my quarter-annual check-in
Oh god, just typing that subject heading MAKES ME SO SAD. piecesof_reeses, what have you done with your life? Four months and change have gone by with nary a peep in the world of livejournal, and what do you have to show for it?Well
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Interesting to hear your thoughts about racism in environmentalism... I did environmental studies for my undergard & masters, and now work and volunteer in the "environmental" community, and I definitely see that it struggles with that (I also recognize my views are specific to my experience, which itself has been fairly privileged!). But I also feel like other anti-oppression movements do too. I have friends who work in the immigrant-rights movement and they find that links to gender and environment and sexuality and class can get forgotten there, too... I think it's a matter that ALL oppressions are tied up in one another, and whenever ANY of us in an "activist" movement forget that, we can end up fighting one oppression while furthering another.
I am proud to say I could list dozens of organizations, initiatives, programs, and co-operatives operating around the world (and especially in my community) whose SPECIFIC mandate is to help folks live more sustainably -- both environmentally AND socially. This means food stamps that can be spent at the farmers' markets, swaps and freecycles, free plots in community gardens, microcredits and co-operative models to help folks at or below the poverty line make investments, free cooking and canning classes, home delivery boxes of locally-grown organic food that's culturally appropriate (eg. collard greens and callaloo in the Jamaican neighbourhoods, daikon & bok choi in the Chinese ones), programs that help youth of colour get job training in social and environmental work, and groups that write critical reports on the environmental movement to keep us all thinking about what we may be excluding.
That said, I see VERY little connection to racism (or any other -ism, for that matter) in An Inconvenient Truth, or in Walmart's "Organics" section that's horrifically overpriced and unaffordable. And there's a lot of greenwashing going on, with businesses jumping on the green train because it's trendy or it appeals to consumers' consciences, which is capitalism doing its thing and reminds us all that we need to be just as anti-capialist as we are pro-community and anti-oppression.
I think it's a matter of having OPTIONS to how we engage, and for us to try and engage everyone in a way that respects their realities. Banks will donate thousands of dollars to clean energy programs, my upper-class high school friend and her parents will buy a smart car, my upper-middle-class parents will buy organic produce and solar panels for their house, my middle-class friends will ride their bikes and shop at farmers' markets (where food may not be organic, but is local and cheap), and the urban aboriginal elders I work with who live on the street will try to pick the vegetable dish at the soup kitchen and will share stories about the earth with young kids. There is never a wrong or a right way to engage.
When I was a student, I couldn't afford to eat 100% local/organic all year 'round, and I shopped at thrift stores. Now I have a disposable income and that's where I choose to invest my money - and yes, I do buy and I do LOVE to buy clothes made by local designers who repurpose old sweaters into new, beautiful items. I love the look, the idea, and I love supporting my local economy. But I also can't afford to buy solar panels for my house, or carbon credits, and I can't afford to donate to charities as often as I'd like. We do what we can, y'know? As long as there are ways for all of us to engage, where we feel like we're making a difference and that we're appreciated for what we DO, rather than judged for what we DON'T DO, we're moving in the right direction.
Thanks for making me think. It's something we all need to be mindful of!
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Also, I’m so happy to hear more responses! Especially from someone who works within the environmental community. It’s always good for my thoughts to be challenged so I can actually articulate the mass of thoughts in my head-it doesn’t happen nearly often enough, I think. And this LJ post definitely reflects that-it is quite incoherent, and I’m afraid I conflated several of my points into one long, rambling argument just because I got lazy.
Most of what my post talks about is, essentially, classism, insofar as how I see the environmental movement being articulated and presented in ways that exclude lower classes from active participation. And because these class lines are often drawn along racial and ethnic lines as well (at least in the US), I see a definite exclusion of minority presence within the environmental community.
On the whole, I agree very much with what you’re saying! You make great points, and I’m really happy to hear that there are programs out there that do specifically aim to help lower-class people of color become more environmentally conscious. I am not a directly participating member in my college’s environmental organization, and I’m not as knowledgeable as I would like to be about these things, which I acknowledge is problematic, especially when I’m casting judgment on the movement.
Mainly, I suppose I’m trying to offer more of an outsider’s perspective on the environmental movement, although one with some close friends who are very much involved. I think that, generally, environmentalism is seen as a primarily white, upper-class problem with corresponding solutions. Obviously, as the programs you mention indicate, that is not completely true. But the problem is that the public image and rhetoric of the movement often excludes, indirectly, lower-class and minority peoples. Let me try to provide some concrete examples for this. I mean, on one hand, the most visible leaders of the national environmental movement are white, upper-class males-a fact echoed in many other social movements as well. But also, my college’s environmental club is an undeniably white and upper-class space, which is troubling considering that the entire student population is much more diverse.
It’s hard for me to say exactly why this is occurring; most of this is speculation, anyway. But I can say that it is happening, which in and of itself is problematic. I guess my personal evaluation of the situation is that other people of different backgrounds simply do not identify with the environmental movement. I know that this is in no way a deliberate machination, but the problem is that the most visible, easy, and seemingly direct ways to participate in the movement are buying and using and flaunting these expensive products. This is true of almost no other social movement that I can think of-on the surface, it looks like environmentalism is a club with a very high entrance fee. And when someone just can’t afford to pay it, it’s discouraging and ultimately alienating.
These are all just surface observations. I definitely agree with you when you say that everyone should try to do what they can, according to their individual means and limitations! But the average person just doesn’t know about, or writes off as less significant, those alternate options because of the way the movement has been socially constructed thus far. I know that many in the environmental community are actively working to publicize these less expensive and exclusive options, which I really commend and appreciate, and hopefully, that will continue to happen on a larger and larger scale.
OH NOOOOO, COMMENT LIMITS. I'M JUST 66 CHARACTERS OVER, EL-JAY, CAN'T YOU MAKE AN EXCEPTION? :(((
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I mean, this is really a problem where no one is to blame (except for capitalist structures/institutions, hah). I just wanted to shed some light on it because in my experience, it’s a problem that people don’t often discuss. Or are afraid to, simply because the environmental movement is constructed as a "good," progressive movement.
Thank you again for your thoughts! It’s definitely been educational to not only read about these other options, but also force myself to think through my stance and try to articulate a little more clearly why I feel this way. ♥ Also it's really heartening to read about your experiences with the environmental movement.
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