Green Reads: The Intersectional Environmentalist
“When the literal storms and environmental tragedies are over, what’s left are case studies of privilege and inequality.”
-- The Intersectional Environmentalist by Leah Thomas
The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect Planet and People by Leah Thomas, provides a clear outline of what intersectional environmentalism is, why it is imperative to the sustainability movement, and how we might hope to embody its principles. Readers must confront the knowledge that while Black, Indigenous, POC, and low-income communities contribute the least to the climate crisis, they are often the most impacted by its effects.
The Intersectional Environmentalist exposes the devastating role that systemic racism plays in shifting the burdens of climate collapse onto people of color. Thomas notes that, “As of 2019, race is still the number one indicator of where toxic waste facilities are located in the US.” Within one-third of a square mile in Altgeld Gardens, a community in Chicago built for black WWII veterans, “contained fifty landfills, hundreds of toxic waste sites and 250 leaking underground storage tanks.” A predominantly Black neighborhood near the Mississippi River in Louisiana is referred to as ‘Cancer Alley’ as a result of the 200 petrochemical plants stretched along only eight miles.
Thomas acknowledges the existing injustices that are regularly ignored, dismissed, and enabled within environmentalism, and encourages readers to embrace a more inclusive and equitable mindset. She recognizes the pivotal contributions of Black persons, such as Hazel M. Johnson and the 17 Principles of Environmental Justice, that have long been omitted from environmental and natural history texts. Tackling the unique challenges of climate change that are specific to the oppressed requires acknowledging privilege where it exists and working to preserve the human life, health, cultures, and welfare of the entire Black diaspora.
“Social injustice and environmental injustice are fueled by the same flame: the undervaluing, commodification and exploitation of all forms of life and natural resources from the smallest blade of grass to those living in poverty and oppressed people worldwide.”
What can we do? (It’s simple)
- Reject white supremacy in all of its forms.
- Purge systemic racism from the fabric of society.
- Uplift black voices in environmentalism (and all other) spaces.
More recommended reading on the subject
- Environmental Racism in the United States and Canada: Seeking Justice and Sustainability by Bruce E. Johansen
- Dialogues on Climate Justice by Stephen M. Gardiner and Arthur R. Obst
- A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and its Assault on the American Mind by Harriet A. Washington
