Statement of Solidarity
The Pacific Northwest regional chapter of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (PNW-SETAC) stands with Black Lives Matter and the black community – our members, friends, mentors, students, and colleagues. We repudiate the racism in policies and recognize the need to break down the systemic and cultural barriers that black scientists must face. We recognize that science and our society are not strangers to racism. We acknowledge the daily challenges that black environmental professionals routinely face that white environmental professionals do not.
We will fully support worldwide movements for civil rights and social justice, to end unfair discrimination, and empower Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Women, Immigrants, Disabled, and LGBTQI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex) people as fully equal and safe members of our regional chapter.
We are committed to working together to strive for equity, diversity, inclusivity, and representation by all people in PNW-SETAC.
We believe that actions speak louder than words, thus we are taking steps to:
- Create a PNW-SETAC Committee tasked with broadening inclusivity, diversity and empowerment for all members of our regional chapter
- Increase diversity in our regional chapter
- Ensure that everyone has a voice that is heard in PNW-SETAC
- Support the development of underrepresented environmental professionals
- Educate ourselves about any unjust obstacles our members may face
- Reach out to communities we have overlooked
- Align our business practices with our values (we de-banked from Chase Bank last year to join a credit union).
To become actively involved, please join the PNW-SETAC Board or our Inclusive Diversity Standing Committee (ID-PNW-SETAC); we can all benefit from ideas and efforts to broaden inclusivity and diversity in PNW-SETAC.
Charge: The ID-PNW-SETAC Committee is charged with elevating the regional chapter’s commitment to inclusive diversity (ID) issues in PNW-SETAC and taking steps to improve ID in our professional society.
Membership:
The leadership team of the ID-PNW-SETAC committee will be composed of:
· One PNW-SETAC Officer
· The At-Large Student Board of Directors (BOD) member
· One additional PNW-SETAC BOD member
· An elected undergraduate student member from the PNW region
· An elected graduate student member from the PNW region
Additional members: The ID-PNW-SETAC Committee can choose to include additional members.
These are the views of the PNW-SETAC Chapter and do not reflect the views of SETAC-North America or any other organization in SETAC.