Our 2021 programming theme is The Work Left to Do, and within that theme, we’ll explore a different focus each month. In the first Tea of the month, we will look at a topic from a broader perspective to understand the universal and legal challenges. For the second Tea of the month, we will speak with someone who is doing the work to educate and/or advance change so we can understand the continuing challenges and how we contribute to change in our own communities. For the month of March, our programming focused on environmental justice.

Our March 25 Tea Guest was Anne Rolfes, Director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade.  Anne began her career in Nigeria, collaborating with local communities to address oil companies’ destruction of the Niger Delta. She returned to Louisiana in 2000 and founded the Louisiana Bucket Brigade to end the petrochemical industry’s destruction of her home state. The organization has prioritized media as a tool to amplify the voices of the leaders along Cancer Alley and has created cutting-edge tools to document and expose the industry’s abuse of the state.

Anne and Kristan discussed the work of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade to advance environmental justice by working with the fenceline communities to document the impacts and advocate for changes, enforcement, and remediation.

If you have a Facebook account, follow RHJC’s page and Kristan’s page to be notified when we go live. You can interact with us by commenting on the video during the live stream. Share the video link with your friends on Facebook and other social media accounts using the hashtag #TeawithRHJC.

If you don’t have a Facebook account, click here at 3pm to view the Tea on the Center’s public Facebook page. You can catch up on previous Teas on our website or YouTube channel.

Due to technical difficulties, this Tea was recorded at a later date and premiered as a Facebook video on April 1. Watch the recording below at our YouTube channel: