10/07/2020
For ORP’s very first ~Educational Wednesday~ we are going to start at the foundation of environmental justice with a concept known as “Intersectional Environmentalism”. The term “intersectionality” was coined in 1989 by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, a law professor at Columbia and UCLA. Her theory highlights the overlapping nature of social realities and identities; everyone’s experience of the world is never just determined by one identity, but by the convergence of all of one’s identities.
Intersectionality in environmental justice means that we acknowledge that peoples’ social locations change their relationship with the earth and determine the ways in which and the intensity at which they will be affected by climate change. For example, in a practice known as redlining, certain neighborhoods in cities across the U.S have been deemed unworthy of investment (mostly due to their “undesirable” social demography or less than optimal environmental realities). This means that it is more likely for the BIPOC, those in poverty, those who are disabled, etc. who live in these “undesirable” areas are more often exposed to environmental toxins; this results in differential health outcomes, access to resources, and just general life chances (this is also related to another important concept you maybe know of: “environmental racism”). Someone who is living in a primarily white, wealthy suburb will be protected from these dangers.
Intersectionality also must extend to our justice efforts within outdoor recreation. Access to outdoor recreation is not equal because it is influenced by other social realities such as socio-economic status, race, ability, etc. as well as gatekeeping strategies used by those who uphold status-quo outdoor culture. We must recognize that with our current systems and in our present culture, the outdoors are not for all. Understanding intersectionality is a small but necessary step to ensure that the outdoors become more accessible to everyone.
There is certainly much more to this topic than we can cover so we tagged some great accounts that can help further educate you on this and related issues!
