"What’s happening to people is unjust, so let’s have a conversation about it” - Dr. Ingrid Waldron to speak in Waterloo on environmental racism
WATERLOO, ONTARIO, CANADA - Dr. Ingrid Waldron, a sociologist, Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at Dalhousie University will be in Waterloo to deliver a talk titled “Environmental Racism and the Politics of Waste in Mi’kmaw & African Nova Scotian Communities in Nova Scotia.” This free public lecture is presented by Waterloo Global Science Initiative as part of its Generation SDG Summit and takes place Tuesday April 24th at 7PM at Perimeter Institute.
Dr. Waldron researches environmental racism as part of an examination of how social factors shape community health. "In Nova Scotia, industries that produce toxic waste, contaminants, and pollutants are disproportionately located in racialized communities. In other words, non-white communities," she says. “What’s happening to people is unjust, so let’s have a conversation about it.”
Recently featured on CBC’s The Current Facing Race town hall series, Dr. Waldron spoke in Halifax along with partners from the predominantly black community of Shelburne, NS. Shelburne is a self-proclaimed “community of widows” where residents make a connection between the loss of black men to cancer and the local landfill which operated from the 1950’s to 2016. Residents recall the pungent smell of refuse being burned and men in hazmat suits depositing unidentified waste.
Using The ENRICH Project (Environmental Noxiousness, Racial Inequities & Community Health Project) as the basis for her discussion, Dr. Waldron will discuss the collaborative multi-pronged, interdisciplinary, and intersectional approach she uses to address environmental racism in Indigenous and African Nova Scotian communities.
Dr. Waldron’s first book, There’s Something in the Water: Environmental Racism in Indigenous and Black Communities, will be released by Fernwood Publishing at the lecture. Wordsworth Books will be onsite with copies for purchase and Dr. Waldron will sign copies following the lecture.
Generation SDG is the fourth Summit hosted by Waterloo Global Science Initiative and will bring together a multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral and multi-generational group for an intensive workshop on the implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in Canada. The Global Goals are a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity.
Waterloo Global Science Initiative (WGSI) has been catalyzing collective action since 2009. The conversations we host bring people with diverse viewpoints together, prompting multi-disciplinary, inclusive collaboration to address sustainable development challenges. By combining the results of these cross-cutting conversations with the science and technology of today, our network takes answers from paper to the real world, addressing the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in sectors such as energy, education and beyond. WGSI proudly takes a generational outlook to problem solving.
WGSI sits at the intersection of two global thought leaders: the University of Waterloo and Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. WGSI was founded through a partnership between the two institutions, and while WGSI operates independently, the founding partners remain key collaborators in our mission.