Environmental Defense Fund Discussion

dvocacy groups can help fill the void created by the inaction of

government and industry. For example, the residents of West Harlem in

New York City live in a high asthma prevalence neighborhood. WE ACT for

Environmental Justice has been fighting for clean air for three decades

in the area and beyond. WE ACT aims to give people of color and

low-income residents the information and language to be able to

participate directly in environment and health policy making decisions

so that they can fight against the environmental racism that has

impacted them directly. In addition to WE ACT, there are numerous other

environmental advocacy groups across the United States, including

UPROSE, Sunrise Movement, and Black Millennials 4 Flint.

The goal
of this week’s discussion is to identify a local or regional advocacy
group working on the environmental injustice issue you are analyzing in
your Course Project. Having identified the advocacy group, you should be
able to identify, explore, and analyze the following.

• Strengths:
  These are advantages internally at the organization. Examples include
  access to a large community of enthusiastic supporters, celebrity
  endorsements, or especially skilled staff.
• Weaknesses:
  These are shortcomings within the organization that may negatively
  impact its ability to achieve its goals. Examples include poor
  organizational structure, vacant key staff positions, and limited
  budgets.

In your follow-up responses, reply to and build on the ideas expressed by your fellow students.