BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//jEvents 2.0 for Joomla//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Los_Angeles X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Los_Angeles BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:19700308T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:19701101T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:5e4b9f2b431221c7e76d11cbfe784d5a47 CATEGORIES:Events SUMMARY:Addressing the Burden of Air Pollution DESCRIPTION:
A panel of air quality specialists illuminating how pollution is inequitably distributed toward marginalized communities and strategizing h ow to address this injustice.
Air pollution is a sounding alarm for immediate climate action. Typ ically BIPOC communities are the most affected as they are more likely to l ive in counties with higher exposure to particulate pollution.
For this panel, Women in Cleantech and Sustainability focu
ses on the San Joaquin Valley as a case study of the impacts of air polluti
on on a local community. This region is the biggest produce grower in the U
S and has been referred to as the place with the worst air pollution in America
WCS bring s together the perspectives of Jessica Olsen, San Joaquin Valley Air Qualit y District, Kieshaun White, youth leader in air pollution, and Dr. Lupita M ontoya, expert in indoor air quality and aerosol science, to address the in equities they have seen in their community and what must be done to remove this health risk for good. Come join WCS as we discuss how to address air p ollution and its inquitable effects on marginalized communities.
Environmental Justice Advocate, C elsblock
Kieshaun White was born on the Southwes t side of Fresno, California, where one in four young people have asthma. H e is that one.
Since he could not do a lot of activities outside, he stayed inside and fell in love with the Science Channel. When he turned 13, he got in contact with his amazing mentor, Marcel Woodruff, who introduced him to the Fresno Boys and Men of Color program where they taught Kieshaun how to advocate for his community and to speak in front of large crowds. D uring his freshman year of high school, his mentors, Francisco Espinoza and Marcel Woodruff, told him to apply for the Pollination Project impact gran t, which is a grant that engages youth to use their passion and their love for their community to create a project. He used the Pollination Project gr ant to purchase a drone and a purple air quality monitor and started to tes t the air at schools around Fresno.
At first he did not know that the re was a 25-year life expectancy difference between the northern part of Fr esno (a historically white community) and the southwest side of Fresno, but as he conducted his experiments and collected data, the disparity in air q uality became clear. After that, he received a $10,000 grant from Youth Lea dership Institute to expand his project, so he partnered with the Fresno Un ified School District to put air quality monitors up in every high school i n the district. They also built an app so that people can get up-to-the-min ute hyper local air quality information.
Speaker
Director of Community Strate gy and Resources, San Joaquin Valley Air District
C
hair, Representation & Equity Affairs Committee, American Association f
or Aerosol Research (AAAR);
Co-chair, Community Enga
ged Research Task Force, Association of Environmental Engineering and Scien
ce Professors (AEESP);
Co-chair, Diversity, Equity &a
mp; Inclusion Committee, Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honors Society.
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Moderator
Business Development & Strategy, Sustainable Brands< /span>
Kirpa is a climate reality leade r committed to sustainability, social and environmental innovation. She joi ned Sustainable Brands to shift the economy towards increased sustainable d evelopment practices for a greener and more just future. Kirpa brings a div erse background of experience to the team as an environmentalist, climate s cientist, humanitarian, consultant, and speaker.
Kirpa is a San Francisco Bay Area native and a graduate of the Universi
ty of California Santa Cruz with a degree in Environmental Studies. She rec
ently graduated with master’s in MSc. Hydrology and Water Security from the
University of Oklahoma. She enjoys conducting scientific research (focus i
n hydrology), climate stewardship, gardening, hiking, scuba diving, biking,
writing, live music, and adventuring in nature.