Urban Ecosystem Justice – Critical Engagement at the Intersection of Food, Climate, Water, Air, Health, Race, and Equity
The Radix Ecological Sustainability Center is an urban ecological literacy and just sustainabilities advocacy non-profit in the South End of Albany, New York (www.radixcenter.org). We strive for social justice, equity, and ecological regeneration by educating and empowering local community members with the resources, tools, skills, and knowledge for doing this work. We maintain a one-acre urban farm with demonstrations of gardens, composting, microlivestock, rainwater harvesting, renewable energy, beekeeping, and more, and strive to have these systems replicated in a decentralized network throughout the city. More broadly, we support and advocate for environmental justice causes in the region.
This AmeriCorps project focuses on building community resilience and justice in the South End by increasing local food security and mutual support networks amidst the ongoing challenges of systemic racism, inequality, and climate volatility. On the direct service end, program participants will be engaged primarily in the maintenance of summer gardens and in surplus food redistribution/composting, street tree watering, air quality monitoring and river remediation. Additional responsibilities include supporting our general operations and participating in organizing a fundraising event. Generally, we meet Monday through Thursday from the hours of 8AM to 1PM. Morning hours will be completed on multiple gardening sites and afternoon hours will vary between research, youth mentorship, facilitating group discussions, field trips, leading community presentations, and organizing open houses.
Using a sociological framework, we explore the emergent concept of “urban ecosystem justice.” With it, we ask questions of how social issues of class and race, access, equity, and fairness apply to both the biophysical dimensions of urban ecosystems such as soils, watersheds, biodiversity, waste cycles and climate as well as to issues of social sustainability and resource equity. In doing so, we will examine whether it is possible to meet the material needs of city residents while simultaneously regenerating urban socio-ecological health. Further questions include whether urban ecosystem benefits can be distributed equally amongst a populace without further aggravating “green gentrification”, “disaster capitalism”, or “urban ecological securitization.” The program will synthesize the social critiques of urban political ecology and environmental justice with the concepts of adaptive governance, urban commons, just sustainabilities, and resilience science.
AmeriCorps fellows will additionally engage in aspects of the Radix summer EcoJustice Associate summer youth employment program including facilitating a four-week urban agriculture/environmental justice-themed program for high school-aged Albany youth, taking on teaching roles in the ecojustice youth curriculum, and engaging in physical gardening activities.
It is essential that applicants have a commitment to principles of racial justice, gender equity, and be experienced working in diverse communities. Furthermore, applicants should be comfortable working outdoors in hot summer weather conditions with plants, soils, compost, and animals. The ideal applicant will be capable of working both in groups and individually. We strongly encourage BIPOC candidates, people identifying as LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, and people with working-class backgrounds to apply.
Interested applicants should send a letter of interest to Scott Kellogg at sk@radixcenter.org by April 12th.
Program Director Bios:
Scott Kellogg, Ph.D. is the co-founder and Educational Director of the Radix Ecological Sustainability Center. Scott teaches graduate-level Environmental Education at Bard College and Urban Policy at SUNY Albany. He is the author of “Urban Ecosystem Justice: Strategies for Equitable Sustainability and Ecological Literacy in the City” (Routledge, 2021).
Brandon Costelloe-Kuehn, Ph.D. is a Lecturer and Director of sustainability-themed housing at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He teaches courses on sustainability studies and design and is working on a book titled “Redesigning Contexts: Design as if the World Could Really Change.”
Stacy Pettigrew, Ph.D. is a co-founder of the Radix Ecological Sustainability Center and an Assistant Professor in the Population Health Sciences Department at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. An environmental epidemiologist, her research focuses on environmental justice.