THE SUSTAINABILITY CLASS | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation
Date and Time
Feb 23, 2025 5:00 pm
Location
14th & V
2021 14th St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20009
Feb 23, 2025 5:00 pm
14th & V
Join us to hear an original argument that environmental sustainability has been co-opted by the urban elite, and ways we can save our planet
“Caring for the environment means reclaiming ecology for everyone.” —from the introduction
A sustainability apartheid is emerging. More than ever, urban residents want to be green, yet to cater to their interests, a green-tech service economy has sprung up, co-opting well-intentioned concerns over sustainability to sell a resource-heavy and exclusive “lifestyle environmentalism.” This has made cities more unsustainable and inaccessible to the working class.
The Sustainability Class is about those wealthy “progressive” urbanites convinced that we can save the planet through individual action, smart urbanism, green finance, and technological innovation. Challenging many of the popular ideas about environmentalism, authors Vijay Kolinjivadi and Aaron Vansintjan show that it is actually the sustainability class that is unsustainable, its solutions working to safeguard an elite minority, exclude billions of people, and ultimately hasten ecological breakdown, not reverse it.
From Venice Beach, Los Angeles, to Neom in Saudi Arabia and beyond, the authors explore with biting humor how investors around the world are rushing to capitalize on going green. By contrast, real-world examples of movements for housing and food production, transport, and waste management demonstrate how ordinary people around the world are building a more ecological future by working together, against all odds. In doing so, they show us how sustainability can be reclaimed for everyone. Sustainability isn’t about vibes and superficial green facades. It’s about building people power to reimagine the world.
Co-authors Vijay Kolinjivadi and Aaron Vansintjan are joining us on the Busboys stage alongside LaTricea Adams, CEO of Young Gifted & Green, to share more about how “caring for the environment means reclaiming ecology for everyone”. Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and the authors will be signing following the program.
This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 5:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of THE SUSTAINABILITY CLASS will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is in person and will not be livestreamed.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books
Vijay Kolinjivadi is an assistant professor at the School for Community and Public Affairs, Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. He is also a co-editor of the website Uneven Earth. The co-author, with Aaron Vansintjan, of The Sustainability Class (The New Press), he has been published in Al Jazeera, New Internationalist, Truthout, and The Conversation. He lives in Montreal.
Aaron Vansintjan is the founder and co-editor of Uneven Earth and co-author of The Future Is Degrowth. He has been published in The Guardian, Truthout, openDemocracy, and The Ecologist. The co-author, with Vijay Kolinjivadi, of The Sustainability Class (The New Press), he lives in Montreal.
LaTricea Adams is a proud native of Memphis, Tennessee and is the Founder CEO & President of Young, Gifted & Green, a national environmental justice and civil rights organization with the purpose of bringing like-minded organizations together to collectively take action and advocate against the crisis of lead exposure and environmental injustice in disadvantaged communities.
LaTricea was the youngest African American woman appointed to President Biden’s White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC) where she served as Co-Chair of the Executive Order on Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All Working Group as well as the Co-Chair for the Carbon Management Working group. LaTricea is the former President of the Memphis & Greater Washington Urban League Young Professionals and a former member of the American Bar Association’s Environmental Justice Task Force, the first ever and current Chair of the Shelby County Lead Prevention and Sustainability Commission, a member of the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC) Water Infrastructure Advisory Committee, and TDEC and Shelby County’s Emissions Reduction Planning Advisory Committee (ERPAC), Tennessee State Legislative Appointee for the Small Business Environmental Assistance Program, Inaugural Board Member of the Memphis Metropolitan Green Financial Corporation, and DC Public Service Commission Equity Advisory. Ms. Adams is also a member of the Board of Directors for Protect Our Aquifer and the American Public Health Association’s Environmental Health & Equity Collaborative, and the National Black Environmental Justice Network.
Prior to LaTricea’s career in environment, she served 16 years as a K-12 public school educator and district administrator. She was also honored as the Child Health Advocate of the Year by the Children's Environmental Health Network, the University of Memphis Black Alumni “Memphis State 8” Awardee, American Public Health Association’s Inclusion & Diversity for Equitable Advancement in Environmental Health Award, and many other accolades. LaTricea is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
