- The phrase, "I can't breath!"
just means so much.
There are people who are living in environments
where they literally cannot breathe
properly because of the air quality.
We currently are living through a pandemic
that's making it even harder
for those same people to be able to literally breathe,
and then also, to be threatened
by police officers and to be killed
and not be able to breathe again.
It just needs to stop.
Hi I'm Leah Thomas
and I'm an environmental communications specialist
and a Blogger.
When you look at the data and you see
where most of the environmental injustices are happening,
You're gonna find that it's mostly not happening
in white communities.
And some instances it is,
like fracking mountain communities.
But the majority of it is happening in inner cities
or sometimes even rural black and brown communities
and indigenous communities.
COVID is highlighting those
environmental injustices even more,
because in so many communities
black and brown people live in
areas of terrible air pollution and air quality.
And children are experiencing higher rates of asthma.
It's just terrible.
I'm from St. Louis Missouri and I went to school
in Orange County.
I decided that I wanted to declare my major
as Environmental Science.
And unfortunately during that time,
that's when there was a shooting of Michael Brown.
He was an unarmed black boy who was shot multiple times
by a police officer.
And that happened about ten minutes from my house.
It was really traumatizing.
His body was laying in the street for four hours
and my sister participated in the protests.
Was tear gassed, her friends were tear gassed.
Things were burning to the ground.
And then I had to go back to school.
Had to go back to California.
But I couldn't really focus because my town back home
was literally falling apart.
And I was really coming to terms with my identity
as a black person in America.
And when I was in my classes I kept learning
about protecting nature and how healing it could be.
And I found it to be so healing for myself.
I was in Southern California.
I'm in the mountains.
I'm going to the beach.
But I just felt so bad for everyone back home
that was literally drowning
in the smoke of tear gas and fires.
And that's when I really got interested
in environmental justice.
Just wishing that people,
like the people in the community of Ferguson,
could have access to the same thing I had access to.
To be able to find healing in nature
and to have a safe environment.
I was having a lot of feelings that I wasn't understanding
because the conversations weren't going on
about intersectional environmentalism.
And when I would raise my hand and say,
"What about Flint?"
Or, "What about all these people that are living
"without access to healthy organic produce?
What about them?"
It was silenced a lot of the time.
Or it just was considered an add on or something extra.
When I was reading about advocating for public lands
and saving all these endangered species
I just kinda wish I would have had the courage
to stand up and say,
"Okay, there are all these endangered species,
"but black people are also endangered
"in this country right now,
"and that's something that's equally as important."
After witnessing everything that's been happening
this week I just felt like I really needed
to say something.
And really wanted to encourage environmentalists
that I've stood alongside in climate protests
to stand alongside me and all the black people
in America right now.
I wasn't hearing a lot about it
from the environmental community.
I was kinda disappointed.
So I made a post very specifically in this moment
to say, "Black Lives Matter."
Because sometimes people seem a little hesitant
to just say the word, "Black."
And I was just trying my hardest
to put on paper how I was feeling
about the type of environmentalism that I want to see.
And I want to see environmentalism that's inclusive
of all people.
And environmentalism that stands for black lives.
I posted it.
I thought I was going to get like fired
and that people maybe weren't
gonna be super excited about it.
But that definitely wasn't the case
and I was just really surprised in the best way
to see so many environmentalists jump on board.
So many companies and organizations
that I really look up to share that message.
And it seems like it's clicking with more people
that if environmentalism isn't inclusive
and intersectional then it doesn't really
stand for justice at all in the first place.
Intersectional environmentalism is
an inclusive version of environmentalism
because it's looking at the degredation
of both the planet and also the poor treatment
of people, and their relationship to the planet.
And I think we need to focus on people,
because when we're talking about the climate crisis,
the people who are currently facing
the harshest impacts of climate change
are people of color.
A lot of the time I'm the only black person
in some of these environmental organizations.
And I might be the only person
that's raising awareness for it.
And it's a lot easier for it to be silenced.
But if more people in the environmental movement
could be allies to these causes
I think it would be talked about even more.
And I just wish would start doing that.
It's not really about my post.
I'm really happy that people are sharing it,
but I just hope that people take the time
to really learn about everything that's happening.
And just take the time to dive in to inequity.
Everyone has a place in the environmental movement,
and in social justice movements.
Not everybody's gonna be the person that holds a megaphone,
but you can also share content online
that an environmental activist is posting.
Talk about it with your friends and family.
And find a way to get involved
because it really is gonna take all of us to solve this.
(soft music)