Faculty

Profile

Ana is an Associate Professor in the Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management graduate program and also serves as the Director of the Tishman Environment & Design Center  (TEDC) at The New School. 

Ana's research and professional practice focuses on environmental justice (EJ) and climate justice. She works collaboratively with movement organizations to support the advancement of environmental justice. Ana works on a range of related issues including environmental justice and cumulative impacts policies, climate justice and renewable energy, land use and zoning tools for environmental justice, zero waste systems, and critical approaches to carbon management and climate mitigation strategies. Ana's professional practice is based primarily in community engaged scholarship and critical participatory action research. 

Ana’s current research and practice focuses on innovations happening on state-level cumulative impacts policies. She helped to pass a landmark EJ and cumulative impacts law in New Jersey, with EJ leaders in the state and recently co-authored papers on these efforts in the EJ Journal's Special Issue on Cumulative Impacts (2025). Ana also served as a co-editor on a special issue of the Journal of Climate Resilience and Climate Justice (CRCJ) focused on critical perspectives and environmental justice implications of industrial carbon management approaches. She co-authored a paper for this issue highlighting the environmental justice implications of federal investments in industrial carbon management projects.

Ana is currently leading the Centering Justice initiative at the Tishman Center which seeks to align the work of academic centers committed to environmental and climate justice, philanthropy, and movement partners to advance environmental justice goals. This initiative includes hosting an annual Centering Justice Symposium and a Community of Practice across Higher Education to advance environmental and climate justice. She served as a co-editor and co-author on a special issue of the Environmental Justice Journal focused on Community-Engaged Research and Practice coming out of the inaugral Centering Justice Symposium hosted January 2024 at The New School.

Ana co-founded the national Environmental Justice Movement Fellowship, EJ Disrupt Design Fellowship, housed at the Tishman Center and led by Angela Mahecha. Ana serves as the principal investigator for the fellowship which builds the capacity of movement leaders to scale and innovate just climate solutions  Ana is also an inaugural member of the Equitable and Just National Climate Platform where she supports EJ organizations in centering climate justice in federal policymaking.

She recently co-authored a chapter, Environmental Justice Tours: Transformative Narratives of Struggle, Solidarity and Activism, in an edited volume on Toxic Heritage sites. She also contributed a chapter on Urban and Regional Planning in an edited volume called GroundTruths on community-engaged research for environmental justice.

Ana was recently appointed to the NYC Environmental Justice Advisory Board serving on the Research & Policy workgroup and was appointed to the Fourth New York City Panel on Climate Change by Mayor DeBlasio and co-chaired the Equity Workgroup and co-authored the chapter, "Advancing Climate Justice in Climate Adaptation Stategies for New York City." The chapter explores the intersecting issues of climate displacement, community-led climate adaptation strategies and best practices for acheiving climate justice. Ana serves on the Executive Advisory Council of the Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub (MACH) and as an external member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council’s Carbon Management Workgroup. She co-authored two reports for the WHEJAC Carbon Management Work Group focused on recommendations for federal agencies to incorporate environmental justice considerations on all aspects of national carbon management deployment. She helped to co-author the "Statement by Environmental Justice Organizations on the National Symposium on Climate Justice and Carbon Management" (2023)

Ana's research also extends to waste justice and anti-incineration policies.  She serves on the Advisory Board for Beyond Plastics, and led research on the incinerator industry, in a paper released by the Tishman Environment and Design Center, called "U.S. Municipal Sold Waste Incinerators: A Failing Industry" which points to the economic and environmental justice implications of the incineration industry. The report found that the majority of US MSW incinerators are located in EJ communities and more than 4 million people are exposed to pollution emanating from these aging facilities. 

She currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Passaic River Superfund Community Advisory Group, a member of the Coalition for Healthy Ports and the national Moving Forward Network. She serves on the Board of Trustees for the Victoria Foundation, Ironbound Community Corporation, the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA). Prior to joining The New School Ana served as the Environmental Justice Director for the Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC) in Newark, where she worked for close to a decade in and now serves on the Board of Trustees. Her ongoing work with environmental justice issues in her hometown of Newark, New Jersey was featured in the documentary film, The Sacrifice Zone.

Degrees Held

Ph.D., Urban Planning and Public Policy,
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
New Brunwsick, NJ

MA, Environmental Studies,
Brown University,
Providence, RI

BA, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and Environmental Studies
Dartmouth College,
Hanover, NH

Professional Affiliation

• NYC EJ Advisory Board, appointed 2025

• Fourth New York City Panel on Climate Change, appointed, 2020-2024

• Executive Advisory Council of the Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub (MACH)

• Equitable and Justice National Climate Platform, Inaugural member

• Advisory Board, Beyond Plastics, 2020- 2025

• White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, Carbon Management Work Group, External Member

• Associate Editor, Environmental Justice Journal

• Associate Editor, Journal of Climate Resilience and Climate Justice (CRCJ)

• Ironbound Community Corporation, Secretary, Board of Trustees

• New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance, Secretary, Board of Trustees

• Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), Co-Chair, Board of Trustees

• Victoria Foundation, Board of Trustees

• Passaic River Superfund Community Advisory Group, Co-Chair

• Newark 360 Master Plan, Mayor Appointed Steering Committee

• Coalition for Healthy Ports, member

• Moving Forward Network, member

Recent Publications

Book Chapters

• Baptista, Ana I. (2025) "Finding Hope at the Margins: A Journey of Environmental Justice." Ecological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women's Voices. 2nd Ed. Jeanine M. Canty. New York: Routledge

• Baptista, A. (2025) Solidarity: How Can Solidarity Catalyze Energy Democracy. in Power Shift: Keywords for a New Politics of Energy. Eds. Szeman, I., & Wenzel, J., West Virginia University Press

• Baptista, A. (2023), Chapter 16: Environmental Justice Tours: Transformative Narratives of Struggle, Solidarity and Activism. In Toxic Heritage: Legacies, Futures, and Environmental Injustice. Ed. May, S. & Kryder-Reid, E. New York, NY: Routledge.

• Baptista, A., Matsuoka, M., & Raphael, C. (2023), Urban and Regional Planning. In C. Raphael & M. Matsuoka, Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice. Berkeley, CA: University of California - Luminos Press

• Baptista, Ana I. (2022) "Global Goods, Local Impact", In Material Health: Design Frontiers, Ed. J. Ruth and A. Mears, Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, 

• Baptista, Ana I. (2021) “Introduction: Radical Resistance and Future Imaginaries for Environmental Justice”  in The World We Need ,Ed. Audrea Lim, New York: The New Press

• Baptista, Ana I. (2019) "The Evolution of the Environmental Justice Movement: Trans-Local Voices for Systemic Transformations" in Globalism and Localization in the Context of the Ecological and Social Crisis. Ed. Jeanine M. Canty. New York: Routledge

• Ramirez, I., Baptista, A., Lee, J., Traverso-Krejcarek, A. Santos, A. (2019) Fighting for Urban Environmental Health Justice in Southside (Los Sures) Williamsburg, Brooklyn: A Community Engaged Pilot Study. In Handbook of Global Urban Health, New York: Routledge

• Baptista, Ana I. (2018) "Innovations for Sustainability via New York City's Residential Curbside Organic Waste Collection Program: Pathways to Zero Waste" in Smarter New York City: How City Agencies Innovate. Ed. André Corrêa d'Almeida. New York: Columbia University Press

• Baptista, A. (2018), Chapter 20: Environmental Justice. In Complete Guide to Planning in New Jersey, 4th Edition. New Jersey Chapter, American Planning Association.

• Baptista, Ana I. (2017) "Finding Hope at the Margins: A Journey of Environmental Justice." Ecological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women's Voices. Ed. Jeanine M. Canty. New York: Routledge

Articles

• Baptista, A. I., Lam, Y., Ramirez, J. S., Ventrella, J., & Austin, S. (2025). The “Centering Justice” Symposium: A Call to Climate and Environmental Justice Centers Within Higher Education. Environmental Justice 
• Foster, S., Baptista, A., Nguyen, K., Tchen, J., Tedesco, M, and Leichenko, R. (2024) Advancing Climate Justice in Climate Adaptation Strategies for New York City. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 10.1111/nyas.15148.
• Tedesco, M., Foster, S., Baptista, A., & Zuzak, C. (2023). A multi-hazard climate, displacement and socio-vulnerability score for New York City. Sustainability, 16(1), 42.
• Baptista, A. I., Jesudason, S., Greenberg, M., & Perovich, A. (2023). Landscape assessment of the US environmental justice movement: Transformative strategies for climate justice. Environmental Justice. 16 (2), 111-117. 
• Santos-Ramirez, J., Baptista, A., Perovich, A., Greenberg, M, Lopez, A., and Rosenberg, A. (2022) Environmental Justice and Philanthropy:Challenges and Opportunities for Alignment. Foundation Review, 14(1), 7.
• Baptista, Ana I. March 2021. Zoning, Land Use, and Local Policies for Environmental Justice, Zoning Practice, American Planning Association. 
• Ji, N., Fang, M., Baptista, A., Cepeda, C., Greenberg, M., Mincey, I. C., & Laumbach, R. J. (2021). Exposure to traffic-related air pollution and changes in exhaled nitric oxide and DNA methylation in arginase and nitric oxide synthase in children with asthma. Environmental Health, 20(1), 1-11.
• Baptista, Ana Isabel and Amarnath, Kumar. Garbage, Power, and Environmental Justice: The Clean Power Plan Rule, Wm. & Mary Envtl. L. & Pol'y Rev, 2016, 41, 403 
• Chang Ho Yu, Zhi-Hua (Tina) Fan, Paul J. Lioy , Ana Baptista, Molly Greenberg, Robert Laumbach, A Mobile Monitoring Approach to Characterize Spatial and Temporal Variation in Traffic-Related Air Pollutants in an Urban Community. Atmospheric Environment, September  2016
• Laumbach, Robert J., Ana Baptista, Nancy Fiedler, Clarimel Cepeda, Zhi-Hua Fan, Brian Pavilonis, Pamela Ohman-Strickland, and Howard Kipen. Cumulative Impacts Of Traffic Pollutants And Psychosocial Stress On Childhood Asthma Exacerbation In An Urban Community. In C105. Pollution Effects, pp. A5098-A5098. American Thoracic Society, 2013.

Reports & White Papers

Environmental Justice Concerns with Carbon Capture and Hydrogen Co-Firing in the Power Sector. Lam, Y., Ventrella, J., Baptista, A., and Rodriguez Castellanos, J.D., Tishman Environment & Design Center. (2024) 

Mandatory Emissions Reductions for Climate Mitigation in the Power Sector. Sheats, N., Perovich, A., Yulsman, A., Ventrella, J., Lam, Y., and  Baptista, A.  Tishman Environment & Design Center. (2023) 

False Solutions for Just Climate Mitigation and Clean Energy Policies. Baptista, A. and Ventrella, J. Tishman Environment & Design Center. (2022) 

Understanding the Evolution of Cumulative Impacts: Definitions and Policies in the U.S.. Baptista, A., Perovich, A., Pulido-Velosa, M., Valencia, E., Valdez, M. Tishman Environment and Design Center (August 2022)

Defining Environmental Justice Communities: Implications for State and Federal Environmental Justice Policies. Baptista, A., Sheats, N., Perovich, A. and Valdez, M., Tishman Environment and Design Center (January 2022)

EJ and Philanthropy: Challenges and Opportunities for Alignment. Midwest and Gulf South Case Studies. March 2020, Tishman Environment and Design Center

Environmental Justice Movement: Priorities, Strategies and Just Transitions. May 2019, Tishman Environment and Design Center

U.S. Municipal Solid Waste Incinerators: An Industry in Decline, May 21, 2019, Tishman Environment & Design Center 

Local Policies for Environmental Justice: A National Scan, February 2019, Tishman Environment & Design Center 

Public Articles/Commentary

It's Time We Put an End to the Carbon Capture Farce, Ana Baptista and Dana Johnson, Common Dreams, Opinion, November 14, 2023 

Reflections on President Biden's signing of  Executive Order 14096 on Environmental Justice, April 28, 2023

Coronavirus Crisis Demands Environmental Justice Response. Op Ed, May 19, 2020, New Jersey Spotlight. 

Is Burning Trash a Good Way to Handle It? Waste Incineration in 5 Charts.The Conversation, June 20, 2019

Performances and Appearances

Carbon Capture and Storage, Uptown Chats podcast, July 8, 2024

Leveraging State Law to Address Local Pollution Burden, Colorado Renewable Energy Society, June 20, 2024

Agents of Change for Environmental Justice podcast, Environmental Health News, May 27, 2024

What EJ Leaders Want from EPA's Gas Rule Do-over, E&E News, March 8, 2024

Environmental Justice and the Cumulative Impacts of Pollution. Resources Radio, Resources for the Future, October 4, 2023

What does Restorative Environmental Justice Look Like? Upstream podcast, Episode 91, June 16, 2023

Environmental Justice and the Cumulative Impacts of Pollution with Ana Baptista, Resources for our Future, February 14, 2023

How science could aid the US quest for environmental justice, Nature, June 2, 2022

 What Does Environmental Justice Look Like? Indisposable Podcast, by Upstream, May 2022

Trash or Recycling? Why Plastic Keeps Us Guessing, The New York Times, By Winston Choi-Schagrin and Hiroko Tabuchi, April 21, 2022

Foundations Commit Billions to Fight Climate Change, Associated Press, By Alex Danield, November 11, 2021

Maine Joins Debate Over How to Define Environmental Justice. Energy News Network, By David Thill, July 13, 2021

Cumulative Impact Ordinances Address Environmental Justice. EHS Daily Advisor, by Lisa Whitley Coleman, June 3, 2021

Repairing an Environmental ‘Legacy of Racism’: What the City’s Next Leaders Must Do. Urban Matters, The Center for New York City Affairs. February 17, 2021

Covid-19 and Environmental Justice: An Agenda for New York’s Next Mayor. Urban Matters, The Center for New York City Affairs. February 10, 2021

New Jersey Governor Signs Law Aimed at Protecting Poor from Pollution. September 18, 2020, Reuters, by, Maria Caspani

Environmental Justice and Clean Energy in New Jersey. July 2, 2020, NJ Spotlight Roundtable

Fighting for a Just Covid-19 Response. Derrick Jackson, Environmental Health News, April 3, 2020.

We've been forgotten: In Newark, N.J. a Toxic Superfund Site Faces Growing Climate Threats. NBC News, by Erik Ortiz, October 1, 2020, 

Toxic Injustices: Priority for Abused Communities Must Pervade Every Aspect of a Green New Deal. Derrick Z. Jackson, The American Prospect, December 5, 2019

Justice For All? American Planning Association, Adina Solomon, October 2019

Which Cities Have Concrete Plans for Environmental Justice, CityLab, Nicole Javorsky, May 7, 2019

Zero Waste and Anti-Incineration

Five Things You Should Know About the Impact of Burning Trash, June 28, 2019, Green Biz Journal. 

Is Burning Trash a Good Way to Dispose of It? Waste Incineration in Charts, PBS News House, June 23, 2019

Revealed: 1.6 Million Americans Live Near the Most Polluting Incinerators, The Guardian, Oliver Milman, May 21, 2019

Can We Stop Burning Garbage And Calling It Renewable, Food and Water Watch, July 24, 2018

Research Interests

Environmental justice, climate justice, cumulative impacts, land use, zoning and planning approaches to environmental justice, waste justice, critical climate adaptation and mitigation, air pollution monitoring and permitting, goods movement, critical participatory action research, community based deliberative planning practices, superfund and brownfields policies

Awards And Honors

• Outstanding Achievements in Social Justice Teaching, The New School, 2024

• New Jersey Governor’s Richard J. Sullivan Environmental Excellence Award, 2020

• US EPA, Environmental Champions Award, New York, May 2017. 

• Sister Carol Johnston Service Award, Ironbound Community Corporation, October 2016 

• US EPA, Citizen's Excellence in Community Involvement Award, Passaic River Superfund Community Advisory Group, May 2015