Advocating for Environmental Justice: A Conversation Eddie Ahn

Eddie Ahn went to law school but never stopped drawing. The story of his scrappy transformation of an environmental justice organization comes in the form of a graphic memoir that was selected by the Washington Post as “Best Graphic Novel of the Year." Advocate pairs Ahn’s passions for art and community organizing. Join Asian American Studies Professor Lisa Park and Ahn as they engage in a discussion about racial and economic inequality in the face of rising environmental catastrophes, along with what it means to choose community service and activism in the world ahead.

Bios:
Eddie Ahn is the executive director of Brightline Defense, an environmental justice nonprofit that has been engaged in policy and legal advocacy since 2009. He is also the writer and artist of “Advocate,” a national bestseller and graphic memoir published by Penguin Random House on April 2024.
In addition to his work for Brightline, Eddie serves on three commissions for local and state government agencies related to environmental policymaking: the SF Commission on the Environment, Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), and Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). Prior to being a nonprofit attorney, he was an AmeriCorps member, teaching public speaking and arts workshops in Oakland’s Chinatown. In December 2021, Eddie was inducted into the State of California’s Clean Energy Hall of Fame for his work in equity and clean energy.

Lisa Sun-Hee Park is professor of Asian American Studies and director of the Health Justice & Community initiative at UCSB. She is the author of numerous journal articles and five books, including The Slums of Aspen: Immigrants vs. the Environment in America’s Eden (co-authored with David N. Pellow), which received the Outstanding Book Award from the American Sociological Association’s Environment and Technology Section in 2014. She also co-directs ÉXITO (https://exito.ucsb.edu/), an Ethnic and Feminist Studies teacher training program at UCSB; and was co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Asian American Studies.

Co-Sponsors: Asian American Studies, Department of English, Literature and the Environment, College of Creative Studies, Department of Environmental Studies

Livestreamed via Zoom: https://tinyurl.com/mw5xrdwu

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