Environmentalists for Black Lives Matter” “Social justice cannot wait,” the caption stated. “It is not an optional ‘add-on’ to environmentalism.” “It… - Leah Thomas

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. It's a point that many ecofeminists, environmental justice scholars and leaders, Indigenous rights and land sovereignty advocates, and climate politicians have argued for decades, but it hasn't been embedded deeply enough in modern environmental education.

Environmentalism was largely a white, middle- and upper-class movement that wasn’t super intersectional. Then after that, in the 80s, we see an emergence of a primarily BIPOC-led environmental justice movement that is trying to address some of the inequity in environmental policy that was really facing Black and brown communities. I think having that context would be really important because the way that it was taught to me was like, ‘there was this environmental movement and it just happened,’ but no kind of nod to the civil rights movement.

What is the impact of having large-scale environmental movements that mostly exclude the voices of the underrepresented and people of color?