Reflections: Women and POC in the Environmental Movement
Climate Justice, Digital Activism, and Gender, Prof. Frances Roberts-Gregory
By Cormac Madden, 2/8/2019
This week's readings narrativized and contextualized the positions of women and people of color within both mainstream and grassroots environmentalism. Some readings, such as Peggy Franklin's Women Pioneers of the Louisiana Environmental Movement and Beyond Nature's Housekeepers by Nancy Unger, tell specific stories about the women in environmental movements, detailing the myriad ways in which female activists fight environmental injustices and highlighting the stigmas and prejudices that they face. "Gender and Environmental Justice in Louisiana" by Hilda Kurtz also focuses on a specific story of women activists in the struggle for environmental justice, using the experiences of a group of women from St. James Parish to support a broader exploration of the roles of gender, race and class in the environmental justice movement. In doing so, she tells a narrative that fits squarely within the fourth era presented in Dorceta Taylor's "American Environmentalism," an article in which Taylor explores how different genders, races, and classes were affected in distinct eras of the American environmentalism movement. Taylor is also the author of "The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations," which highlights the disparity between claims of attempts to improve diversity within mainstream environmental organizations and the disproportionate whiteness of these organizations in reality. This lack of diversity was tackled decades before Taylor's report by the Southwest Organizing Project's "Letter to the Big 10," which argues that mainstream organizations should not prescribe or interfere in communities of color or other marginalized peoples if their organization does not reflect the demographics of those communities. As a whole, this week's readings reveal the complex reality that is diversity and inclusion within the US Environmental Movement.
The readings that were most evocative for me were the oral histories in Peggy Franklin's Women Pioneers of the Louisiana Environmental Movement and the attacks against the activists detailed in Hilda Kurtz's "Gender and Environmental Justice in Louisiana." One element common to both readings which interested me was the repeated affirmation by these environmental activists that, apart from their environmental activism, they often did not consider themselves to be the activist type. Regardless, these Southern women often fought bravely in the face of incredible discrimination and prejudice. Kurtz (2007) highlights repeated sexist and racist attacks against the activists of St. James Parish, remarks that were often masked through discrediting them for their lack of scientific training. While not surprising, these attacks from state and industry officials were upsetting and disgusting. Franklin (2013) tells empowering stories of other women, who, like the women of St. James Parish, pushed through this prejudice to achieve real success in the environmental movement. Marylee Orr, for example, pushed through sexism to establish LEAN, while Wilma Subra's compendium of support for environmental activists across the nation is truly incredible. I found these stories to be incredibly uplifting and loved the way in which they were presented.
Key Terms
"The Big 10": Term that refers to the ten largest environmental groups in the U.S. These groups, per Taylor (2014) and Southwest Organizing Project (1990) underrepresent and hire a disproportionately small number of people of color and other marginalized group, and their leadership is often made up of white men.
New Environmental Paradigm: Paradigm established in the 1960s and 70s that critiqued the nuclear industry and encouraged population control, recycling, and energy initiatives, among other things (Taylor, 1997)
LEAN: The Louisiana Environmental Action Network works to support and coordinate Louisiana environmental efforts (Franklin, 2013).
References
Franklin, Peggy. 2013. Women Pioneers of the Louisiana Environmental Movement.
Southwest Organizing Project. 1990. "Letter to the Big 10."
Taylor, Dorceta. 1997. "American Environmentalism: The Role of Race, Class and Gender in Shaping Activism 1820-1995."
Taylor, Dorceta. 2014. "The State of Diversity in Environmental Activism: The Green 2.0 Report."
By Cormac Madden, 2/8/2019
This week's readings narrativized and contextualized the positions of women and people of color within both mainstream and grassroots environmentalism. Some readings, such as Peggy Franklin's Women Pioneers of the Louisiana Environmental Movement and Beyond Nature's Housekeepers by Nancy Unger, tell specific stories about the women in environmental movements, detailing the myriad ways in which female activists fight environmental injustices and highlighting the stigmas and prejudices that they face. "Gender and Environmental Justice in Louisiana" by Hilda Kurtz also focuses on a specific story of women activists in the struggle for environmental justice, using the experiences of a group of women from St. James Parish to support a broader exploration of the roles of gender, race and class in the environmental justice movement. In doing so, she tells a narrative that fits squarely within the fourth era presented in Dorceta Taylor's "American Environmentalism," an article in which Taylor explores how different genders, races, and classes were affected in distinct eras of the American environmentalism movement. Taylor is also the author of "The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations," which highlights the disparity between claims of attempts to improve diversity within mainstream environmental organizations and the disproportionate whiteness of these organizations in reality. This lack of diversity was tackled decades before Taylor's report by the Southwest Organizing Project's "Letter to the Big 10," which argues that mainstream organizations should not prescribe or interfere in communities of color or other marginalized peoples if their organization does not reflect the demographics of those communities. As a whole, this week's readings reveal the complex reality that is diversity and inclusion within the US Environmental Movement.
The readings that were most evocative for me were the oral histories in Peggy Franklin's Women Pioneers of the Louisiana Environmental Movement and the attacks against the activists detailed in Hilda Kurtz's "Gender and Environmental Justice in Louisiana." One element common to both readings which interested me was the repeated affirmation by these environmental activists that, apart from their environmental activism, they often did not consider themselves to be the activist type. Regardless, these Southern women often fought bravely in the face of incredible discrimination and prejudice. Kurtz (2007) highlights repeated sexist and racist attacks against the activists of St. James Parish, remarks that were often masked through discrediting them for their lack of scientific training. While not surprising, these attacks from state and industry officials were upsetting and disgusting. Franklin (2013) tells empowering stories of other women, who, like the women of St. James Parish, pushed through this prejudice to achieve real success in the environmental movement. Marylee Orr, for example, pushed through sexism to establish LEAN, while Wilma Subra's compendium of support for environmental activists across the nation is truly incredible. I found these stories to be incredibly uplifting and loved the way in which they were presented.
Key Terms
"The Big 10": Term that refers to the ten largest environmental groups in the U.S. These groups, per Taylor (2014) and Southwest Organizing Project (1990) underrepresent and hire a disproportionately small number of people of color and other marginalized group, and their leadership is often made up of white men.
New Environmental Paradigm: Paradigm established in the 1960s and 70s that critiqued the nuclear industry and encouraged population control, recycling, and energy initiatives, among other things (Taylor, 1997)
LEAN: The Louisiana Environmental Action Network works to support and coordinate Louisiana environmental efforts (Franklin, 2013).
References
Franklin, Peggy. 2013. Women Pioneers of the Louisiana Environmental Movement.
Southwest Organizing Project. 1990. "Letter to the Big 10."
Taylor, Dorceta. 1997. "American Environmentalism: The Role of Race, Class and Gender in Shaping Activism 1820-1995."
Taylor, Dorceta. 2014. "The State of Diversity in Environmental Activism: The Green 2.0 Report."
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