Who are you and why should I care?
Hello! I'm Charlotte, I'm a 19 year old college student at Rhode Island College. I'm a writer, organizer, and activist.
Of all those identities I have listed, I'm going to briefly explain each one, to further introduce myself. It took me forever to get around calling myself a writer. Actually, it wasn't until this summer I started calling myself a writer. I took a class that really focused on writing as an everyday practice--something we do naturally, sometimes even tacitly--that opened my eyes and redefined "writer." My writing consists of blogging, thought pieces in response to what is going on in today's culture, many many many school assignments, and poetry.
My organizing and activism stems from who I am: again, I'm a college student and a woman and a Black woman at that, so I know how it feels to be silenced and marginalized. My organizing and activism is about creating safe spaces where all people are heard, especially the marginalized, and how we can get our message across to those trying to push us farther in the margins. I'll be touching on that more throughout these blog posts.
Okay, but what has that got to do with sustainability?
Patience, my friend!
We all go through phases right? The sporty phase, the I want to be a doctor/lawyer/astronaut phase, the goth phase (I have buried all memory of my goth phase in a deep, deep crevice of my mind. I'm shuddering thinking about it.) Among all those phases, my longest phase was the environmentalist phase.
I know what you are thinking! How is that a phase and why have you stopped? I know, I'm awful now. But when I was younger, I was so into the environment. Picking up litter everywhere I would see it, urging my parents to get new light bulbs, showering in the dark (I know. I was a weird kid. Maybe that was a combination of my environmentalist phase and my goth phase?), being mindful of food waste and never, ever wasting food, pledging and becoming a NRDC (National Resources Defense Council) member, and so on and so on.
I know what you're thinking, again (I'm also a mind-reader): Why did I stop? I ask myself this question a lot. To be honest, I felt myself stop. I felt myself stop caring as much as I used to. I stopped caring and moved on to topics that affected me personally, in my face and community daily. So I moved on to social justice issues like combating racism, sexism, homophobia, poverty, police brutality, and the those intersections.
Until I got to this class, Writing for Digital Media, until I was re-introduced to sustainability, I realized how stupid it was for me to abandon my passion for the environment when all of those things I fight for has got to do with the environment as well.
You talk too much, tell me what the blog is about.
This blog will be focusing on the intersection of social justice and the environment. I will be focusing on environmental racism and injustice and exclusion, and what those terms mean, where it happens, and the movements that go against them.
I'm doing this because a huge portion of my life is devoted to activism and organizing through a lens of social justice. My work, including my writing, strives to bring topics of inequality to light.
When I think about the environment, it's so much more than keeping parks clean and recycling; it's about taking care of our planet for something or someone else, and mostly, each other. If people's environments are being destroyed because they live below the poverty line, or they live in a place still suffering from colonization, or anything like that, I feel like as environmentalists, and even just as people, we need to care and speak up about it. Just because it may not be happening to us does not mean it doesn't matter.
I want to leave you with this video. It's from TedxProvidence 2012, and it Laura Brown-Lavoie, an urban farmer, activist, and poet in Providence. A lot of Laura's work is centered around the environment, particularly farming, and speaking up about the injustices and inequalities that surround urban farming.
She's also a dear friend of mine and I asked her to be one of the subscribers to this blog. Ooops. Hi Laura!
"Your history is growing on every salad leave."
Ha, I liked the whole conversation thing you have going between the reader and you. I also liked the imagery of your post title, "giving voice to our soil." It's also good that we have a mind reader on the environmental side of things. Overall, I enjoyed reading this and say it's a solid introduction. Can't wait to read more in the future. And, I'd like to add: Definitely wanted to be a astronaut as a kid.
ReplyDeleteI really like this post! You are actually the first person to ever help me realize about the seriousness of environmental racism. Your passion for the earth and equality for all is very compelling and I really cannot wait to hear about information you have found about this subject. If I have not heard of it until then, I'm sure a bunch of other people have not as well! Keep it up! Educate the world!
ReplyDeleteHey! I enjoyed reading your post. Learning about other ways in which we can help is always good and I also got to learn about you and your interests. I like learning about the people I read thing from because I can begin to see their reasons and passion for the things they write. Helping and reaching out to others who are in worse conditions is something that definitely has to be addressed. Also, a thumbs up to your friend Laura, I really enjoyed listening to her poem. Lastly, "the gothic/emo phase" is something we probably all went through and just try to hide it.. haha. I still remember the black eyeliner days.
ReplyDeleteCan I just say-- Laura's poem hit me hard. It was beautiful and brutal in the strength of its truths and I love how you've taken up with another kind of hard truth dealing with sustainability.
ReplyDeleteNot many people consider racism to hold sway over the environment. They seem like two entirely separate entities but they're both united by one factor: us.
I've been raised with Buddhist ideals and so I've always believed in being aware of my every thought and action but most especially, to seek wisdom and knowledge to build a strong morality. To develop peace and love for ourselves and each other.
I strongly believe every person deserves the right to an equal share of comfort and safety in where and how they live and your passion for equality will surely be the driving force in making that possible.
I look forward to reading more from your blog!
Laura's poem was beautiful! It was striking to hear such a strange perspective, from something we normally wouldn't think about. The soil having a voice? It's new, and it makes an impact. I never really realized how broad the topic of environmental racism really is, stretching from poorer communities all the way to urban farming and communities of color. I'm excited to read more about this in your blog!
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