Environment & Social Exclusion

Why are environmental and sustainability jobs, volunteering and activities connected to protecting the environment, failing to attract people from low-income and culturally diverse social groups?

Our panel will shine a light on the nature of the problem, from the design of shared urban spaces; the need for organisations to be representative of communities they serve; exclusionary narratives and the lack of opportunities to engage with the environment, to the need for education and better policies to tackle social justice and sustainability.

We will explore the importance of promoting environmentalists from all backgrounds, ethnicities, and genders. Furthermore, as the biggest global health crisis in a century lifts the lid on racial inequality, we will discuss the intersectionality between champions of environmental quality and advocates of social equality.

How can we ensure that our present and future actions are not just designed to ‘build back better’ with a ‘green economy’, but that they secure ‘a just recovery’ for both the environment and humanity?

Introduction: Pamela Castle, OBE, Founder, Castle Debates

Chair: Kerry Geldart, Partner Castle Debates

Guest Speakers:

Sarah Mukherjee, Chief Executive, Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (IEMA) & former BBC Environment Correspondent.

Julian Agyeman Ph.D. FRSA FRGS, Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University, Massachusetts.

Devika Jina, Devika Jina, Author of two titles in Puffin's 'Extraordinary Lives' series. Storyteller and speaker on issues relating to race, gender and environment.