Breaking Green Ceilings

Author of the book There is Something in the Water, Dr. Ingrid Waldron is a powerhouse of a community activist and researcher. Using community based participatory research (CBPR) to examine environmental racism in Nova Scotia, Dr. Waldron took on the ENRICH Project in 2012. At first Dr. Waldron was hesitant as she didn’t know much about environmental racism. However, later on she realized that her research in “social, economic, and political inequalities that shape health outcomes in Indigenous, Blakc, and other racialized communities” could make a significant contribution to understanding the health inequalities in Nova Scotia.

It was only after Dr. Waldron’s book was published in 2018 that actress Ellen Page got notice of the work that needed to be done and expressed a desire to help the Indigenous and Black communities. After much discussion, the decision was to produce a documentary by the same name. The documentary premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and was released on Netflix on March 27, 2020. We were able to dive deeply into Dr. Waldron's amazing journey and the results during this week's conversation.

Environmental Racism

When asked if the landfill contamination in Shelburne water was responsible for their high cancer rates, Dr. Waldron responded:

“It’s probable, highly probably. We did testing, we found contaminants in the well. Now, the issue is that, you could no longer have contaminants now, but you would have had contaminants in the past, do the people who are currently dealing with cancer, that might be a result of contaminants in the past. You also have to be careful about being conclusive. As a researcher, I have to stand back and say it is not conclusive but it is highly probable.”

Nova Scotia is historically the oldest and largest community of color in Canada, and continues to have the highest concentration of African Canadians in the country. “A study from Winnie Benton and Sandra Loppie (2001) found that African Nova Scotians had a higher cancer mortality rate than the general population, which they attribute to systemic forms of racism within various social institutions including the health care system” (Waldron,  p.98).

Oftentimes, environmental racism acts in a cyclical nature. Low income and mainly black, indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) tend to be destabilized due to the myriad of injustices and social ills they are already experiencing, such as low income or under employment, that results in violently unfair policy decisions. Governments often place landfills, paper mills, and other hazardous projects in these areas without consulting the community, furthering the detriment to their personal health and environment.

Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR)

Dr. Waldron emphasizes the importance of community based research. This was originated in health research, a familiar area for Dr. Waldron, and allows the community to have direct say in how the research is conducted. It starts with engaging the community before the research even begins, informing them of the researcher’s intention and asking how the researcher can give back to them.

Building and maintaining trust and integrity is crucial. From there, the community prioritizes the research, proposes the questions they want studied, and how they want it shared. This creates a partnership where the community is allowed to speak for themselves. The difference between extractive research and research that empowers the community is vast.

Other Topics

Follow Dr. Ingrid Waldron:

Related Resources:

Michael has developed a love for the world through many years of exploring Mother Earth’s beauty, respecting her gifts, and interacting with cultures across the globe. Hailing from the Southwest, Michael’s family is from both the Navajo reservation in northeast Arizona and also northern Colorado. Michael identifies as Dine’ or Navajo and describes himself as an “Urban Indian”, Michael spent all his vacations on the reservation with his grandmother, aunts, and other close family members. This changed after he graduated high school.

Out of high school, Michael moved to Ithaca, New York to attend Cornell University, studying chemical engineering with a minor in music. At Cornell, he developed a strong sense of his own cultural identity, a passion for serving underrepresented students in the STEM fields, and began questioning how sustainability issues affect different communities. Currently, Michael is a chemical engineering Ph.D. student at The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH.

Indigenous Culture and the Environmental Movement

As Michael progressed through his PhD, he began to question what his role was in giving back to his community. With a desire to use his education to help his community and future generations of indigenous youth, the Standing Rock protest was a pivotal moment in time. Although the movement was uplifted and greatly supported by environmental NGOs all over the nation, the conversation was derailed from a focus on Native American injustices to the war between oil and renewable energy. Michael encourages these protests to “highlight the humanity” of a movement, so the voices who are being directly affected can have the loudest say.

According to the World Wildlife Foundation, areas managed by indigenous peoples and local communities hold as much as 80% of the Earth's biodiversity. Further, recent studies have shown that when the rights of indigenous communities to their land and natural resources are respected, deforestation rates are lower and that local participation in conservation management can improve biodiversity outcomes. It is essential to protect human rights and in turn, indigenous communities can continue to protect the environment.

Inclusion of Indigenous Culture

Indigenous communities are often left out of large scale decision making processes. Although the United Nations has a Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the inclusion of indigenous voices across all UN Conventions is scarce. Very few indigenous individuals represent the voices of hundreds of millions of indigenous peoples from communities across the globe. At the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the indigenous representatives have the difficult task of bringing voices and specific issues from different geographic regions to the broader convention as one global indigenous voice, diluting the many sovereign indigenous identities and experiences.

Other Topics

A wonderful discussion is had this week with Michael, with topics ranging from the indigenous youth environmental movement, to the importance of carrying the ancestral torch, to how to guide a movement based on change, and so much more. We will leave you with a prophecy Michael shared with us from a Dené Elder of the first nations people of Canada:

“We’ve expected people to come and our ancestors have known, ‘the white man’ will basically come and take. They’ll be looking for gold and oil and they’ll get it. Time will pass and we expect them to come back again, looking for food and water… and we will be happy to welcome them back.”

Follow Michael T. Charles:

Related Resources:

Jack Shu worked for California State Parks for 29 years, mostly as a Park Superintendent. With a great deal of time spent in the Office of Community Involvement, a unique section called Urban Services gave him insight into the value of outdoor recreation and education.

“The kind of recreation, like hiking and backpacking, was just one part of the bigger picture of what recreation could provide. It was important for me to learn that and to realize that wilderness and outdoor recreation and the benefits of that, are individualized. Some people will get more out of playing team sports, some people will find wilderness in their backyard; you don’t have to necessarily go out to the middle of the Sierras or the Rocky Mountains to get to experience and receive the benefits of outdoor recreation.”

Measuring the Effectiveness of Recreational Facilities

To measure how effective an outdoor facility is, the “output” is in conjunction with the “outcome”. Output describes the amount of use that is observed, comparing things such as two playgrounds of the same age, one with worn in equipment, and in pristine condition but rarely utilized, and determining which has more community value.

Outcome is the metric through which community value is determined, which includes things such as how one feels after spending time there, and if there have been community improvements, such as less crime, in the time since it has been constructed.

Creating Increased Accessibility and Inclusion

With a focus on park service accessibility, Jack also emphasizes the importance of inclusion in the parks system. Based on his experiences Jack found that interaction with outdoor recreational facilities is often influenced by lack of security and cultural attitudes that don’t encourage outdoor activity:

“Culturally we think that to get a better grade or to do better in testing we need to stick kids in classrooms and force information down into them, like force feeding. We know that’s not true, we know as educators for a long time that it may be effective in some respect, but in other countries whether you go to Finland or even Japan, they still value independent thinking as well as being outside and playing.”

Lack of inability to interact with the outdoors particularly impacts underprivileged individuals from communities of color. Lack of understanding, information and accessibility to resources and tools on how to plan a trip really limits access opportunities to visit a state or national park. This often results in exclusion of lower income communities and perpetuates the stereotype that people of color do not enjoy outdoor recreation.

Instead of asking how we can incorporate more people of color into the parks, Jack recommends asking park systems can have less barrier to entry and be more relevant and community centric. For example, creating reservation systems that are easy to understand and navigable is one such way to create opportunities of increased accessibility and interaction for individuals from all walks of life. Jack explains that the current reservation system is restrictive:

“We rely on various mechanisms to reserve campgrounds and campsites and to say that these systems are equitable in any way would be completely false; they’re simply not. You have to have a lot of information about how these reservation systems work, plan in advance, have the ability to plan in advance, have vacation in advance, have everything set up so you can make that reservation and get that campsite and then have everything fall in place, have notifications worked out. Very few people in our society have the ability to do that, particularly if you’re below medium income or if you’re poor; you don't have the ability to do all these things. And that’s why in many ways those systems are selective in who can have access.”

As a solution to creating accessibility, Jack created outdoor education programs that catered to various groups from young women to low-income families. Jack and his team worked with nonprofits that were seeking to empower marginalized individuals through outdoor camping trips, called FamCamp. These are found in most areas of the US, and take kids and their families into regional wilderness areas to teach them the ropes of camping, many for the first time in their lives.

Jack also conducts cultural excursions. Through The Sing Peak Pilgrimage, Jack is able to take people through Yosemite National Park annually, on a three day hike, to teach them not just about the park and camping knowledge, but about the Chinese contribution to the park that is often overlooked in history books.

Other Topics

A wide range of topics are covered this week with Jack Shu on Breaking Green Ceilings. From institutional racism, to bridging language gaps, to the cultural assimilation model versus diversity approach, to the Chinese contributions in National Parks, this week's episode is one you won’t want to miss!

Related Resources:

Raya Salter is an attorney, educator and clean energy law/policy expert, focusing on climate justice. She is a member of the New York State Climate Action Council, which is developing NY’s plan to reach the nation’s leading climate action goals, and a policy organizer with the NY Renews environmental and climate justice coalition.

Raya is an experienced advocate, having practiced energy law and regulation in multiple jurisdictions, including New York and Hawaii. In prior roles she was a Senior Attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council and a Regulatory Attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund. She has written widely on energy policy and her book, "Energy Justice, Domestic and International Perspectives" was released in 2018.

Because of climate change, Urban Heat Islands - areas significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas due to human activities - are becoming more and more apparent, from places such as New York City to Hawaii. Statistically, these are more likely to affect low income, communities of color. Raya discusses the importance of not just reducing fossil fuel usage to combat climate change, but by also cultivating resilience in our communities, especially those of lower income. It will not be enough to simply lower emissions at this point,

“We have to be investing in communities and local power systems that will be resilient in the impacts of climate change as we seek to shift the playing field, also economically for those same communities.”

With a focus on clean energy and resilience, Raya emphasizes the importance of bringing communities and power systems together to create a more equitable, long lasting, and sustainable energy system, where people have influence over how local and large scale decisions are made. By implementing community involvement through things such as co-ownership, Raya makes it clear that this is a shift that is not only possible, but essential.

The Real Work

There are many ways individuals can contribute to positive change but at the top of that list, for Raya, is “decolonizing yourself,” the act of restructuring a perspective, and in turn society, to support all communities and put forth the needs of all citizens, equitably. This means to be responsive to the particular needs of each community, particularly the disenfranchised. Resulting in the space for people of color to rise up and take action in the decision making process, shifting the narrative from a white centered movement, to an inclusive, multicultural action.

“Sometimes, you may feel like you’re being tokenized, but you have to stand in your power
and stand in the room and bring your worth to bare at the table, and take what you need from
the situation as well.”

This interview is packed wall-to-wall with topics ranging from the Civil Rights Movement, to the importance of grounding ourselves in local movements, to what Raya wished she knew before she began on her journey through environmentalism, and so much more. Tune in this week for a fascinating look into the life of Raya Salter on Breaking Green Ceilings!

As a woman of color in working in the environmental sector, Bushman noticed that she was often the only one of her kind in the room and that other white American peers would look to her to lead the charge in diversity. Eventually she was able to find her voice and her place to make a difference, through educating organizations on the importance of inclusivity, and the cultivation of genuine diversity in the environmental movement.

EcoInclusion provides resources for environmental organizations to diversify their staff and incorporate people of color and their perspectives into the decision making process through inclusion workshops, staff training, and more. Through EcoInclusion, Bushman encourages companies to go beyond the talking phase of diversity implementation and empowers them to make the necessary changes to create real change.

EarthKween is another inclusivity project with Bushman’s involvement. Kween stands for: Keep Widening the Environmental Engagement Narrative, and pushes for more representation in environmental imagery. By addressing the unconscious bias produced by white-dominant depictions of environmentalists, space opens for other members of society to join in the conversation.

Bushman answers this question by presenting some well supported statistics on the changing demographics:

By the year 2023, the generation of people 18 and younger, is predicted to be 50%
people of color.

By the year 2050, the United States will be over 50% people of color.

For environmental organizations to stay relevant in the upcoming decades, they must have wider reach and incorporate the voices of the people who will make up the majority of the country in the foreseeable future. With people of color establishing their own grassroots organizations, more inclusive spaces are being cultivated, are impacting more and more communities.

We discuss so much with Parker, from why changing the default “nude” setting on things such as make up and band aids away from white tones is important, to the Aztecs and their connections to invertebrates, to how heritage increases an individuals’ perception of something, and so much more. Tune in for an incredibly interesting conversation this week on Breaking Green Ceilings!

Parker McMullen Bushman is the VP of Programs and Interpretation for Butterfly Pavilion. Parker’s background in the education, outdoor recreation and interpretive fields spans over 22 years. Parker’s interest in diversity, equity and inclusion issues developed from her personal experience. Parker has a passion for equity and inclusion in conservation and the outdoors. Her interest in justice, accessibility, and equity issues developed from her personal experiences facing the unequal representation of people of color in nonprofit and environmental organizations. She has a Master of Natural Resources from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, with a focus in Environmental Education and Interpretation.

Why does once Marine Biologist, Dr. Francisco "Paco" Ollervides, transition from researching the impacts of boat noise on gray whale behavior, to become an Executive Director of Green Leadership Trust?

The relationship I had with everyday people while I was collecting this info, the fisherman, the boat captains, and so I saw I was more interested in relating to the everyday person and sharing our knowledge of what we were learning about the whales, instead of writing papers and scientific journals with my findings.

Often times, scientific research is highly technical and requires high subscription costs which limits the audience and level of impact. Additionally, scientific research tends not to be communicated and shared effectively with the general public, particularly in communities of color.

Seeing an issue with this separation, Dr. Ollervides chose to create his own nonprofit that focused on community-based conservation and his research interest in whale population and habitat conservation in Mexico. Later, Dr. Ollervides found opportunities to work in various nonprofit organizations providing strategic planning, fundraising, board development and succession planning.

Recently, Ollervides joined the Green Leadership Trust as their interim Executive Director to cultivate best practices in building diverse environmental nonprofit boards. He leads capacity building and development support to people of color and indigenous people serving boards of environmental groups across the country.

In Green Leadership Trusts’ 2016 census they found that out of 763 board members among the Green Group organizations, 88 of those members are people of color and indigenous people serving on those boards. The Trust also found that “while there have been lots of changes to boards since 2015, Green Leadership Trust efforts have catalyzed the trend toward greater inclusivity and an increase of 27  people of color and indigenous people.”

With only 4.6% of board members being minorities, Dr. Ollervides and the Green Leadership Trust network:

In this episode, we discuss research on grey whales, the full transition to non-profit work, helpful advice for budding environmentalists, the importance of diversity in the workplace, and even more with Dr. Ollervides!

About Dr. Paco Ollervides:

Francisco “Paco” Ollervides was born and raised in Mexico. For over 18 years, Paco has enjoyed helping nonprofit organizations think and act strategically by improving their efficiency and efficacy. He joined Green Leadership Trust as interim Executive Director in May 2019. He focuses his work on building power in the environmental arena. He leads capacity building and development support to people of color and indigenous people serving boards of environmental groups across the country. Paco’s main interest is to strengthen these leaders to ensure organizations’ continuity and success. Paco holds both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences Department at Texas A&M University.

Relevant Resources:

Fred Tutman wanted to make a difference in the world and working in media for over three decades didn’t often feel like he was. He finally found his calling as the Patuxent Riverkeeper - a grassroots movement dedicated to empowering local communities in the watershed with knowledge and tools to protect the Patuxent River in Maryland, USA.

Through his experiences as an activist and passionate voice for the protection of the Patuxent River, Fred shares an overarching theme he has observed in his journey; people of color who are mostly involved in grassroots movements are invisible to white people [who run mainstream environmental groups].

Tutman says that the lack of diversity and inclusion is pervasive in all industries. However, the environmental movement tends to be defensive about diversity, because they are largely run by upper-middle class white individuals; whose messages also play to the same demographic as they are the base of support in terms of funding and volunteers. As a result, black and brown communities become an afterthought in the movement.

Furthermore, with people of color representing just around 5% of environmental board members, only 9% of grant money is distributed to communities of color. This results in an unequal distribution of environmental efforts.

Often times, environmental organizations are encouraged to “diversify” their staff by funders. This mandate proves to be ineffective as most employment opportunities for people of color tend to be dead end, low paying, tokenism positions, such as an “urban outreach coordinator”. As a result, this practice prevents people of color from moving up to positions that allow them to make contributions to environmental decisions.

“The body counting, the head counting, well… ‘X% of the workforce’, that is really not a recipe for inclusion, it really is a recipe for head counting, which is anything but inclusion.”

In this episode, Tutman also shares how mainstream environmental organizations reliance on funding from foundations and companies results in movements fizzling away the moment the money runs out.

Grassroots organizations tend to have more staying power because the local community is involved, decides what is important to them, and allows space for the voices of people of color to be heard, resulting in real change.

As a principle Tutman is very careful about who he accepts donations from in order to keep his cause purely representative of the interests of the community and environment:

“I think we have to be able to articulate that we’re fighting to change the economic system however we can, or at least the economic incentives as much as we’re trying to save the environment, because they are related problems.”

The importance of not accepting funds with inequitable strings attached to it, how an environmentalist can make a financial living, the most effective and inclusive ways to cultivate environmental movements, and so much more is discussed with Fred Tutman, this week on Breaking Green Ceilings.

About Fred Tutman:

Fred Tutman is the Patuxent Riverkeeper, one of a global network of 343 people who advocate for individual rivers. He’s also the nation’s only African-American Riverkeeper. Fred was born and raised along the Patuxent River as were seven generations of his ancestors before him. Prior to founding Patuxent Riverkeeper in 2004, Fred operated a business that provided professional media and mass communication services internationally. Fred also worked as volunteer activist on the Patuxent for over 20 years until the momentum of the volunteer environmental work overcame his 27 years in media and the challenge of Riverkeeping beckoned. Fred is an adjunct instructor at historic St. Mary's College of Maryland, where he teaches an upper level course in Environmental Law and Policy.

Follow Fred Tutman:

Patuxent Riverkeeper

Fred Tutman

Resources:

Why Billionaires Won’t Save Us | Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj | Netflix

When asked what advice she has on being a woman of color in a predominantly white business environment, environmental consultant and CEO of her own water consultation firm, Stacey Isaac Berahzer answered:

“I like to say that sometimes it's good to not notice that you're a woman, or of color, and pretend that it is not there. The room may be mainly Caucasian, or male, or people older than you, but I think there is an advantage sometimes to pushing all of that to the back of your mind and pretend it’s a level playing field.”

With 14 million households struggling to pay their water bills nationwide, Berahzer focuses on the importance of water equity and affordability. Prioritizing “color of water”, rising water rates are most likely to impact communities of color. Over two million Americans do not have access to clean running water, with black, indigenous and people of color making up the majority of those communities. For example, Native Americans are 19 times more likely to lack indoor plumbing, putting them in the worst spot of any group, and African-American and Latinx households lack indoor plumbing at almost twice the rate of white households.

Should utility companies be more empathic and aware of the needs of their customer base? This would be a helpful step in bridging the gap of water inequity, but it is a fairly complicated matter. With the existence of both small and large utility companies that operate differently, it is not as simple as streamlining a “one size fits all” solution approach.

In this episode, we dive into the realm of an environmental water consultant and learn some of the ins and outs of the water affordability crisis, why might someone want to own their own consulting firm, necessary skills to make it in the professional world, and so much more.

In terms of favorite quotes, Berahzer likes this witty one by the Founder of CNN, and environmental philanthropist, Ted Turner.

If I only had a little humility, I'd be perfect.

While funny, it captures the important truth that some ideals are almost unattainable, but are still worth the constant pursuit. One person may not change the world single-handedly, but many people setting aside their differences and working together can bring about real systemic changes Berahzer maintains a hopeful spirit regarding environmentalism.

Follow Stacey Isaac Berahzer:

Related Resources:

Sacred Forests are Dr. Ormsby’s research focus, with publications linked below. These Forests are found in many cultures across the world, serving various purposes, spiritual and otherwise, and tend to be locations for shrines, meditation, and other ritualistic matters; One example being female circumcision, also described as female genital mutilation. Practiced in various African, Asian, and Middle Eastern cultures, this usually serves as a right of passage into adulthood, but is being recognized as a debate of human rights.

As the local communities typically oversee the forests and their maintenance, it becomes a uniquely protected, community driven, conservation space. Government involvement in these areas may threaten the amount of power the communities have over these Sacred Forests, which they have occupied for generations, but may also give space for women of these communities to obtain more bodily autonomy.

Dr. Ormsby is a mentor to many. Among offering her insight to the importance of mentorship, Ormsby presents a great deal of knowledge on building a professional career in the environmental sector, and has helped many of her current and former students gain hands-on experience, internships, and job opportunities. Always hopeful for the future, Ormsby has a way of encouraging the people around her to reach their highest potential.

About Dr. Alison Ormsby:

Dr. Alison Ormsby teaches Environmental Studies at the University of North Carolina Asheville and is a graduate mentor in Environmental Studies at Prescott College. She is a human ecologist with 25 years of experience working with people and protected areas, environmental education, and sacred natural sites. She has conducted research at sacred forests in Ghana, India, and Sierra Leone and at parks in Madagascar and Belize.  She is a member of the IUCN’s Specialist Group for Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas, and has numerous publications about her work, including in the books Asian Sacred Natural Sites, Philosophy and Practice in Protected Areas and Conservation (2016) among others.

Resources:

With an emphasis on race inclusivity and environmental education in this episode, Dr. Olivia Aguilar is interviewed about her research and personal experiences in the field of environmental academia as a woman of color. Powerful insight is shared between these women as they tackle the topic of mentors, stereotypes, research, and advice.

Growing up with little guidance on navigating college, Aguilar had to carve her own path into the world of academia, where people of color often face a multitude of stereotypes and discrimination. For example, professors of color, specifically women, endure much harsher criticisms in academia than their cohorts, through things such as student evaluations.

Another stereotype often referenced is that people of color spend less time, and therefore have less enjoyment of nature and the outdoors, which Aguilar has a particular interest in dismantling.  Through the importance of supportive peers and mentors, Aguilar persisted through the politics of academia and secured tenure at Denison University.

At Denison she was able to dive into the depths of the research she always wanted to conduct: critically examining the idea that people of color do not enjoy spending time in nature. Inspired by black feminist literature, such as the works of Carolyn Finney, and LatinX methodologies of pursuing research, Aguilar is obtaining oral histories of minority communities as a way of reframing how we define an environmentalist; Igniting the conversation that people of color do, in fact, enjoy spending time outdoors and care about the environment.

Incredibly insightful advice is shared within this powerful conversation, from the stresses of acquiring tenure and navigating the politics of academia, to the nature of student evaluations, to the financial sacrifice of committing to the cause of environmentalism. With the take home message of

“Stay true to yourself and your journey,”

it becomes apparent that the field of environmental science is making a transition into a more diverse, inclusive, and essential cornerstone career and life path.

About Dr. Olivia Aguilar:

Dr. Olivia Aguilar was recently announced as the new Leslie and Sarah Miller Director of the Miller Worley Center for the Environment and an associate professor of environmental studies. completed her B.S. and M.S. in horticulture science at Texas A&M University where she studied children’s gardens and their effect on youth environmental attitudes. After teaching in public schools, she received her doctorate in natural resources at Cornell University, studying environmental education. She received a Consortium for Faculty Diversity fellowship to teach at Denison University in its McPhail Center for Environmental Studies. There, she taught the core courses for environmental studies, including courses in sustainable agriculture and environmental education.

Resources: