In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Regan Patterson, an incoming assistant professor at UCLA who recently completed a fellowship as a Transportation Equity Research Fellow at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. Patterson describes how the US transportation system has led to environmental injustice and inequitable access to mobility services. She and Raimi talk about the history of how this situation came to be; potential policy solutions; and how cities, states, and the federal government can address these issues moving forward.

References and recommendations:

“Gender, Climate and Transport in the United States” by Regan Patterson from the Women’s Environment and Development Organization; https://wedo.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/WEDO_PolicyBriefonTransport_July15.pdf

“Dangerous by Design 2021” by Smart Growth America; https://smartgrowthamerica.org/dangerous-by-design/

“Carbon trading, co-pollutants, and environmental equity: Evidence from California’s cap-and-trade program (2011–2015)” by Lara Cushing, Dan Blaustein-Rejto, Madeline Wander, Manuel Pastor, James Sadd, Allen Zhu, and Rachel Morello-Frosch; https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002604

Black in Environment; https://www.blackinenviron.org/

“Black Like Plastic” short film; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ta-IaB8Y0I