Soul searching a la green
Over the last few days, we've heard about the Soul of Environmentalism, a new site dedicated to reinvigorating environmental activism. The proponents launched the site to rebut some of the stuff in a long article last year called "The Death of Environmentalism."
More than anything, they seem to say struggles with race and class really matter for the environmental movement, as outlined in a recent article in Grist:
The environmental-justice movement emerged in the 1980s as a way to revitalize the grassroots activism started by the civil-rights movement. ... Twenty years later, the mainstream environmental movement has been unable to racially integrate its senior staff, not because of overt discrimination but because of differences in vision. ...
Despite its limitations, environmentalism as we know it today wasn't just the marriage of liberalism and conservation. It was committed activists, engaged in struggle and riffing on every tool they could see around them. Like Elvis, the environmental movement had soul -- and soul is one thing you can't kill.
posted by Andy Brack @ 3:26 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Mississippi integrated its environmentalist movement with an African American woman Chair of the State Chapter of the Sierra Club, Rose Johnson. Rose has been a strong spokeswoman for environmental justice issues down here and has garnered some good press.
http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200405/profile.asp
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Turkey Creek in Gulfport, MS is an historically African American community dating to emancipation that has become a focus of environmental justice. Local groups joined forces with MS Sierra Club to defeat an enormous development that would have destroyed hundreds of acres in the watershed. This effort has led the US Army Corps of Engineers to focus on solving existing chronic flooding of churches and residences in an adjacent minority community, North Gulfport. Also, this alliance has made progress towards an urban greenway project along the banks of the Turkey Creek. At least two grassroots community land trusts have been launched in these two African American communities, with support from various national sources. It is a remarkable story, with a documentary under way by Leah Mahan, who covered a neighborhood turnaroud in Holding Ground: The Rebirth of Dudley Street
http://tinyurl.com/dmfg2
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