The low-residency Urban Sustainability MA program held its fall residency October 24–October 29, 2017 on the Antioch campus. During each residency, students acquire and employ a set of practitioners tools and skills that contribute to making our cities more just and livable places for all.
The residency’s theme was Breaking the Cycle: Transitioning the Metals Industry Toward a Just, Green, and Healthy Economy. Countless communities throughout the world are saddled with the poisonous burden of noxious industrial land uses and environmental toxins. The greater Los Angeles area is no exception as 20% of Southeast LA residents live in close proximity to noxious land uses.
Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles (PSR-LA) invited Antioch University USMA students, faculty, and staff to contribute to their exploration of viable alternatives for a healthier and just metals industry in South Los Angeles. The goal of the residency was to identify potential technology, policy, and community-centered interventions that catalyze the transition of the metals industry toward a more just and healthy economy.
Each six-day residency hosts a Sustainable Supper and Panel. All guests were treated to a vegan Supper provided by Seasonal Organic Local (SOL). The panel topic was Stopping the Bad, Changing the Rules, Building the New: A Just Transition for the Metals Industry. The panel was moderated by Gopal Dayaneni USMA faculty and Collective Member of Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project; Martha Argüello, Executive Director for Physicians for Social Responsibility—LA; and Peter Sinsheimer, Executive Director for UCLA Sustainable Technology & Policy Program.
At the end of residency, graduating students presented their Capstone Projects to a full house. Subjects of the presentations included Extreme Urban Heat: The Unequal Crisis of Climate Change in Cities, I’mmigrant: Understanding Emigration in the Current Political Culture-A documentary, and Erasing the Red Line: Building Capacity within Community Based Organizations to Address the Relationship between Race Based Policies and Urban Poverty.
