As lawyers in Taiwan have reported, the Vietnamese government has a record of censoring communication about the 2016 Formosa marine disaster. The blocking of certain keywords (Formosa, dead fish, Vu Ang) is a form of media injustice that local and diaspora activists have to work around.
1. Songs as artifacts,
2. Faith in God enables their forgiveness: how does the belief in God and in Amis ancestor co-exist? (阿美人有祖靈概念嗎?)
3. 遷徙的過程: 從美山，新莊到新竹，從打漁到打零工，這一路轉換對阿嬤個人，她的家庭以及部落代表著什麼?以及這段小歷史如何被鑲嵌在大歷史的脈絡中?
It would be great to interview current and former staff members of CBE to gain insight into what it is like to work on major campaigns and among a team who is victorious in practical issues. I would ask what are the most impactful strategies in community organizing that have proven effective in various campaigns facilitated by the CBE.
CBE’s mission focuses on the belief that everyone has the right to live in a healthy environment, free from the harmful effects of pollution and other environmental hazards. They also believe mobilizing community engagement leads to their empowerment and includes them in critical policy and decision-making conversations. Finally, by holding polluters accountable and promoting environmental regulatory laws, the CBE can ensure that polluters abide by necessary restrictions.
The CBE is regarded as one of California's most important and influential environmental justice organizations and the nation. Given the victories in critical cases throughout the years, it has a solid reputation for its advocacy work and is well respected by policymakers, environmental advocates, and community members.
Within the media, CBE has been covered extensively in credible local and national media outlets. The organization is often quoted and featured as a credible and effective EiJ org. Its work has been recognized and celebrated.
Communities for a Better Environment functions within the nonprofit sector, specifically within social justice and advocacy subsectors.
Among the CBE’s board of directors sits Caroline Farrell, the Executive Director of the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment (CRPE)
The CBE collaborates with other local, state, and national grassroots organizations.
Additionally, the CBE has a history of working with labor unions representing workers closely tied to environmental issues, such as employees from refineries and power plants.
Climate Justice – CBE efforts are focused on the intersection of environmental issues, emphasizing the significance of the disproportionate impacts on low-income communities of color.
Racial Justice – The CBE is committed to amplifying the voices of Black and Brown communities in their work. Their work can be considered an effort to dismantle systems of oppression and inequality.
Corporate Power – CBE can be seen as a counterbalance to corporate interests and is proactive in holding polluters accountable by promoting policies that prioritize public health and environmental protection over corporate profits.
Community-led initiatives emphasize the importance of community members providing input central to their needs.
Intersectionality is also key to describing the interconnectedness of environmental and social injustices.
At times they focus on narrow and specific issues such as air pollution or toxic waste disposal.
Given the difficulty in addressing environmental pollution and the health implications from exposure is often invisible and difficult to measure, it is challenging to identify the sources of pollution and, thus, hold polluters accountable. Working closely with predominantly low-income communities of color located near industrial facilities and other sources of pollution, they often lack the necessary political power and resources to advocate effectively against government and regulatory institutions.
As mentioned previously, applying an intersectional approach is also critical to the conversations concerning environmental justice. Often, these communities face a multitude of inequities that add complexity to the social, economic, and political factors contributing to environmental pollution and injustice.