Environmental Justice Immersion 2023

After a night on Eloheh farm, we headed back to UP to meet with today’s presenters.

First, we met with the Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) for a presentation. We met Patricia “Patsy” Kullberg, a retired primary care physician who worked mainly with disadvantaged folks; and Samantha Hernandez, a climate justice organizer. As physicians, they approach environmental justice from the angle of improving public health outcomes in their community. From her time in the healthcare field, Patsy told us she saw a major flaw in the healthcare paradigm. Healthcare workers only engaged their patients in an attempt to fix what was wrong with them, rather than addressing the root cause: the social and environmental conditions they were living in.

Again, the UP river campus came up in our conversation. Patsy mentioned that UP is an under-engaged community, though they hold an important pivoting point with the river campus. They emphasized the importance of engaging individual contaminators and landholders on the river, rather than the city as a whole. It’s a million small acts that will build a better future, Patsy and Samantha told us.

After lunch we met two organizers for the Coalition for Communities of Color (CCC) Isabel Sanchez and J’reyesha Brannon, a UP alumni. The CCC consists of eleven groups all focused on uplifting communities of color. The coalition specializes in policy analysis, collecting culturally appropriate data, and environmental justice.

J’reyesha began her career as an environmental engineer and took a non-traditional route into climate Justice organizing. Now, J’reyesha is the president of the National Society of Black engineers, as well as an organizer. Hiking and outdoorsing is often seen as an exclusively White activity, J’reyesha tellsus, so she invites BIPOC youth to take interest in and connect with their environment through her volunteer work.

Isabel and J’reyesha also told us about Oregon Water Futures Collaborative: a project that aims to create a safe space including exclusively BIPOC voices and perspectives to be heard.They engage in research and outreach in the community to gather data for their yearly project reports: available here. J’reyesha and Isabel discussed their upcoming OWFC zine to be published in summer of 2023. It will include the qualitative data collected by the coalition and highlight individual stories and experiences resulting from climate change. The zine will be publicly available in Oregon libraries and online when finished.

When asked what kind of change they would like to see from the University of Portland, they asked for greater transparency about the demographics of UP students and teachers. J’reyesha had organized a scholarship for Black engineering students, so it was important for her to know exactly who these funds were going to, and if and how UP is maintaining a diverse student body.

To learn more about the Oregon Water Futures Collaborative, visit oregonwaterfutures.org

Those interested in an internship or shadowing at CCC can apply at https://www.coalitioncommunitiescolor.org/take-action

We finished the day at the Cinema 21 screening of the “Once a Braided River” documentary written and produced by Barbara Bernstein. This documentary summarized the issues and impacts of the Willamette superfund and featured several community activists including the familiar Sarah Taylor of the Braided River Campaign. Stay tuned for future screenings of “Once a Braided River” at UP! – Stella Stueck

We started our day off with a little hike to punchbowl where we explored the gorge together and had some time for individual reflection a nd meditation. Then following a quick trip to shower , we met with the former mayor of Mosier, OR, Arlene Burns who graciously presented her story . Mosier is a small town, with a population of about 500 people along the Columbia River popular for wind surfing and beautiful wild flowers . Arlene Burns was a river guide in many locations before settling in Oregon and becoming a volunteer mayor for 10 years where she greatly impacted not only the small town of Mosier , but Oregon, and nearby communities as well. Arlene was mayor at the time of the June 3rd , 2016, crude oil train derailment. Thankfully this accident occurred on a non windy day, but the fire and oil spill still have lasting impacts on the community and river. The near by wastewater treatment plant was able to catch about 25,000 gallons of the oil spill saving most of it from entering the Columbia River and severely impacting the salmon and fish populations. The tracks are very close to the town’s elementary school and town so they evacuated the children from the town from their parents for multiple hours due to the highway closure which also made it difficult for emergency responders to help. The nearby native tribes came to support the town and conducted a ceremony down by the river following the accident. The Columbia River Gorge is a large thorough fare for oil train transportation making many of the surrounding towns susceptible to these accidents in the future.

Arlene ended her presentation with the motto of Mosier: “small enough to make a difference.” I think this is so important to remember especially today where power and greed are huge political driving forces but we, as the young generation, do have a voice. We can help amplify the voices of those who need to be heard, whose stories need to be shared to preserve the history. Also, as Arlene stated, we can also find advocates who have influence and power who can amplify our voices as w ell . However, to create change and progress we need to provide the facts and find a way to tell the story without anger and frustration. After speaking with the current Mayor of Mosier and driving down to the derailment site, we learned how the town is planning to use federal grant money on a few projects such as improving the wastewater
treatment plant, providing restrooms for more bike traffic , and a net zero fire station and community center.

To end the day we had dinner with and listened to the stories and insights of the Yakama Tribe. They graciously welcomed us into their village on the hill of the Columbia River . To the Yakama tribe food, land and community are everything. Their ancestors chose homelessness and starvation over being relocated to reservations because of their strength and commitment to their land and history along the river. The native tribes are greatly impacted by “green” energy installed on their land including solar, wind and hydro-energy sources. The dam has significantly decreased the salmon population in the Columbia River. After hearing their perspective and side of the story I now realize how proposed sustainable energy sources aren’t sustainable for everyone. The large solar panels are destroying the land the tribes rely on for roots and food to feed their communities. As someone who is currently studying civil and environmental engineering, listening to the stories really opened my eyes as renewable energy is a major topic discussed in university, but we don’t always discuss all of the major implications of installing them. We learned so much from their insights and want to help educate others by sharing their stories and using our platform to amplify their voices. Please treat the earth as you would treat your own mother.
Graciously,
Morgan

Today our group visited two places, the Linnton Walking Tour with Sarah Taylor and the Brigham Fish Market.  Our tour with Sarah was both very hopeful and sad. On our tour Sarah went over the history of Linnton and what’s being done now. Linnton was a small town that was eventually annexed by Portland. For a long time, it was a very close knit community that was home for many immigrant families. Unfortunately, several different industries, particularly McCormick and Baxter had bought up most of the land and converted it into a space for fossil fuel facilities. They set up massive facilities that pollute the river water sediment, which are devastating to the communities that live along the river as well as the surrounding ecosystem, such as the salmon. They have also lined the Linnton area with oil lines that run even through residential areas and schools. These facilities devalued the homes of many families, displacing them. Those who chose to stay were and currently still are being intimidated by these industries to move. Sarah talked about how on different occasions, people pointed welding guns at her and once dropped heavy metal at her feet. Thankfully, Sarah talked about how the remaining residents are fighting extremely hard to keep the land they have left and are advocating for environmental policies and politicians that seek to restore polluted areas and protect what we have left.

The two biggest things that were screaming in my head during this walk were industries and communities. Industries are responsible for the destruction of so much and on this walking tour I could see it first hand. I feel the awareness of the impact of and education on industries is incredibly lacking, especially at lower levels of schooling. Growing up, I was taught that climate change was mostly OUR fault, with things like carbon footprints. And while there’s no denying that we do have an impact, the devastation industries have created among the environment and communities is something I was not taught till my high school years. These industries have so much power and influence that it sometimes feels like there’s nothing we can do. But listening to Sarah had given me so much hope. Despite all the things Sarah and her community have been put through by fossil fuel industries, they are still fighting to keep their community and future communities safe. We had a chance to walk through different areas of the community, like this carpentry shop, and it was moving to see the worker and Sarah talking about keeping the building in the hands of the community.

Our visit to the Brigham fish market was very pleasant. It is not very often one gets to eat food caught locally, especially as local as just down the street. You could really taste the difference with the fresh, sustainable, locally caught fish compared to other establishments and grocery store products. I believe it really demonstrates the benefits to sustainable practices and how it not only enriches the environment but our own lives. – Brandon Pham