Lyou, Joseph
Joseph Lyou
Dr. Joseph Lyou is an environmentalist and environmental justice advocate focusing primarily on air quality and pollution. Dr. Lyou is the President and CEO of the Coalition for Clean Air in California, which works on air quality issues statewide. Dr. Lyou was appointed to the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the California Transportation Commission.
“Environmental work is rewarding; you can make a difference. But it can be fun too! We laugh, play, and socialize. There is a sense of community that is rewarding both professionally and personally.” - Joseph Lyou, 2005.
Lyou, J. K. (1987). Studying Nuclear Weapons: The Effect on Students. Peace Research, 19(1), 7-19. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23610070
Lyou, J. K. (1990). The social psychology of U.S.-Soviet arms control negotiations: The role and experience of the U.S. negotiator and delegation (Order No. 9102787). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (303825590). https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/social-psychology-u-s-sovi…
Joseph Lyou was born in 1960 and is the youngest of two children born to Joseph and Kay Lyou, a retired journalist/publisher and a semi-retired editor. He was raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles but does not credit his surroundings as an influence for following an environmental career path. Instead, Lyou feels that his interest in social justice work was fueled in part by the values his parents instilled in him and the political climate in which he lived. Events such as Vietnam and Watergate were catalysts for a future addressing the ills of government. Dr. Lyou attended California State University, Northridge and earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology in 1983. He continued his education at the University of California at Santa Cruz, earning his Master’s in 1986 and Ph.D. in 1990, both in Social Psychology.
In 1991, Dr. Lyou accepted a position as Executive Director of the Committee to Bridge the Gap (CBG), a nuclear watch group that focuses on arms control and nuclear safety, nuclear terrorism, and cleaning contaminated sites. It was with this organization that he became interested in environmental issues. He served with the organization for ten years and eventually became the Executive Director during his time with them.
With CBG, Dr. Lyou helped save Ward Valley in California from the siting of a nuclear waste dump. He considers the prevention of the nuclear waste dump site among his most significant achievements as an environmental justice activist. It was the culmination of a decade-long struggle led by a coalition of Native American tribes, environmental organizations, city and state governments, and other grassroots social justice organizations. Using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Dr. Lyou uncovered data that the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) had kept secret from the public, thus stopping the Department of the Interior from proceeding with the project, which would have destroyed a Native American sacred site and critical habitat to the threatened desert tortoise.
Dr. Lyou spent three years, from 2000 to 2003, with the California League of Conservation Voters Education Fund to focus more specifically on environmental justice issues. As the Director of Programs, he was responsible for developing and implementing programs to increase the input from underrepresented community members in environmental policymaking. In 2003, Dr. Lyou founded the California Environmental Rights Alliance and served as the organization’s Executive Director. The California Environmental Rights Alliance uses educational outreach and community decision-making to provide members of impacted communities with technical assistance and training necessary to take back control of their neighborhoods.
In 2007, during his time as Executive Director, he was appointed as a Governing Board Member at the South Coast Air Quality Management District by the governor. His appointment to the Governing Board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District extended until 2019. Dr. Lyou stayed with the California Environmental Rights Alliance until 2010, when he became the President and CEO of the Coalition for Clean Air.
Since 2020, Dr. Lyou has been Commissioner on the California Transportation Commission part-time, appointed by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, and full-time as the President and CEO of the Coalition for Clean Air, California. The organization works statewide on air quality issues and helped pass legislation to deploy one million electric vehicles by 2025 in the state.
Throughout his career in the environmental field, Dr. Lyou has had many big and small victories, in addition to setbacks. Though the work can be frustrating and overwhelming at times, he continues to be encouraged by the successes he has been part of. Moreover, the more he learns about the worst environmental problems currently affecting public health, the more motivated he is to continue to fight. He cites Dan Hirsch at the Committee to Bridge the Gap as helping teach him how to be an effective activist. He also notes that he learns every day from his colleagues.
During his time at the California Environmental Rights Alliance, he mentored students as part of the organization’s priority to help mentor the next generation of activists. Dr. Lyou had a law student from the University of California at Los Angeles shadow him to learn the ins and outs of the position and become an impactful environmental justice activist.
Dr. Lyou believes that minorities should seriously consider committing themselves to a career in the environmental field and notes that it is rewarding and possible to make a difference. According to Dr. Lyou, “It can be fun too! We laugh, play, and socialize. There is a sense of community here that is rewarding both professionally and personally” (2005).
Coalition for Clean Air. (n.d.). About. https://www.ccair.org/about/ Coalition for Clean Air. (n.d.).
Joseph K. Lyou, Ph.D. https://www.ccair.org/about/staff/dr-joseph-lyou/ LinkedIn. (n.d.). Joe Lyou. https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-lyou-4b5b8a9/
Taylor, Dorceta (Ed.). 2005. The Paths We Thread: Profiles of the Careers of Minority Environmental Professionals. Minority Environmental Leadership Development Initiative, University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment.
Joseph K. Lyou, Ph.D. [Photo]. Coalition for Clean Air. (n.d.). Retrieved September 2023 from https://www.ccair.org/about/staff/dr-joseph-lyou/