Elizabeth Yeampierre

Last updated

Elizabeth Yeampierre
Born
New York City
Education
OccupationAttorney
Known forExecutive director of UPROSE

Elizabeth C. Yeampierre is an American attorney and environmental and climate justice leader. She is the executive director of UPROSE, Brooklyn's oldest Latino community-based organization.

Contents

Early life and education

Yeampierre was born in New York City; growing up, her family lived in multiple different neighborhoods, including Manhattan's Upper West Side, Harlem, and the Bronx. [1] Yeampierre recounts being raised in an "environmental justice community" and the impact it had on the health of her family: her father died from an asthma attack, her mother passed away from lung cancer, and Yeampierre herself suffered a pulmonary embolism. She cites a woman in her community checking on her children as they slept to ensure they were still breathing: "And I realized that, if we couldn’t breathe, we couldn’t fight for justice, that, literally, there wasn’t anything more fundamental than the right to breathe." [2]

In 1980, Yeampierre graduated from Fordham University with a BA in political science. She earned her Juris Doctor from Northeastern University in 1983. [3]

Career

Yeampierre was the first Latina chair of the EPA's National Environmental Justice Advisory Council. [4] In 2014, she helped lead the People's Climate March which took place in New York City. [1]

She founded the NYC Climate Justice Youth Summit to help "young people of color understand the overlap between racial justice and climate change". [5] She has also served as the dean of Puerto Rican student affairs at Yale University. [6]

Yeampierre is currently the executive director of UPROSE, Brooklyn's oldest Latino community-based organization. [7] In 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused extreme flooding in Sunset Park. In response, UPROSE began a community effort to prepare the area for the next disaster caused by the effects of climate change. In 2015, the New York City Economic Development Corporation started accepting proposals on how to develop empty space within the Sunset Park waterfront. [8] Yeampierre was successful in pushing back against proposed commercial development, driven by concern that "her community could be left behind". The plan put forth by Yeampierre and UPROSE "will incentivize the local economy while putting [the community] on a path to resilience". [5]

Climate justice advocacy

That is the history of extraction, of Puerto Rico being the oldest colony in the world, and the fact that things can be done in places where our people live that you can't do in other places. The fact that 23 Superfunds can be on this tiny, tiny, tiny island tells the story of extraction, abuse, toxic exposure, and how corporate American has treated disenfranchised communities.

Elizabeth Yeampierre [9]

PBS describes Yeampierre as a climate justice leader. [2] Yeampierre cites Puerto Rico as the "poster child for climate injustice". [7] She points to the flooding caused by Hurricane Maria in 2017, which disrupted multiple Superfund sites on the island, leading to contamination in the water, soil, and air. [9] Yeampierre criticizes the practice of "disaster capitalism" and does not want corporations and organizations to follow a "come in and fix" approach; instead, she looks to the climate justice movement to provide "support that builds food sovereignty and systems that promote local, livable economies". UPROSE has helped to raise upwards of $800,000 for Puerto Rico, and has also provided solar-powered generators, water filters, and other equipment suitable for handling hazardous materials. [7] In a talk given at UCLA in 2022, Yeampierre stressed that individual communities around the country are bearing the brunt of climate change, and they need to organize as a matter of survival. [10]

Awards and honors

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References

  1. 1 2 Kaufman, Adam (April 18, 2023). "'The Environment Is Everything': A Conversation with Climate Justice Leader Elizabeth Yeampierre". Fordham University . Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  2. 1 2 Woodruff, Judy (November 29, 2022). "Elizabeth Yeampierre: Attorney, Climate Justice Leader, Executive Director at UPROSE". PBS . Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Elizabeth Yeampierre". University of Texas at Austin . Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  4. ↑ Glodowski, Amanda (July 3, 2013). "Star of Brooklyn: Elizabeth Yeampierre". Brooklyn Reporter. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  5. 1 2 Burch, Kelly (January 13, 2024). "Meet the female force who halted a major development project to preserve her working-class neighborhood and make it a leader in clean energy". Business Insider . Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  6. ↑ Schulman, Pansy (June 2022). "Perspectives on Climate Justice: Elizabeth Yeampierre". Architectural Record . Retrieved April 28, 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 Dennehy, Kevin (November 8, 2017). "Climate action requires 'local brilliance,' Yeampierre tells YESS summit". Yale University . Retrieved April 28, 2024.
  8. ↑ Gallucci, Maria (October 13, 2022). "A Brooklyn neighborhood's long fight for green jobs is paying off". CanaryMedia.com. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  9. 1 2 Plough, Alonzo L., ed. (March 10, 2020). Culture of Health in Practice: Innovations in Research, Community Engagement, and Action. Oxford University Press. p. 160. ISBN   9780190071424.
  10. ↑ Braswell, Mary (May 6, 2022). "In the Fight for Climate Justice, Let the People Lead". University of California, Los Angeles . Retrieved April 28, 2024.
  11. ↑ Russell, Cameron (November 30, 2015). "Climate Warriors". Vogue . Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  12. 1 2 "2023 Dale Prize Environmental Justice: Planning Lessons from the Past and Present to Move Forward". Cal Poly Pomona College of Environmental Design . February 28, 2023. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  13. ↑ "100 Most Influential People in Climate Policy 2022/23". apolitical.co. 2022. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
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