Equity Talks Series: Systemic Racism and the Disproportionate Impact of Environmental Risks and Harms on Communities of Color

Ms. Angela Tovar, JD Related Seminars and Products

Chief Sustainability Officer

City of Chicago

Angela Tovar has worked as a community planner, program manager and climate and environmental justice advocate for over 15 years. In 2020, Angela was appointed as the Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Chicago by Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Angela has committed to centering the City of Chicago’s climate and sustainability agenda on equity and mitigating environmental harm in Chicago’s most overburdened and underserved communities. Angela began her career in the public sector in 2019 as a Program Manager for Cook County Department of Environment and Sustainability where she focused her efforts primarily on clean energy programming. Prior to that, Angela worked in the South Bronx for over a decade, first as the Director of Policy for Sustainable South Bronx and later as the Director of Community Development for the POINT CDC. In these roles, Angela oversaw community partnerships, advocacy and environmental justice efforts, and climate mitigation, including the development and implementation of a community-based climate resiliency plan known as The South Bronx Community Resiliency Agenda. Angela’s passion for social and environmental justice stems from her experience growing up on the industrial waterfront of Lake Michigan on Chicago’s Southeast side. She holds a B.A. in Urban Studies from the College of Charleston and a Masters in Urban Planning from City University of New York - Hunter College.

Professor Carlton Waterhouse, JD Related Seminars and Products

Professor of Law

Howard University

Professor Carlton Waterhouse is an international expert on environmental law and environmental justice, as well as reparations and redress for historic injustices. He lectures globally on climate justice and group based inequality. In 2019, he testified before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States and in 2018 he completed a Fulbright research fellowship in Brazil examining race and police violence. His views have been published in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and many other media outlets. His scholarship includes essays, articles, and book chapters focused on the ethical and legal dimensions of environmental justice and reparations. He is currently completing a book on Social Dominance and the Supreme Court that explores the Court’s past and current role in maintaining racial hierarchy in American society.

After completing law school at Howard University, Professor Waterhouse began his career as an attorney with the EPA, where he served in the Office of Regional Counsel in Atlanta, Georgia and the Office of General Counsel in Washington, D.C. At the EPA, he served as the chief counsel for the agency in several significant cases and as a national and regional expert on environmental justice, earning three of the Agency’s prestigious national awards.

Professor Waterhouse graduated with honors from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University with a Master of Theological Studies degree and from the Emory University Graduate School with a Ph.D. in Social Ethics. Drawing from his unique background, Professor Waterhouse examines civil rights, human rights, and environmental issues from a multidisciplinary approach. He actively participates in national, local, and international organizations protecting civil rights and addressing environmental issues like climate justice. He serves on the board of the Environmental Law Institute and is a member of the International Sustainable Development Research Society. He teaches property law as well as environmental and administrative law related courses and is building the Howard University Environmental Justice Center at the Howard University School of Law. The Environmental Justice Center conducts environmental justice research and advocacy that supports local communities confronting environmental injustices and provides policy interventions that promote environmental justice in local, national, and global arenas.

Ms. Peggy Salazar Related Seminars and Products

Executive Director

Southeast Environmental Task Force

Peggy Salazar is a lifelong resident of Southeast Chicago.  Growing up across the street from US Steel, she became accustomed to and accepting of the daily grit and grime associated with the steel industry.  .Venturing outside of her neighbourhood as she became older afforded her the awareness that all neighbourhoods neither looked nor smelled like hers..  But family and community ties kept her on the Southside.

Married with two children, her husband lost his job when the US Steel shuttered its facility for good. Having just bought the house she currently lives in, all seemed bleak for a moment.  But then the realization that the community had a chance to be reborn and transformed into a healthier, cleaner, more desirable place to live was hopeful.

When the Southeast side neighbourhood she moved into didn’t get any cleaner after the closing of the nearby mills, it became apparent that the source of the dirt and grime blanketing her community had not been only from the steel industry, and instead from all the industry remaining along the Calumet river.

When she had the opportunity to join the Board of Directors of  the South East Environmental Task Force in 2005, she did so with the intent to eliminate or reduce the amount of pollution in the area and to help usher in the change for a better community. . Since then, she has been an active participant in the governance of the organization. Peggy was asked to serve as the Executive Director in 2010. Peggy's ties to the community and her passion for environmental advocacy and awareness have helped the Task Force carry out its mission to improve the quality of life for all residents on Chicago's Southeast Side.

Prof. Keith I. Harley, JD Related Seminars and Products

Director

Greater Chicago Legal Clinic, Environmental Law Program

Keith heads the Greater Chicago Legal Clinic's Environmental Law Program, which operates as a collaboration between the Clinic and IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. The program provides legal advocacy, education, and volunteer services to people confronting urban environmental problems in the Chicago area. Keith is a 1982 graduate of Moravian College and received a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1985. He earned his JD from IIT Chicago-Kent in 1988 with a Certificate in Environmental and Energy Law and initiated a public interest environmental law practice on Chicago’s southeast side shortly thereafter. 

For the past 26 years, Keith has served as an adjunct professor-lecturer in Chicago-Kent’s Program in Environmental and Energy Law, for which he also serves as Director. Additionally, he serves as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University and at IIT’s Stuart Business School. Keith has been appointed to many federal, state, and local environmental policymaking initiatives, including a present appointment to the State of Illinois’ Environmental Justice Commission. He served as the Chair of the Chicago Bar Association's Environmental Law Committee from 2006 to 2009. 

In 2019, Keith received the Geertz Award from the Illinois State Bar Association in recognition of his achievements in human rights advocacy. Also in 2019, Keith received the Illinois Environmental Council’s Community Champion award at its annual banquet in recognition of his legal advocacy on behalf of environmental organizations.

Asst. Dean Marsha Ross-Jackson Related Seminars and Products

Chicago-Kent College of Law