The Quest for Environmental and Racial Justice for All: Why Equity Matters

Keynote Lecture Abstract

For more than three decades Robert D. Bullard has been at the forefront of the  environmental justice movement through his teaching, lectures, scholarship, research, service and activism.  His lecture at MIT explores how the environment justice framework redefined environmentalism and challenged institutional racism and the dominant environmental protection paradigm.  Much of his life’s work has been devoted to uncovering the underlying assumptions that contribute to and produce unequal protection and brings to the surface the ethical and political questions of “who gets what, when, where, why, and how much.”  Bullard’s research has documented that some communities have the “wrong complexion for protection” and living on the “wrong side of the tracks” can be hazardous to one’s health.  

About Professor Robert Bullard

Robert D. Bullard is a distinguished professor of urban planning and environmental policy in the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston. He is the author of eighteen books that address sustainable development, environmental racism, urban land use, community reinvestment, housing, transportation and climate justice.  Bullard has testified as an expert witness and served as a technical advisor on hundreds of civil rights lawsuits and public hearings. Professor Bullard was featured in the July 2007 CNN People You Should Know, Bullard: Green Issue is Black and White.  In 2014, the Sierra Club named its new Environmental Justice Award after Dr. Bullard.  In 2015, the American Bar Association presented him with the Excellence in Environmental, Energy, and Resources Stewardship Award.

Sponsored by:

ICEO, ESI, Radius, Institute Chaplain, and DUSP, for a keynote lecture and hosted by the Black Graduate Student Association, Black Student Union, Latino Cultural Center, and Fossil Free MIT.