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Environmentally Speaking

Celebrating BIPOC and Women’s History Through the Recognition of Up-And-Coming Environmentalists

March 19, 2021 Environmentally Speaking

Today, environmentalism is being featured in the media more than ever and we see many accomplished people who have gone to great lengths to contribute to the environmental movement. Recognizing these people is important and they deserve to be celebrated, but there is another group that sometimes goes overlooked: the younger, up-and-coming environmentalists who are in the early stages of changing the world. In recognition of Women’s History Month, this post will feature a few women environmentalists who are just beginning to make their mark on environmentalism.

Source: https://www.gen-green.org/team/audre%27ana-ellis

Audre’ana Ellis is a senior at Howard University in Washington DC, she is majoring in Environmental Studies and minoring in Political Science. During her time at Howard University, Ellis has found a passion for representing people of color in the environmental movement. She has completed an internship with Howard University’s Office of Sustainability, served as the Sustainability Department Policy Advisor for Howard University’s student government, studied abroad in Jaipur, India, and co-founded the Howard University Student Sustainability Council alongside Destiny Hodges and Travis Flowers to bridge the gap between students and administration while advocating for sustainability on campus. Ellis is currently a Curriculum and Project Specialist at Generation Green, a youth-led organization of Black environmentalists that addresses Black social justice issues. After graduation, Ellis wants to work as an Environmental Justice Advocate and obtain a Juris Doctor degree. She plans to use her knowledge of sustainable development and social change to fight for environmental justice and represent marginalized communities that are impacted the greatest by environmental hazards.

Source: https://fortune.com/40-under-40/2020/isra-hirsi/

Isra Hirsi is a high school student in Minneapolis, Minnesota that has been advocating for the environment since her freshman year after joining her school environmental club. Hirsi is the daughter of congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of the US Youth Climate Strike, which led hundreds of strikes across the country in 2019 for climate justice, and former Development Director for a Gravel Institute think tank. Hirsi has often told crowds that “Climate change is the fight of [her] generation, and it needs to be addressed urgently.” This is because she knows what impacts climate change can have on people and has seen how people in other parts of our world are suffering – especially people like her family in Somalia experiencing rising temperatures and drought. Her dreams to change the world and diversify the environmental movement are what drive her to strike and speak out as an environmental justice organizer, progressive political consultant, Black Lives Matter activist, and a leader of other young voices who otherwise not have the opportunity to be heard.

Source: https://browngirlgreen.org/

Kristy Drutman is a 2017 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) and a climate activist who is passionate about her work that integrates media, diversity, and environmentalism. While studying at UC Berkeley, she helped to create the Students of Color Environmental Collective to encourage diversity in the environmental movement on campus. Her interests include environmental storytelling and organizing which she uses in her current positions of Assistant Lecturer at UC Berkeley, Marketing Content Coordinator at Mayfield Renewables, and Content Producer for her own podcast Brown Girl Green. In this podcast and her associated social media accounts, she is able to strategize new approaches to and advocate for environmental education. She hopes to use her platform as a bridge for traditionally left-out communities to reach the current environmental narrative. In Brown Girl Green, Drutman interviews environmental leaders and promotes diversity and inclusion, especially in the workplace. As a proud Filipina American, she would like to see more people of color involved in the environmental field and hopes to influence what a 21st-century environmentalist looks like. Drutman believes that art, mindfulness, and relationship building are at the center of successful sustainable activism and stresses the importance of self-care in the environmental movement as well.

 

AESS will be continuing to recognize young environmentalists and telling the stories of how they are working to save the planet.

 

If you or someone you know may be interested in being featured in a blog post like this one, reach out to us by email.

 

June 27: Title edited to use appropriate acronym for racial, ethnic, cultural and political groups. Thank you Tess (comments) for sharing this style guide resource.

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Continuing to Celebrate Black History Through the Recognition of Black Environmentalists

March 2, 2021 Environmentally Speaking

Black History Month is a time reserved for people to reflect on the contributions and accomplishments of people of the African diaspora including African-Americans, often which have not been taught in schools. However, Black history has never been confined to just the month of February and the celebration of it does not have to be either. AESS is continuing to feature Black environmentalists with the goal of honoring these people who have made notable contributions to the environmental movement and Black history.

Image Credit: https://www.riseandrootfarm.com/karen-washington/

Karen Washington is a community activist in New York City working in the Bronx towards food equality for the underprivileged and minority communities living there. Washington has been encouraging urban farming as a resource for community members to have access to fresh, local food since 1985 in hopes of making New York City a better, more sustainable place to live. In her position as a board member for the New York Botanical Gardens, she was able to establish community gardens in previously empty lots in Bronx neighborhoods. Washington is also a member of the La Familia Verde Community Garden Coalition, helped begin a City Farms Market, and co-founded the organization Black Urban Growers. After working as a Physical Therapist for more than 30 years, Washington left that position to start Rise & Root Farm to work towards a more sustainable food system and food justice in New York City.

Image Credit: https://nara.getarchive.net/media/office-of-the-administrator-portraits-of-administrator-lisa-p-jackson-412-apd-b1e366

Lisa P. Jackson is a leading scientist who has made groundbreaking strides in the field of environmental protection and advocacy. She began her career at the EPA in 1987 and then made history as the first African-American to serve as an EPA administrator after being appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2009, she served in this position through 2013. During her time working in the EPA, she prioritized climate action, air quality and chemical safety improvement, cleaning of communities, protection of America’s waters, stronger state and tribal partnerships, environmental justice, and expanding the conversation on environmentalism. In this position, she was also able to focus on helping under-represented communities that are more vulnerable to environmental threats and promised all stakeholders a place in decision-making. With her leadership, the EPA was able to issue new clean air standards, outline principles for chemical protection efforts, improve drinking water protection efforts, and renew public trust in the EPA. Jackson continues this work at Apple as the current vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiative; she oversees the effort to minimize Apple’s impact on the environment and increase energy efficiency.

Image Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Warren_Washington.jpg

Dr. Warren M. Washington is another noteworthy Black environmentalist. Dr. Washington expresses his concern for and helps the environment through his work as a climate and atmospheric scientist who specializes in computer modeling of Earth’s climate. Dr. Washington was the second African-American to earn a Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences and his work, which spans over 40 years, has been used to research the impacts of climate change on a global scale. In 2007, the global climate models Dr. Washington created were used in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 4th assessment report which earned Dr. Washington and other scientists the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Washington served as Science Advisor to former Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., and Clinton, and was awarded the National Medal of Science from former President Obama. Dr. Washington strives to increase the opportunities available to young researchers from all backgrounds and has a passion for supporting and mentoring students, early career professionals, and outreach initiatives. As Dr. Washington uses his time to work towards equal opportunities and environmental justice, he encourages others by speaking out about the racial discrimination he has faced, and reports that his experience “helped give [him] confidence that [he] could contribute to making a change.”

Remembering the contributions of these remarkable people to help preserve and better the world is important. We have a lot to thank our distinguished environmentalists for and even more to learn from them. Many of these people, including Dr. Warren Washington, have directly helped to bring up and inspire the next generation. In our next post, we will feature some up-and-coming black environmentalists who are in the early stages of changing the world.

AESS would like to acknowledge Heather Heckel for providing resources for this post.

Sources:

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Celebrating Black Environmentalists in Honor of Black History Month

February 22, 2021 Environmentally Speaking

In honor of Black History Month, the Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) will be highlighting just a handful of the incredible black environmentalists who have made a difference in the world. In this post, we will be looking at the accomplishments of a few distinguished and experienced environmentalists. 

Image Credit: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/conservation-commons/2020/10/30/grassroots-environmentalism-riverkeeper/

Fred Tutman is an advocate for Maryland’s watersheds with the goal of bringing people and the river together while also making known the environmental needs of communities, especially those that are disconnected from the environment and have experienced environmental injustice. In 2004, Tutman founded the Patuxent Riverkeeper organization to serve the community he grew up in and address watershed issues there. Since then, he has been and is the only African-American Waterkeeper in the country and is a former member of the Waterkeeper Alliance. In addition to his work as a Waterkeeper, Tutman teaches an adjunct class at St. Mary’s College of Maryland in environmental law and policy, as well as performs trail maintenance on the Appalachian Trail.

Image Credit: https://www.humansandnature.org/audrey-peterman

Audrey Peterman is a leading voice for the African-American community and the environment as the president and co-founder of the environmental consulting and publishing firm, Earthwise Productions, Inc. Peterman is also an active board member for the National Parks Conservation Association, the Association of Partners for Public Lands, and the National Parks Promotion Council. She has also authored and co-authored, with her husband Frank, several books including Legacy on the Land: A Black Couple Discovers Our National Inheritance and Tells Why Every American Should Care and Our True Nature: Finding a Zest for Life in the National Park System. Peterman has been recognized on many occasions for the incredible work she does and has received the 2013 Apex Distinguished Service Award from Black Meetings and Tourism Magazine, the Environmental Hero Award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2000, the George Barley Leadership Award from the Everglades Coalition in 1999, and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Outstanding Citizen Conservationist Award from the National Parks Conservation Association in 1997.

Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/forestservicenw/22633269535/in/photolist-iM3JPb-Au2qv6

Chip Cartwright is a leader in his forestry career as well as in the diversification of the workforce. After starting his forestry career in 1967, Cartwright became the first African-American District Ranger in 1979, working for the Okanogan National Forest in Washington, then later he also became the first African-American Forest Supervisor as the Supervisor of the Jefferson National Forest. Additionally, Cartwright has held the positions of Acting Deputy Regional Forester in the Rocky Mountain Region and the Intermountain Region, as well as the position of Assistant Director for Ecosystem Management for the U.S. Forest Service. Through his work, he has been able to stress the importance of and develop ways to include more diversity in ecosystem management.

These environmentalists have made great contributions to their communities and the world, advocating for the environment and serving as voices for change. We can all be reminded of their accomplishments, as well as the work that still needs to be done with a quote from Audrey Peterman, “My ambition is to see the day when all Americans love our national treasures the way I do. It makes us feel a little more loving of ourselves, a little more accepting of ourselves and others, to realize we are part of something so glorious. The park system did that for me, so I know it can do it for other people.” Stay tuned for our next post as we continue to honor black environmentalists by highlighting their stories and accomplishments.

AESS would like to acknowledge Heather Heckel for providing resources for this post.

Sources:

  1. https://fredtutman.com/professional/
  2. https://www.humansandnature.org/audrey-peterman
  3. https://www.npca.org/articles/178-a-valentine-s-day-q-a-with-audrey-peterman
  4. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r3/learning/history-culture/?cid=stelprdb5199222
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The Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) is an independent faculty-and-student-based professional association in higher education, designed to serve the needs of environmental scholars and scientists who value interdisciplinary approaches to research, teaching, and problem-solving.

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