For the last Log Lunch of September, the Williams community welcomed Alanah Keddell-Tuckey, director of the office for Environmental Justice at the New York Department for Environmental Conservation (DEC). Alanah began her talk by defining Environmental Justice as the constant and meaningful involvement of all people “in the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” More specifically, Alanah’s work at the DEC involves collaboration with low income and minority communities. Her office directly handles grant opportunities, enforces environmental laws and regulations on a local level, and enhances public participation. At the center of Alanah’s work is ensuring that disproportionately burdened communities have a voice in the environmental process. As she said in her presentation, the only way environmental justice works is if you’re considering it from the beginning of any policy or law, asking the essential questions, “how do I get these people to the table? How do I hear the voices of this community?”
Alanah’s team prioritizes the input of community members through a multitude of projects. In their grant analysis, they ensure that the applicant is seeking to significantly address environmental issues, harms, and health hazards, build community consensus, and improve public outreach and education within communities. They also analyze any permit that could potentially affect environmental justice in a disadvantaged community. This work also involves advocating for community members so they’re aware of permits that will impact their community. For Alanah, the goal is to make sure that “industry and neighborhoods work together.” Her mission is to build a different future, one in which “communities who have historically been left behind come with us.”
Most recently, Alanah’s team has worked to establish a criteria that designates a community as disadvantaged using census data. This designation allows Alanah’s department to identify communities that are hardest hit so that they can steer more money towards them in the funding process. Through data analysis, they defined disadvantaged communities as areas burdened by cumulative environmental pollution, with concentrations of low income households, and are vulnerable to future climate change impacts. Using this new designation, Alanah’s office found that 48% of New York City’s population lives in a disadvantaged community, demonstrating how much work is still to be done to build that brighter future where everyone has a place at the table. In Alanah’s case, that work is always being done, even on an incremental level. For example, Alanah recently approved a grant for environmental justice organizations to monitor air quality on a community-based level. This puts analytical data in the hands of community members, giving them the power to advocate for themselves, as their own agents of environmental justice.
Log Lunch goers enjoyed a delicious meal inspired by the childhood of Josh Bruns ’25, one of the Log Lunch director. The cooks made a delicious lablabi, a Tunisian chickpea stew served with chunks of toasted bread. The sides were a spicy jollof rice, fried plantains with pesto vinaigrette, and a delicious kale, date, and almond salad. They used onions and parsley from Bigfoot farm and basil grown in the Environmental Center gardens. To finish off the meal, diners enjoyed a delicious almond thumbprint cookie with homemade raspberry jam.
Log Lunch is a CES program hosted every Friday at noon. During Log Lunch, a vegetarian meal prepared by Williams students is served, followed by a talk on an environmental topic. Speakers are drawn from both the student body and faculty of Williams, as well as from local, national, and international organizations. Learn more here.
BY CAMPBELL LEONARD ’25