The Black Lives Matter Movement and Environmental Justice

Roxanne Jones: I wanted to find a way to connect my environmental studies to also benefit the black lives matter movement and other racial justice movements. So that's how i got started, probably social justice first, and then environmental justice, in realizing that those things don't have to exist separately. They don't riht. It's only our sort of a strange way of thinking that has actually divided them.

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"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

- MLK (1963)

This week, we reject our flawed, siloed thinking and embrace the oneness of social justice and environmentalism as a singular, inclusive movement.

In the Summer of 2020, our guest, Leah Thomas, coined the term “Intersectional Environmentalism” with a graphic she shared to Instagram that read, “Environmentalists For Black Lives Matter” as a call out to all environmentalists to stand in solidarity with BIPOC communities that face compounding social and environmental injustices daily. The Instagram post went viral, and the pledge she introduced along with it, The IE Pledge, has reached over a million people.

And so now that it’s 2022 and counting, how can we continue to root ourselves in that moment of clarity in 2020 and hold to the truth that you don’t have to separate race or racial justice from environmental advocacy? How can we scale climate solutions while advocating for marginalized communities all the while not making excuses for extractive industries?

We’re also joined this week by special co-host Abigael Kima, a young energy expert and climate activist from Kenya .She is the producer and host of the new Hali-Hewa (Swahili for ‘Climate Change’) podcast, which will profile African activists and climate experts airing through to COP27 on themes including a just energy transition, loss and damage, youth participation in intergovernmental processes and indigenous rights.

And —- Stick around for 3-Time GRAMMY Award Winning Artist Fantastic Negrito performing a live version of his song, “Rolling Through California”!

Enjoy the show!

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Christiana + Tom’s book ‘The Future We Choose’ is available now!

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Mentioned links from the episode:

ACT: Take the Intersectional Environmentalist Pledge

LISTEN: IE’s Brand New Podcast ‘The Joy Report’

READ: MAPS (Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary)

WATCH: How Black Lives Matter and Environmental Justice Are Connected

READ: The NAP Ministry