Jacqueline Patterson

This conversation will explore an equity and justice-based analysis of carbon offsets and why the EJ community deems carbon offsets a “false solution.” Jacqui will also share recommendations on what we would consider to be a worst-case scenario in terms of carbon offsets moving forward and how to make implementation as equitable as possible under what we would very much deem to be a less than desirable circumstance. Finally, Jacqui will put forward an alternative to carbon offsets in terms of how we should ensure a carbon-free economy and embrace reforestation but not as a measure to enable the continuation of pollution.

Speaker Biography

Jacqueline Patterson, MSW, MPH, is the Founder and Executive Director of the Chisholm Legacy Project: A Resource Hub for Black Frontline Climate Justice Leadership. She has worked on gender justice, racial justice, economic justice, and environmental justice, with organizations including Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, IMA World Health, United for a Fair Economy, ActionAid, Health GAP, and the organization she co-founded, Women of Color United. Before founding the Chisholm Legacy Project, Patterson served for 11 years as the Senior Director of Environmental and Climate Justice at the NAACP. She serves on the Boards of Directors for the Institute of the Black World, the American Society of Adaptation Professionals, National Black Workers Center Project, Bill Anderson Fund and the Advisory Boards for the Center for Earth Ethics and the Hive Fund.