Today, and next week Monday, I will be your guest host! Exactly one year ago, Scott invited me to be a guest on the podcast to discuss disaster research, race, emergency management, and vulnerable communities. On that episode, I talked about the importance of redefining concepts like vulnerability and expanding how we understood the social construction of disasters. As a guest host, I’d like to continue that discussion by inviting guests to talk about structural violence, incarceration, and environmental injustice, incorporating my own background as a scholar-activist. One year after the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, calls for racial and economic justice still resound across the country. It is my hope that we amplify these calls through these next few episodes.
Today I welcome Sonal Jessel. Sonal Jessel is the Director of Policy at WE ACT for Environmental Justice. She is responsible for advancing the organization’s policy agenda at the local, state, and national levels, in addition to leading New York City policy initiatives and the Northern Manhattan Climate Action (NMCA) Plan. Prior to joining WE ACT, she conducted research in energy insecurity, housing, and public health at Columbia University, and coordinated clinical trials at Weill Cornell Medicine. With roots in California and Connecticut, Sonal has an MPH in Population and Family Health with a concentration in Climate and Health from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, and a BA in Organismal Biology from Pitzer College, in California. Her interest is focused on the intersection of environmental and social justice, health, and policy.