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This semester, as part of a larger effort by Georgetown to expand its environmental and sustainability programming, the Center for Social Justice (CSJ) launched the Climate and Environmental Justice (CEJ) program to bring social justice and diverse perspectives to the forefront of the climate conversation.
CEJ spent the fall semester recruiting staff and developing the program. Now, with its first semester as a full-scale program well underway, the Voice spoke to CEJ leaders about their experience so far and the program’s goals. 
“A lot of environmental justice spaces lack BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and People of Color] voices. They oftentimes replicate patterns of extractionism and colonialism in the way they approach sustainability,” Akanksha Sinha (SFS ’23), a CEJ research fellow, said. “We’re partnering with local organizations that are already engaged with environmental activism to counter that narrative.”
The CEJ recruited its first student cohort this semester. The cohort’s seven undergraduate students meet weekly to discuss the environmental justice issues affecting D.C. like food insecurity, air and water pollution, lack of green space, and trash management. 
According to the CDC’s Environmental Justice Index, these issues disproportionately affect people living in D.C.’s Wards 5, 7, and 8, who, following decades of segregation and displacement, are predominantly Black. In 2023, the average percentage of people living below the federal poverty in these wards was nearly triple that of the District’s wealthiest ward, Ward 3, which is 80% white.
The CEJ leadership team consists of Sinha, Student Staff Coordinator Sophia Rose Monsalvo (CAS ’26), and Justice Graduate Intern Nicholas Mensah (MIDP ’26), who said they use a decolonial approach to combating environmental racism and injustice. 
“Many people have thought about the environment, but likely not from a decolonial perspective,” Monsalvo said. “I focus on challenging Western ways of environmental knowledge by integrating Indigenous ancestral practices and Black epistemologies.”
Monsalvo leads group reflections and activities in the student cohort with these ideas in mind. 
The cohort has also discussed how environmental justice initiatives can be a form of reparations to the land the university is built on and the people indigenous to this land. Georgetown was built on the homeland of Indigenous groups including the Nacotchtank and Piscataway Conoy peoples. 
“We went back to uncover this history of land exploitation and see what we can do to help people understand how this history has been eroded,” Mensah said.
Sinha added that thinking about what Georgetown’s future environmental impact should be is just as important as understanding the history of its interaction with D.C.’s environment. 
“A lot of Georgetown’s growth has depended on the exploitation of the D.C. area, whether you think about how the sale of enslaved people kept the university from going under or how Georgetown continues to grab land and support gentrification in D.C.,” Sinha said. “Georgetown needs to do a lot of reparations work in its own immediate community.”
Georgetown has long been interested in expanding into Downtown D.C., starting with construction for a Downtown location for the Georgetown Law Center in 1890. Georgetown’s Capitol Campus traces back to 1971 with the relocation of the Law Center, and from 2019 to 2024, the campus expanded with new buildings. Now, the Capitol Campus has buildings spanning from H Street to E Street. 
According to Mensah, the CEJ plans to teach Georgetown students about the environmental effects of the campus’ expansion through lectures and workshops. He highlighted that students outside of the cohort can support the CEJ by watching out for upcoming announcements about these types of events. Mensah also hopes to open the CEJ site visits to Wards 7 and 8 to all Georgetown students. 
The CEJ plans to collaborate with other CSJ programs including DC Reads and the After School Kids Program to arrange field trips to local farms that teach students about food insecurity in D.C. CEJ is also hoping to build a partnership with Hoya Hub, a food pantry for the Georgetown community that is located in the Leavey Center.
Outside the CSJ, the CEJ intends to collaborate with local organizations like Dreaming Out Loud, which delivers fresh food primarily to Wards 7 and 8 and hosts farmers markets in Ward 7. The organization has two urban farms in D.C. and is campaigning to open a grocery store in Ward 8.
Sinha is optimistic that Georgetown will continue to support the CEJ’s projects given the increase in its sustainability and environment-centered programming over the past few years. In 2022, Georgetown launched the Earth Commons, an environment and sustainability institute that integrates a range of disciplines including ecology and environmental policy. 
The Earth Commons team has since developed an Environment & Sustainability major and minor, multiple fellowships, and a summer institute in the Chesapeake Watershed. They also grant the Green Commons Award to support environmental research and programs outside of Earth Commons, including the CEJ. According to Sinha, the CEJ received the award in December 2024.
As environmental science and justice become more prominent in Georgetown programming and conversations, Sinha encourages students of all majors to apply to CEJ’s fall student cohort. They emphasized that all fields, from criminal justice to research to education, have valuable insights to contribute to environmental justice. 
“You don’t need to be a scientist or a science student to be involved with environmental justice work and to explore the intersections that can come up,” Sinha said. “The goal is for all kinds of students to understand how their own lives are shaped by environmental injustice.” 
Sophie St Amand
Sophie is a freshman in the SFS and assistant news editor. She likes pho, jazz, and nature documentaries.
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