“When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid. ”
— Audre lorde, writer and activist
I am earning my Ph.D at the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources where I am studying climate and environmental justice. I earned my Masters of Science from the University of Michigan (SEAS) in Environmental Justice and Planning in May 2019.
My dissertation research will examine agricultural and land-based reparations as a tool to further climate and environmental justice for marginalized communities. My thesis research focused on urban environmental justice and equitable climate adaptation in coastal cities.
University of Michigan Graduation from The School for Environment and Sustainability, 2019
My Focus:
Dissertation Research:
My academic research is centered on urban environmental justice, equitable climate adaptation, and land-based community reparations. I am also an anti-racist activist, educator, and organizer which is instrumental in all of my research and life.
My Dissertation research is a work in progress but will center around community and micro-reparations and their role in dismantling white supremacy and furthering climate and environmental justice in ways that concretely give resources back to BIPOC communities and land and agricultural collectives.
Thesis Research:
My Masters Thesis; Over Priced or Under Water; Green Gentrification in Gentilly, New Orleans was published online in April 2019. Environmental gentrification research has tracked how neighborhoods have changed over time in relation to either the transformation of a former brownfield site or the addition to a new environmental amenity like a park or greenway (Becerra, 2013; Pearsall, 2010). Additionally, the literature has built upon these findings to ask questions about the entire process of environmental gentrification (Angluevoski, 2016; Checker, 2011) and employed qualitative methods alongside a temporospatial analysis. This paper analyzes green gentrification in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana. Dr. Dorceta Taylor was the chair of my thesis committee.