NCID-1816
Rebecca Bratspies
Professor of Law
CUNY Law School
Education/Degree:
1 Law (the University of Pennsylvania)
About
Rebecca Bratspies is a law professor at CUNY School of Law where she directs the Center for Urban Environmental Reform. An expert on environmental justice, and the human right to a healthy environment, Professor Bratspies has written scores of law review articles, op-eds, and four books. Her most recent book Environmental Justice: Law Policy and Regulation is used in schools across the country. ||Bratspies is member of the New York City's Environmental Justice Advisory Panel, EPA's Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee, and a scholar with the Center for Progressive Reform. She is a member of the NYC Bar Association Environmental Committee, and is Past-President of the American Association of Law Schools Section on the Environment. Her advocacy was honored with the ABA SEER Award for Commitment to Diversity and Justice. Her environment comic books Mayah's Lot and Bina's Plant, made in collaboration with artist Charlie LaGreca bring environmental literacy to a new generation.
Current Work
In Professor Bratsipies own words:"My project has 2 parts: 1: examine and document the relationship between environmentally overburdened communities and the environmentally underburdened communities they make possible. By using the label underburdened, my work highlights how environmental privilege is part of structural racism--in which great disparities are normalized and therefore become invisible, unproblematized, and unconsidered. This part of the project is relatively theoretical and data driven. The goal is to create pathways for changing decision processes, for incorporating more voices in problem-definition, and making equity an integral part of every environmental choice. Frequently proposes new legal and administrative decision-making processes, rooted in equality, that can begin to transform the problem of environmental injustice. The second involves working closely with NYC EJ communities to facilitate and participate in community-driven research and advocacy. Focus on waste, PM, & Renewable Rikers."
Research Area Keyword(s)
antiracist policy, environmental democracy, environmental justice, human right to a healthy environment, participatory justice