Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of interviewing our very own DEIJ Coordinator, Ava Wang. Ava is driven by true ambition and interest in making our communities here at Cal the best they can be in a sustainable fashion. During our talk, I had the chance to ask Ava about her position and what’s in the works for DEIJ here at H&DS in the future.
Q: Well, let’s start simple. What is DEIJ?
Ava: I think DEIJ, specifically for H&DS is kind of a mix of DEIJ and environmental justice. The way I see it, we can’t combat the climate crisis without intersectionality. There’s just so much connectivity between issues that it’s hard for me to isolate one issue, I see all of them.
Q: What is your goal as a coordinator and what inspired you to take on this role?
Ava: My goal is to support the rest of the department. I think our department is already so committed to environmental justice, and it’s just a matter of people having enough guidance and resources to get on the issues they are dealing with. I was drawn to this role as I’ve worked a lot with waste, and this last summer I worked at Cal EPA in the capital. It was a really amazing learning experience…getting to see things on the state level. I really had an amazing boss this summer so that really inspired me; I wanted to find a position on campus to combine my experiences with waste and why environmental justice is important.
Q: Well, that sounds like a really cool inspiration! Could you walk me through what avenues, maybe specific events and activities that you do to pursue your mission of environmental justice?
Ava: Yeah, it’s my first semester with DEIJ at H&DS, and it’s the first time H&DS has had a DEIJ coordinator, so I’m still learning and freestyling as I go along, but the two main projects I’m working on this semester are a DEIJ framework and working group. The framework is basically this document, a guide for all the coordinators. It starts with general background and context, and then I made it department specific to really make sure what each department is doing has concrete examples. I want to make sure they know what they’re doing is accessible, and if they have questions they can come to me for support. I plan to have a list of questions to do a sort of project analysis, and act as a sort of reference for when groups plan events on campus. Are they targeting relevant stakeholders on campus? Is it accessible? That kind of thing.
Q: Could you expand a little more on your second project, the working group?
Ava: Yeah, right now it’s an internal group of coordinators to come and have a safe space to talk about DEIJ, but mainly for me to get feedback on the framework. I wouldn’t have the draft in the state that it is now without the others’ support and feedback. It’s just been nice to have a space for people to vent and do some reflecting. My dream vision is to expand it in the future and not just have it on an internal stage, but to include people who are directly impacted by H&DS and our programs.
Q: It sounds like you’ve done a lot for H&DS and bringing together our departments. What would you say is the most fun or enjoyable part of what you do?
Ava: So much of it. I love doing the research for the newsletter and the working group. I try to compile a list of media so I love reading interesting articles and watching cool documentaries. Also I just love working on a project that I know will actually be implemented and I’m working hard to ensure the framework is a document that is useful and not just something that exists. Sometimes environmental work can feel superficial, but I feel like what I do really does have an impact. Environmental justice is just so many topics, and that’s kind of why I’m drawn to it because I can’t pick just one interest.
Q:Does your DEIJ group have any interns like the other departments? What can those interested expect to do?
Ava: I plan to have an intern next semester as this semester has been just me getting oriented and setting things up. There’s a lot of sections of the framework so researching that, and maybe some writing. One project specifically I have in mind is compiling different campus groups like student organizations and faculty groups, so that we know who to reach out to when we want to collaborate with a certain group and build relationships. If they come across something cool they want to share they could share it with our working group or even lead a workshop if they’re interested.
Q: Besides your framework and working group, what other big projects are on the horizon? Do you plan to expand outside of these two developments?
Ava: Well, those two are really the main priorities, but I would love to bring in guest speakers to do a workshop, whether with H&DS or open it up with some of my contacts over at Cal EPA. I love documentaries, so I would love to do documentary screenings in the future. A lot of people at H&DS want more workshop style events, so that’s something I’d love to do in the future whether with me leading it or someone else.
Q: At the beginning of our talk, we kind of talked about your inspirations, why DEIJ matters to you, and why you took on this role. To sort of wrap things up, could you remind us why is DEIJ so important?
Ava: Well to zoom out a bit, I believe in environmentalism being people centered. That’s what my environmentalism looks like. At the end of the day, we’re working to save ourselves and our planet. We’re not going to get there without including everyone’s perspectives. For example, it’s impossible to work on agroecological solutions for carbon sequestration and biodiversity concentration without working with indigenous tribes. There’s a lot of systems in place, white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism that make it so much harder for minority voices to be heard. I want resources to be distributed more equally. I want everyone’s voices to be heard.
Once again, I’d like to thank our very own Ava Wang for sitting down with me and taking the time to give us some great insight into what she does as a DEIJ coordinator here at H&DS. She has a great, burning passion for making Cal a better place and we can be assured that her mission is one for the people. Our H&DS department has the resources to become the best version of itself with Ava heading our DEIJ projects.