Cooperative Extension Specialist in Environmental Justice at the Metropolitan Edge
Position Description: The specialist in Environmental Justice at the Metropolitan Edge will focus on
how the conflicts and opportunities that result from an expanding urban-rural interface impact health and
environmental quality for California communities. Environmental justice aims to mitigate
disproportionate adverse human health, environmental, and socio-economic effects on communities,
especially minority and low-income populations. Examples of Environmental Justice work include
reducing the exposure of agricultural workers to pesticides, improving overall working conditions, and
increasing the access of poor immigrant groups to healthy food. A PhD in a relevant field, such as the
social sciences, land use planning, environmental studies, public policy, environmental economics, human
toxicology, or public health, is required. The candidate should have some experience working within a
multi-disciplinary setting. Language proficiency sufficient for working with non-English speaking
populations is desirable.
Justification: In California, approximately 160 million pounds of pesticides are used each year in
agriculture. Many of these compounds are problematic for public health, because they are known to cause
reproductive harm, cancer, developmental effects, or adverse neurological effects. Many pesticides are
also known ground water contaminants, which degrade the safety of drinking water quality for many
urban and rural residents in the Central Valley. In addition to consumer concerns regarding pesticide
residues in foods, research indicates that there are significant pesticide exposures due to drift among
residents living in agricultural communities as well as continuing high exposures faced by agricultural
workers. Epidemiological evidence indicates that these chronic exposures can have long-term health
effects on children and adults. Research indicates that there are significant environmental justice concerns
associated with pesticide use in agriculture because communities of color and the poor bear a
disproportionate burden of these exposures through air, food, drinking water as well as in the workplace.
Ironically, these same communities, many of whom form the backbone of California’s agricultural sector,
often face significant food insecurity challenges and lack of access to safe drinking water.
The impact of pollution and food security on the health and welfare of California families and
communities is of growing public concern. The increasing inter-mix of agricultural and urban areas
exposes more people to air and water pollution, and creates a unique social milieu with correspondingly
complex health and social welfare impacts, and increased risks to food safety. Realignment of local
economies and changes in land uses can increase health and environmental risks for some and diminish
them for others. This position will contribute to programs that support healthy people and communities,
healthy food systems, and healthy environments by working to understand, and to avoid or mitigate
increases in economic, health, and environmental disparity as populations and land uses shift.
This position will address the following ANR initiatives: 1) Enhance the Health of Californians and
California’s Agricultural Economy: Agricultural and natural resource communities of California have
some of the most glaring environmental and health disparities in the nation. By working to mitigate these
disparities, this Sspecialist will strengthen communities and, ultimately, California’s agricultural and
natural resource economies; 2) Provide for Healthy Families and Communities: Air and water pollution,
and food security risks, affect urban and agricultural communities and the relationships between them.
This position will work to understand and reduce the impacts to family and community health as the
state’s landscape continues to change; 3) Enhance Science Literacy in Natural Resources, Agriculture and
Nutrition: Farm advisors and agriculturalists would benefit from help navigating and understanding the
science behind emerging legislation designed to improve environmental health and food security, as well
as steps that communities and families can take to avoid environmental and health risks.
Extension: Extension priorities for this position fall into three categories: 1) Environmental and
agricultural policy and planning: The Specialist will inform emerging initiatives at both state and
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regional levels by developing relationships with key stakeholders, such as the State Water Resources
Control Board, Regional Air Quality Boards, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture,
among others; 2) Policy and regulation–focused education: The Specialist will work with farm advisors
and agriculturalists to help them understand and navigate legislation related to environmental health; and
3) Community-based programs: The Specialist may work directly with community groups and nongovernmental organizations, such as Californians for Pesticide Reform, Pesticides Action Network North
America, California Rural Legal Assistance, Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment, Community
Water Center, and members of the San Joaquin Cumulative Health Impacts Project and on key
environmental health issues that may include safe drinking water; exposure to pesticide drift, smoke, and
other forms of air pollution; and food-borne pathogens. The candidate will use a variety of existing and
novel outreach methods to communicate and educate from the local to the state level.
Research: Key topics to be considered by this Specialist are the environmental, social and economic
changes that are part of the ever-enlarging interface between agriculture and the city. Specific questions
might include: how urbanization changes the factors that impact the health of citizens; how agricultural
pollution including unsafe drinking water, pesticide drift and exposure, and other forms of air pollution,
intersect with socioeconomic conditions; or how and why planning and zoning processes, and food
security regulation, exacerbate or reduce the costs and consequences of urban expansion and agricultural
intensification.
ANR Continuum: The program will synergize with, but not replicate, the work of Associate CE
Specialist Christy Getz, who works on issues of labor and sustainability in natural-resource dependent
communities and industries. The Specialist will also have the opportunity to collaborate with and extend
research at ESPM, including the work of S&E Associate Professor Rachel Morello-Frosch on the
structural determinants of environmental health disparities among diverse communities and S&E
Assistant Professor Alastair Iles who researches green chemistry, sustainable food systems, and
environmental health. Additionally, this position will foster cross-disciplinary connections, for example
with the work of ES Professor Allen Goldstein, who conducts research on air quality in the Central
Valley, ES Professor Miguel Altieri who investigates integrated pest management, and with UCCE’s
programs in food security and health, such as San Joaquin County CE Advisor Anna Martin’s work on
Southeast Asian health promotion. The appointee will have an opportunity to collaborate with Advisors
Rose Hayden-Smith (Ventura) and Rachel Surls (Los Angeles) we well as with Doug Parker (Director,
California Institute for Water Resources and Strategic Leader for the new ANR Water Initiative).
Additionally, the Specialist will have the opportunity to affiliate with multiple UC Berkeley Centers:
Center for Diversified Farming Systems, Atkins Center for Weight and Health, and Center for
Occupational and Environmental Health. The Specialist will be able to partner with researchers at the
School of Public Health and the Energy and Resources Group. A focus on environmental justice at the
metropolitan edge focused on environmental well being and health articulates well with emerging
directions in ESPM, with UCCE priorities at the county level.
Support: Commensurate with UC support for similar positions on the Berkeley campus, including lab
and office space, and telephone and internet access. A startup package will be provided to begin research,
and the College of Natural Resources will provide an annual allocation for program support consistent
with support provided to all CE Specialist programs. Berkeley also has access to numerous field stations
focused on agricultural, timber, and livestock production with croplands, timberlands, and rangelands and
there are numerous external and internal grants programs available.
Other Support: Research support for this work may draw on the California Air Resources Board,
National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health, Department of Agriculture, US Environmental
Protection Agency, and others.
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Location: U.C. Berkeley is ideally located for work on urban-rural relations. The campus is located in an
urban center where there is substantial interest in local agriculture, and it is only a short drive to San
Joaquin and Sacramento Valley communities impacted by urban expansion. Campus and ANR programs
at Berkeley include those focused on rescuing for human society, the native values of rural life.
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