Changes With the Season

As we transition into a new season and year, I want to share an important update about my professional journey with the broader Tishman Center community.

I am thrilled to start a new role as the Resource Mobilization Officer at the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), an organization I've known and admired for a long time. My work will focus on resourcing GAIA’s mission to catalyze a global shift toward environmental justice by strengthening grassroots social movements that advance waste and pollution solutions, working across the globe. In this role, I will continue my efforts to move philanthropic resources to be more justice-centered, equitable, and accessible to the broader climate and environmental justice movement. This career shift feels like a natural continuation of my work here, as GAIA’s values deeply align with those of the Tishman Center.

EJ, EJ Movement Fellowship, Highlights, News, Opportunities, Partnerships, Staff Work, WasteTishman CenterDecember 19, 2024Tishman Center, Environmental Justice, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), Resource Mobilization, Climate Justice, Philanthropy and Equity, Environmental Justice Fellowship, Systemic Injustice, The New School. Career Transition, Community Leadership

A Homecoming of Purpose: Reflections from the Bay Area

From October 22 to 26, 2024, the second EJ Disrupt Design Fellowship cohort gathered in my home city of the Bay Area on the unceded lands of the Ohlone people.

As a local of Oakland and Richmond and the Operations and Events Manager at theTishman Environment and Design Center, welcoming EJ fellows and community leaders across Turtle Island, Hawai'i, and Puerto Rico was deeply personal. This retreat wasn't just about convening—it was about honoring our communities' resilience, complexity, and power.

EJ Movement FellowshipTishman CenterDecember 4, 2024Environmental Justice Retreat, EJ Disrupt Design Fellowship, Bay Area Environmental Justice, Ohlone Land Acknowledgment, Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), Just Homes, Oakland and Richmond Community, Indigenous-Led Solutions, Climate Justice Bay Area, Youth-Led Climate Resilience, Clean Air Advocacy Bay Area, DJ ShellHeart Bay Area, Desirae Harp Performance, Environmental Justice Partnerships, Bay Area environmental justice event 2024, Ohlone land environmental retreat, Community-driven environmental solutions, Indigenous climate resilience initiatives, Environmental justice movement in Oakland and Richmond, DJ ShellHeart Bay Area retreat, Desirae Harp Native Women performance, Environmental retreat planning during election year, Tishman Environment and Design Center events

Celebrating Environmental Justice and Resilience: EJ Communities Defeat Big Oil!

In light of recent disheartening news, the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the Chevron Doctrine—severely restricting the EPA and other federal agencies from protecting our environment and public health—it's essential to find and share stories of hope and resilience. One such story comes from Darryl Molina Sarmiento, the 2024-2026 EJ Disrupt Design Fellow and Executive Director of Communities for a Better Environment (CBE).

TED Talk: The people who caused the climate crisis aren't the ones who will solve it

“Frontline communities are the only ones who can get us out of this crisis.”

This past December, Angela Mahecha, Program Director of the Environmental Justice Fellowship Program, participated in TED Salon: Fairness and Our Future where she shared firmly and unapologetically that frontline communities, those most impacted by the climate crisis, are the only ones who can lead us towards a just future.

Highlights, EJ Movement FellowshipTishman CenterFebruary 26, 2021ejm fellowship, Climate Justice, climate crisis, ted talk, solutions, EJ Communities, frontline communities

Environmental Justice Leadership is Non-Negotiable

We are in a pivotal moment where things once unimaginable are now undeniable. We can't continue to rely on technocratic approaches that have proven ineffective or that only make superficial change. To build a just world, we need people-centered strategies that challenge the political, social, and economic leaders and systems that produced decades of environmental racism and inaction on climate change. Environmental Justice Movement leaders, specifically the people who are closest to the dangers of climate change, should lead us in identifying solutions.

EJ, News, Video Interview Series, EJ Movement FellowshipTishman CenterFebruary 1, 2021Environmental Justice, Climate Action, Climate Justice

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