IN PRINT: EPA Head Lisa Jackson Calls for Environmental Justice

Princeton alum and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson spoke at Woody Woo Friday afternoon, calling for an environmentalism beyond the tree-hugging traditional to include all sectors of America that need environmental change. Jackson especially noted the sort of "broken windows" effect that unchecked polution can have on America's urban poor."Think about the people who get sick at two or three times the average rate from air pollution because the air pollution in their neighborhoods on hot summer days is so severe," said Jackson. "They're often the same people that predominately, because of their income, get their health care from emergency room. So it drives the cost of heath care up system wide."Shirley Tilghman introduced Jackson and was clearly proud to have a fellow scientist giving a speech as a famous and powerful alum (Jackson got her Masters in Chemical Engineering at Princeton.) Tilghman also gave a shout-out to the students in the audience, noting, "If there is a single issue that galvanizes students of this generation, it is issues surrounding the environment."Full article here.