Environment justice focus of talk on March 4

Thursday, February 19, 2009

OSU Arts and Sciences presentation is free and open to the public.
 
(Feb. 19, 2009, STILLWATER, Okla.) –  Robert Bullard, called one of the century’s environmental leaders by Newsweek Magazine, will discuss environmental discrimination on Wednesday, March 4 at Oklahoma State University.
 
Bullard, who has worked in the environmental justice field for more than two decades, will discuss how people living near waste sites are predominantly minorities. The talk starts at 3:30 p.m. in Room 313 of the Classroom Building on the Stillwater campus.

Discussion topics include placing landfills in poor neighborhoods; building housing projects on contaminated sites; and chemical companies encroaching on property lines.

“Dr. Bullard shows us that everybody has the right to a safe and healthy environment,” said Patricia Bell, head of the OSU Department of Sociology. “Just because you are poor doesn’t mean you should be dumped on.
 
“The lecture is especially fitting since it is on the heels of the recent announcement that public housing is being placed in Tar Creek, one of the sites placed on the Environmental Protection Agency Superfund list.”
 
In July 2007, Bullard was featured in CNN “People You Should Know.” He served on President Clinton’s Transition Team in the Natural Resources and Environmental cluster. He also has chaired the health and research subcommittee on the U.S. EPA National Environment Justice Advisory Council.
 
Bullard is a sociology professor at Clark Atlanta University and is the founder of the school’s Environmental Justice Resource Center. He is the author of 14 books including Dumping in Dixie and Unequal Protection.
 
For more information, phone (405) 744-6104. The presentation is free and open to the public and is made possible by the Social Sciences Lecture Series in the OSU College of Arts and Sciences.