2023 Bullitt Prize Winner Kristina Chu
2023 Bullitt Environmental Prize Winner Examines the Environmental and Health Risks of Urban Community Gardens and Farms
SEATTLE – The Bullitt Foundation is awarding the 17th annual Bullitt Environmental Prize to Kristina Chu (they/she), a master’s student at the School of Social Work at the University of Washington. Chu’s work examines the environmental and health risks of urban community gardens and farms.
Urban community gardens are dedicated to promoting local gardening and horticultural activities. In recent decades, environmental and food justice initiatives have encouraged the creation of urban community gardens and farms in low-income and racially diverse communities. However, many of these gardening spaces are located on former manufacturing and industrial sites—posing health risks to these communities.
By working alongside research, advocacy, and environmental justice organizations, like Sustainable Seattle and Basilica Bio, Kristina is helping to educate community gardeners about the risks associated with these plots of land in the greater Seattle area. Kristina’s efforts build upon the work of Dr. Melanie Malone, an assistant professor at the University of Washington.
“Information about the gardening conditions is not transparent, especially for Black and Brown communities,” said Chu. “Our work is about empowering community members so that they understand the contamination risk involved and can advocate that something be done about it.”
Kristina’s work is part of a broader movement to advocate for improved soil standards, more accessible soil and plant contamination testing, and education around soil quality. As community gardens grow in popularity among historically underrepresented communities, Kristina’s selection as a Bullitt Prize Fellow is extremely timely.
“For nearly 20 years, the Bullitt Foundation has recognized young people who have the potential to become powerful environmental leaders,” said Denis Hayes, CEO of the Bullitt Foundation. “Kristina exemplifies this kind of leadership. They are centering a problem that is rampant across the country and working alongside our neighbors to work towards a solution.”
The Bullitt Environmental Prize helps broaden and diversify the leadership of the environmental movement in the Pacific Northwest. It comes with $100,000 awarded over two years. Past winners include a Black-Tejano researcher promoting resilience to climate change in urban areas, a Mexican-American scientist working to prioritize conservation efforts, a Nigerian farmer who advocates for the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices, and a Filipino-American ecologist working to restore food security and stop the vicious cycle of political instability that emerges as a result of global food insecurity intensifying.
The Bullitt Foundation will sunset its grantmaking at the end of 2024, but it is reserving funds to continue awarding the Bullitt Prize in perpetuity.
###
About the Bullitt Foundation
The Bullitt Foundation was founded in 1952 by Dorothy Bullitt, who first brought broadcast television to Seattle. In 1992, the Foundation hired Denis Hayes as president and began focusing on safeguarding the natural environment by promoting responsible human activities and sustainable communities in the Pacific Northwest. The Foundation is housed in the Bullitt Center, which is known as the greenest office building in the world. In 2016, it began focusing exclusively on making the Emerald Corridor, which includes the region between Vancouver, BC and Portland, OR, a model of urban sustainability. For more information, visit www.bullitt.org.
Contact:
Elise McGlothian
elise@minervastrategies.com
(206) 457-3416