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A Community Animal CARE Sub-Division

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE & POLICY

Black Indigenous and People of Color [BIPOC] AND their pets are on the frontlines of Global Climate Change, Air Pollution, and Rising Sea Levels. Millions are paying a price for policies they have little control over. CARE is determined to advocate for people of color and their pets facing Environmental Injustice.

Our Method For Change

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What is Environmental justice (EJ) is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.

Following CARE’s Human and Animal Well-being framework, we’ve begun implementing vital Environmental Justice and Policy work in Kentucky. Unlike other organizations working within the Environmental Justice space, CARE centralizes people and their pet family in the work we do. We look forward to gaining lessons from Kentucky that will insight future projects around the country.

Some things to keep in mind:

• Approx. 44% of people who declined to evacuate during Katrina did so due to fear of abandoning their pets • Many human shelters do not accept companion pets – not even during natural disasters • Climate Change impacts pets and people alike, particularly people of color and those who are economically challenged

 

Take a moment to better understand how marginalized communities are vulnerable to global climate change.

More about Kentucky

December 2021 will be a month no Kentuckians will ever forget, especially those in Representative Patti Minter’s House District (D-Bowling Green). More than 80 people died, destroying thousands of homes and displacing thousands of residents. More on the victims here.  In Representative Minter’s district, the vast majority of fatalities were people of color.
After Hurricane Katrina, numerous states enacted laws to this effect, to supplement the federal PETS Act.While Kentucky does account for the needs of people pets in its state Emergency Operations Plan, these protections have not been enshrined into law.  SB bill 172, a bill CARE supports, would change this reality.  The bill also goes further to specify the importance of reunification and minimization of euthanasia of pets.  For the BIPOC community especially, policies such as the waiver of hefty reclaim fees to be reunited with pets and direct return to owner protocols would remove financial and transportation barriers and help ensure that people and their most treasured companions can stay together, while also reducing economic strain in general. We are grateful for Rep. Minter’s acknowledgment of CARE as an organization and our work on these issues.

Deeply affected, the Bowling Green legislator introduced a resolution to commemorate those that perished due to Mother Nature’s wrath. Representative Patti Minter introduced the resolution in the House of Representatives, which acknowledges the human and animal victims of the horrific tornado outbreaks, through the commemoration of “CARE” Day, which is named for Companions and Animals for Reform and Equity (CARE). CARE’s Chief of Policy and Environmental Justice Division, Akisha Townsend Eaton, who is a resident of Bowling Green, helped bring the plight of BIPOC residents and their pets to Minter’s attention, after seeing the devastating impact firsthand.

 

Summary of Bills, Projects, and Policy Measures currently underway

Bowling Green Human and Companion Animal Natural Disaster Impact Study

Study Description:

The study assesses the experiences, barriers, and issues of importance from companion animal owners of color living in Bowling Green, Kentucky, who have been affected by December 2021 tornados. In partnership with CARE’s Environmental Justice Division, we seek to help identify how to prevent and combat the unwanted effects of natural disaster scenarios./span>

Kentucky Senate Bill 172 Sponsor: Julie Raque Adams

Summary This bill does the following:
  • Requires the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management to plan for the needs of people and pets in disasters.
  • Requires this plan to include methods to notify owners of lost pets, provide direct return-to-owner protocols, and minimizing euthanasia of owned pets.
In some of the worst hit areas of the recent natural disasters in Kentucky, members of BIPOC communities were disproportionately impacted, representing most or all of the casualties in the largest localities
Akisha Townsend Eaton

Akisha Townsend Eaton, Chief of Policy, Environmental Justice Division
James Evans

James Evans, Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Akisha Townsend Eaton

Akisha Townsend Eaton, Chief of Policy, Environmental Justice Division

Akisha brings over a decade of animal law and policy experience to her current role as Chief of Policy, Environmental Justice Division at CARE. Prior to joining CARE, she worked as a managing attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund and as legislative attorney and policy advisor at various other national and international animal protection organizations. Akisha is an AmeriCorps alumni and is currently an active contributor to the Black Appalachian Coalition (BLAC) as well as the legal redress, environmental justice, and economic development committees of her local NAACP chapter, which recently awarded her the Prince and Cora Mack Humanitarian Award. 

Akisha has contributed to numerous publications. Her most recent chapters have appeared in the Palgrave Handbook of Animal Ethics, Career Paths in Human-Animal Interaction for Social and Behavioral Scientists and People, Pets, and Policies: Towards Community Supported Animal Sheltering.  She served as a consultant editor and contributor to the Journal of Animal Ethics and associate editor for the Journal of Animal Law.  Akisha has been an instructor, guest lecturer and speaker at numerous law schools, including Georgetown, Duke, Harvard, Lewis and Clark and Tulane University’s International Legislative Drafting Institute.  Her publications have been included in the courses of international law schools.  She has presented at multiple national, state and local animal welfare conferences on recent developments in animal law and advocacy.  She is a former contributor for the Huffington Post and the Dodo and former Diversity Vice-Chair for the American Bar Association’s Animal Law Committee within the Tort, Trial, and Insurance Practice Section. She is a Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.

Akisha received her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, where she was recognized as a Law Center Scholar and her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University where she graduated with distinction. 

Email:akisha@careawo.org

James Evans

James Evans, Founder & Chief Executive Officer

James is a multi-awarding winning creative strategist and leader with 25+ years of experience developing relationships between organizations and their constituents. His expertise has been utilized across a diverse group of brands, both non for profit, and for profit. Specific brand experience includes: Timberland, Disney, The Mills Corporation, NAACP, Baltimore Health Department, Maryland Health Department, Kennedy Krieger Institute, CVS Caremark’s Project Health, Safe Streets Baltimore and many other brands.

James and his team have initiated several programs, including the groundbreaking Gulf Spay/Neuter Campaign and HSUS’ Pets for Life. He has also played an integral role in HSUS’ Adopters Welcome, Outdoor Cats Research, Stop Puppy Mills, and HSUS’ Spayathon, as well as Best Friends Animal Society’s Outreach Action Team.

In 2019, inspired by Chetana Mirle and supported by Spring Point’s Life of Riley, James founded Companions and Animals for Reform and Equity [C.A.R.E.].

James is a husband, a proud father of five children [two four-legged], a brother, and part of a great group of friends, family, and colleagues.

Winner of the 2022 Maddie’s Fund Avanzino Leadership Award

Email:james@careawo.org

CARE’S ENVIRONMENTAL
JUSTICE & POLICY TEAM

Our nation faces countless environmental challenges. Few of those challenges are being met from the perspective of BIPOC Americans and their pets who bear the heavy weight of climate-driven disasters. Nevertheless, CARE is committed to making change and supporting communities where we can. We hope to inspire other organizations and communities to do the same.
    
    

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