and advocacy networks grappled with equity considerations related to climate policy. Following COP6, environmental justice advocates formed the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative (EJCC), a consensus-based coalition that developed programs and papers to educate policymakers and under-represented communities about the effects of climate change.

In the quest for domestic climate legislation, Black colleges received little attention and limited funding. Although, technically speaking, a single climatic event cannot be considered climate change, Hurricane Katrina provided a graphic depiction of the disproportional impact of climate catastrophes on low-income communities. African Americans in the Gulf Coast put a human face on climate change for a nation far removed from impacts around the globe. In spite of Katrina, energy policy gained little traction within the Black community.

As the economy stalled and Black unemployment spiked to double digits, talk of green jobs began to attract the attention of social justice advocates, most notably Van Jones. Meanwhile, a few student climate justice advocates emerged on HBCU campuses. These student leaders worked to enlist their peers in various climate campaigns. Black colleges slowly and quietly began to offer environmental courses, recycling programs, and even built a few LEED certified green buildings.

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Clearly, environmental education must become a transcendent and pervasive theme for higher education institutions working to prepare future global leaders. Partnering with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, and Second Nature, UNCF is creating a strong, united front to ensure that students attending minority-serving institutions are prepared to apply their talent and energy to solving our most pressing problems, and that these institutions are transformed into sustainable engines of opportunity.

*For more visit http://www.climateneutralcampus.com/landing.php?whitepaper=advancing-green-building-and-campus-sustainability-in-communities-of-color&page=2