If you are a minority in the environmental field, you are a badass
/Discussions and reflections on safe green and blue spaces, and their importance for minority communities through the eyes of our staff — synthesized by Billion Oyster Project crew member, Natalia Cano.
Preface
In November of 2021, Billion Oyster Project began its commitment to create safe spaces for all and encouraged others to join them by adopting the Safe Space Commitment into the fabric of our operations, partners, and organizational ethos. We envision a future in which New York Harbor is the center of a rich, diverse, and abundant estuary — one in which the communities that surround this complex ecosystem have helped construct it, and in return benefit from it, with endless opportunities for work, education, and recreation. This vision is impossible if we are not active in acknowledging, condemning, and working to fight against the systemic racism, white privilege, and supremacy that exists in our city.
The Safe Space Commitment, created in collaboration with Hudson River Foundation and other local environmental non-profits, is our official acknowledgement that people of color have less access to and are less likely to feel welcome in green and blue spaces, and our commitment to making the Harbor universally accessible to the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), Asian and Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) communities.
Creating safe spaces allows individuals to freely embrace every part of who they are and increases the opportunity for diverse perspectives and ideas to flourish in previously limited spaces. One year later, with another field season under our belt, Billion Oyster Project’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee and staff reviewed Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s article “I’m a black climate expert. Racism derails our efforts to save the planet.” to discuss and reflect on its relevance to individual and collective experiences in our field.
In this overview, we’d like to highlight the voices of our collective in these discussions. Below is the discussion summary, synthesized in the writing of Billion Oyster Project crew member, Natalia Cano.
If you are a minority in the environmental field,
you are a badass.
by Natalia Cano
Being a person of color in today’s society means facing constant roadblocks and distractions that can often set us back in our work and everyday lives. It becomes painfully difficult to move forward when we are forced to constantly think of our very survival.
Once the Black Lives Matter movement was broadcasted for all of the world to see, society could no longer turn away from the truth: our system is saturated with biases that lead to irreparable consequences. The accumulated exhaustion takes its toll on our aspiring black astronomers, environmentalists, and artists. We see this same vicious cycle of oppression in low-income communities who feel the consequences of the Climate Crisis, first hand. Forced to focus on their survival, the time to fight injustices escapes them.
Our staff felt that the reduction of a community’s ability to combat this injustice allows others to manipulate both the community’s health and their resources. With contaminated water supplies and reduced air quality, generations become subject to health issues and reduced life spans. As a nonprofit that actively works with the community, we have noticed that these recurring themes prevent people from pursuing passion-driven activities, such as volunteering their time. This pattern seems to play a critical role in the lack of diversity in environmental fields and activism. Without people of color in the environmental space, how will we solve the Climate Crisis? When will the real stories of its effects be heard?
As Dr. Elizabeth Johnson states in ‘I’m a black climate expert. Racism derails our efforts to save the planet.’, “If we want to successfully address climate change, we need people of color”
Unfortunately, many of us have personally felt the stigma around environmental and sustainability careers being unworthy to pursue. This can sometimes stem from a history of climate denial and a lack of funding for environmental initiatives. When students begin to consider what they want to study in college, financial stability is often the main driving factor, dissuading many from entering fields they are truly passionate about. It is important to recognize the privilege of choice in passion over necessity. Torn between survival and following our passions; that is what it is like to be a minority in America - the ones who have to make sacrifices, all in the hopes of leaving poverty. While some of us have struggled in the pursuit of environmental careers, climate activism became a symbol of status among the wealthy.
We often see that individuals with the social capital to move the needle are not directly impacted by the Climate Crisis. When you are privileged enough to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and do not have to worry about natural disasters leaving you with nothing but the clothes on your back, it is very easy to turn a blind eye and/or refuse to accept that systemic racism plays a very real role in minorities' everyday lives. Until these individuals experience climate adversities directly, the lives of minorities and the state of our planet will fail to be prioritized. Diversity in the climate space is key to finding and tackling the root cause of climate issues. Our environment is interconnected, with one ecosystem dependent on the next. What we choose to ignore a world away will surely one day catch up to us. We need to hear from people everywhere, experiencing climate change in such distinctly different ways. Someone who lives in a top floor studio in New York City will not experience climate change the same way the family living in the basement does. Flood waters become more than an inconvenience, they become life threatening.
Where Billon Oyster Project comes in to join the fight
Billion Oyster Project has been the bridge connecting restoration and education since 2014. Students all across New York City are given access to their largest natural resource through the lens of oyster restoration and experience at the waterfront - many of them interacting with a marine ecosystem for the first time. Working alongside the Urban Assembly New York Harbor school, where students are entrusted with real-world applications and responsibilities integrated into their curriculum, Billion Oyster Project offers paid internships to pursue their chosen fields outside of school. This allows students to gain valuable experience they might have previously turned away due to finances. The unfortunate truth is that unpaid internships close the door on low-income communities and have been normalized for far too long. Additionally, granting greater access to environmental education is just one part of creating opportunity for diversity in the environmental space. We must achieve pay equity across the professional environmental community and continue to advocate for better salaries and benefits to see responsive change.
In our own efforts to address the accessibility of our work, Billion Oyster Project prioritizes the protection and safety of those who have chosen to dedicate their passion, expertise, and energy to our mission. We want to encourage everyone to immerse themselves in field experiences, let down their guard, and spark creativity. This is a small but important part of our mission as an anti-racist organization to foster a professional environment where injustice is properly discussed, addressed, and more are welcome to join the fight for our natural world and the communities that surround them.
Hurdle after hurdle, people of color are prevailing in the climate industry. We will no longer stay silent, there is simply too much at stake.
To finish off: if you are a minority in the environmental field, you are a badass. Thank you for giving your time and expertise to caring for our greatest natural resources.
Natalia Cano is the Assistant to the Executive Director at Billion Oyster Project, a graduate of Purdue University’s Global Environmental Policy and Management program, and a current masters student in Environmental Science. She is also a proud mom, motivated by the connection between education and conservation for the health of future generations.