The Mono Lake Committee’s Outdoor Education Center Program Manager Santiago M. Escruceria was honored at East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice’s (EYCEJ) Fighting for Life event celebrating partners who have helped bring healthier, more breathable, livable communities for frontline residents.
The event celebrated four advocates—Santiago, Arturo Gonzalez, Erica Martinez, and Jan Victor Andasan—who have “played a vital role in empowering residents, shifting policies, and winning campaigns aimed at addressing the impacts of environmental racism in agency planning and holding polluters accountable.”
Santiago accepted the award in front of an audience of more than 200 people, including many who have come through the Mono Basin Outdoor Education Center program. For over a decade EYCEJ has been a partner with the Mono Lake Committee in bringing Angelenos to Mono Lake, and has become a leading voice advocating for Mono Lake.
EYCEJ is an environmental health and justice non-profit organization working towards a safe and healthy environment for communities disproportionately suffering the negative impacts of industrial pollution. EYCEJ’s Eastside Community Organizer & Special Projects Coordinator, mark! Lopez, carries on his family’s long tradition of connecting people from Los Angeles with Mono Lake.
For more than 30 years the Mono Basin Outdoor Education Center program has connected Los Angeles youth with the source of their water through multi-day trips to Mono Lake that focus on watershed education through hands-on learning and stewardship activities. Through a combination of curriculum-based education, outdoor activities, and restoration projects, the OEC program teaches participants about watersheds and ways they can be impacted by human activities.
Top photo by Geoff McQuilkin.