Despite being severely underfunded, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) still spent millions of taxpayer dollars on grants to initiatives that focus on “environmental justice” and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Records indicate that much of NASA’s $10 million grant spending went to universities to help them study environmental justice in urban areas as well as other places with high concentrations of racial minorities.
For instance, the agency approved $150,000 in funding to Columbia University so it could pair “earth observations and socioeconomic data” and enable students to do environmental justice work in New York City.
Another grant, this time worth $250,000, was paid out to Los Angeles as part of NASA’s Predictive Environmental Analytics and Community Engagement for Equity and Environmental Justice (PEACE) program.
To remedy its observation that “people of color often face higher exposure to air pollutants,” NASA’s PEACE program paid the city to provide pollution data to its residents in “a way that works across communities and cultural differences and specifically analyzes, engages and responds to needs for environmental justice.”
NASA has provided over $5 million for “environmental justice” grants since 2022, according to federal records.
“The environmental justice movement focuses on ensuring communities receive equitable protection from natural and human-induced environmental hazards,” NASA’s webpage on equity and environmental justice reads. “It embodies the principle that all communities should be heard and represented in decision making.”
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