Matthew Tejada, the director of the Office of Environmental Justice for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), addressed a live and virtual crowd Oct. 26 as the featured speaker at this semester’s Walter Isle Lecture.
The lecture was part of the Center for Environmental Studies’ (CES) ongoing Planet Now! series, which stages urgent conversations about critical issues designed to support research and teaching in and beyond the Rice community and to encourage a broad audience for invigorating dialogue across disciplines.
Tejada’s presentation delved into the behind-the-scenes work the EPA has accomplished during the last three presidential administrations and demonstrated the agency’s current progress toward achieving environmental justice and equity. They’re different yet interrelated goals, each of which must remain anchored in the communities experiencing environmental issues.
“Everything we do in environmental justice has got to be grounded in what communities are telling us,” Tejada said. “We do not have the answers. The answers are out there and any answer you think you come up with you're on your own — if it is not grounded in their reality, if they are not a part of coming up with that answer, it’s going to fail, guaranteed.”
As to the differences between equity and justice, Tejada explained that they “both recognize that there have been historic forms of inequity and injustice. Equity understands that communities have been left behind on purpose, and so it's our responsibility to do something to close the gap.”
But you can’t pursue equity without justice, Tejada said. It’s why there’s an environmental justice program at the EPA, not an environmental equity program.
“There are reasons why those gaps exist,” Tejada said. “And if all you do is try to close the gap, it'll just open back up the minute you turn around. You have to go out and find the reasons why the gap exists in the first place. You have to look at the policies. You have to look at the programs. You have to look at the simple decision-making of where we spend our time and our dollars. Without doing that you're not actually pursuing justice.”
Tejada’s talk was followed by a short Q&A session moderated by Joseph Campana, the William Shakespeare Professor of English and director of the CES, and Gisela Heffes, professor of Latin American literature and culture and a member of the CES Faculty Steering Committee.
Campana said he recently heard Tejada speak on a webinar hosted by the Society of Environmental Journalists — which is holding its 2022 conference in Houston March 30-April 3, in partnership with Rice — and was impressed “not only by the clarity of his advocacy, but also the deep understanding of the importance of collaboration, which no doubt comes from years as an advocate here in Houston as the executive director of Air Alliance Houston.”
Tejada encouraged the students in the room to know their own power in pursuing both equity and justice, even before they graduate into careers of their own.
“Wherever your paths take you in your academic careers and your professions or personal lives after that, never forget that speaking up and speaking out for truth and justice in your community is the only thing that ever brings change,” Tejada said. “And it's your responsibility to do it.”