Community Justice and Environmental Advocacy with Amani Khoury, student and activist at Indiana University
Emani also volunteers with the Community Justice and Mediation Center as a mediator for small claims and eviction court. Emani has a lot of experience and involvement, and I really want to uplift her brilliance and her perspective, and I'm Super excited and honored to do so today. First, I just want to start off by asking a Manny, what do you think is the most pressing environmental or social justice issue faced by the Bloomington community? Is this different than what other communities are dealing with
Amani Khoury
@akhoury · 1:59
Here in Bloomington, we can be looking to other spaces in Indiana or other Midwestern University towns to see how they've been addressing social and environmental issues and begin applying that here. No one is ever alone or entirely unique in either of these sites. That being said, I think our biggest environmental issue, which I would argue is the biggest issue for the majority of cities and nations right now in terms of our environment, is reducing our greenhouse gas emissions
Thank you so much, Amani. I mean, I really appreciate how you also mentioned other factors of identity, specifically, identities that are historically and continue to be minoritized in our communities and how those those communities are then facing additional challenges with Mitigating these environmental justice issues. So in that same vein, my next question is, how do you think that these issues that you mentioned that you brought to light can be Mitigated?
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Amani Khoury
@akhoury · 2:51
Hi, Izzy. Thank you. I think that's a really great question. Carbon neutrality seems like a really lofty goal, so that every time you hear it, people are like, okay, carbon neutrality. But how do we get there? What are the the steps that we take and that's something that's really important to consider and break down so that we see it as something more manageable. Every time I talk about climate change, begin looking at ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
And then there's also a trend on YouTube that I personally see a lot, which is the zero waste trend that I definitely think is a genuine lifestyle for some. But in terms of these trends, I'm curious about your thoughts on whether you think thinks that these are truly helpful. Do you think that these trends do a good job at spreading awareness of the importance of environmental activism? Let me know your thoughts
Amani Khoury
@akhoury · 2:34
Could be a way for them to get their foot in the door, start introducing themselves to other sustainable initiatives and to get them on our team. The answer to solving this issue is to get as many people on our team as possible because it's a big issue and we need everybody that we can get. So I think they can go good or bad. It just depends on your perspective and how you choose to face the issue
Thank you so much. I really appreciate how you looked at those kind of trends and their impact holistically, kind of switching gears to close us off. I do want to end thinking more big picture. So thinking globally and nationally in terms of environmental policies, how does the US, in your view, compare to other nations? Is there a set of countries or any country in Perth, particular that you think is doing a good job at addressing these environmental justice issues
Amani Khoury
@akhoury · 2:25
I also think it's important to look at countries that sort of have a similar resource availability to us. So looking at places that are more closer to home, not necessarily across the world, I think can be really beneficial and seeing what could work here. So Canada has also laid out some goals for emissions reductions on a nationwide scale. They've also had provinces that have begun to lay those out. So I think it would be beneficial to look to them
Feel free to also share anything that you connect with or may have questions about in regards to anything that Amani shared again. Huge, tremendous. Thank you to Amani. It was so lovely chatting with you and everyone. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your whatever time it is where you're at