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Occidental College Students to Discuss Environmental Justice in White House Forum

Scheduled to begin at 9:50 a.m. PST, the nine students and youth leaders, gathered in a conference room at the College's Urban & Environmental Policy Institute, will ask questions and share their concerns about food justice, green jobs, healthy communities, and other issues with federal officials in Washington such as Lisa Jackson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Nancy Sutley, chair of the Council on Environmental Quality.

The aim of this White House environmental justice forum-the first for the Obama administration --is to ensure that overburdened and low-income communities have the opportunity to enjoy the health and economic benefits of a clean environment.

The 45-minute online discussion will be broadcast live at www.whitehouse.gov/live. The White House also welcomes questions from other students and the general public. Questions may be posted on the White House Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/WhiteHouse.

The five Occidental students who will participate in the online discussion are majoring in urban and environmental policy. Their names, graduation year, and hometowns are:

• Alexandria Brown '12          Berkeley, Calif.
• Kristen Leahy '11                Boston, Mass.
• Michael Sin '11                  Los Angeles, Calif.
• David Telfort '12                New York, NY
• Margeau Valtreau '13         Window Rock, Ariz. (Navajo Nation)

The youth leaders represent four local community organizations: Coalition for a Safe Environment, Communities for a Better Environment, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, and SCOPE/Apollo Alliance. Romel Pascual, Los Angeles's deputy mayor for the environment, and Robert Gottlieb, the Henry R. Luce Professor of Urban Environmental Studies and UEPI's director, will give opening remarks.