Quote of the Day: Emily Enderle on Diversity in the Environmental Movement
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 09.14.07
Photo credit: chrisjfry
It is an exciting time to be a member of the environmental movement in the United States. Large events and organizations, including the Super Bowl, the Oscars and Yahoo, are becoming carbon neutral. The largest global retailer, Wal-Mart, is currently going green. Mainstream magazines, including Sports Illustrated and Vanity Fair, are featuring environmentally-focused cover stories and editions. Beyond the financial incentives and the celebrity glamour associated with being green, many previously unengaged segments of the population, including religious communities, people of color and people from different socio-economic classes, are becoming increasingly interested in participating in the movement's efforts.
Currently, however, there is a lack of diversity and inclusivity in environmental institutions and our movement. This is a systemic problem. Diversity is about strengthening the movement we are dedicated to by making it resilient and capable of adapting, regardless of what we face in the future. Widespread understanding of the values that diversity can provide is essential to enhancing our collective effort and the world, yet such understanding is still absent in far too many places."
—Emily Enderle, Framing the Discussion (2007, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies)
[Via ::SES: Science, Education & Society]
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Excellent stuff, Amy! I remember the environmental movement from the early 70s onward, and a lot of it was merely NIMBY - trying to force development or industrialization elsewhere so as to preserve pristine vistas near to home. I grew up in the Jersey suburbs, which can be pretty idyllic, but if you drive through East Orange, where my parents first settled, you see a gigantic superhighway built for suburban commuters which cuts the town in half, destroying most of its appeal. \
And of course, this less "valuable" East Orange is now populated by minorities.
Americans have to realize that an injury to the environment anywhere is an injury everywhere, and we have to improve our way of life in the aggregate, not just move it around. That's why I'm so excited about clean production. If you have a factory that emits no pollutants, you don't get polluted cities that eventually become aparteid-style ghettos. Attack the root of the problem!