Studying Environmental Health and Justice

For Xavier Smalls ’25, the classroom helped him discover his interests, and experiential learning opportunities have allowed him to find ways he might apply what he studies. He started at Washington College knowing he was interested in the environment, but it was an environmental archaeology course that helped him start to home in on the specific way he might want to engage with environmental issues.

"I've come to be interested in the nexus between culture and environmental pollution or injustices,” Smalls said. "I feel like more work is necessary for underrepresented communities.”

Smalls used a grant from the Libby and Douglas Carter Society of Junior Fellows to travel to Cuba and research food insecurity during his junior year, then undertook an internship with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Tribal and International Affairs the following summer.

At the EPA, Smalls researched the effects of pesticide exposure, air pollution, climate change, COVID-19, and other environmental health issues on native communities, on their ability to pass on their culture, and especially, on the health of children, who are most affected by environmental health factors. Smalls was struck by the relative lack of data on the topic, a revelation that host further motivated him to do more work on environmental justice.

Researching environmental impacts on children’s health and creating informational materials to share their findings with tribes and the public allowed Smalls to join all of his interests.

“From my anthropology classes, I’ve learned how human experience differs from culture to culture, and even within each culture. From environmental classes, I’ve learned more about what we can do to protect the environment and the people,” Smalls said. “From my museum education courses and experiences, I’ve learned how important it is to craft the educational experience based on the audience, environment, and intention, to make the greatest impact. The combination of all three has given me the foundation to do this work.”