resource type
White Supremacy Culture
This article offers definitions of culture, cultural racism and white supremacy culture that are helpful in understanding and clarifying the terms. For more read here.
Decolonizing Environmental Education
This is a Zine put together that can be used as a tool to begin the work of changing and decolonizing the field of environmental education. The Zine shares personal experiences of POC and Indigenous environmental educators and activists, provides links to numerous articles and resources and offers tools on how to call for systemic environmental justice. For more read here.
The stifling air of rigid radicalism
This article discusses the pitfalls of “rigid radicalism”, which is defined both as a “fixed way of being” and a “way of fixing” that views emerging movements for their flaws. The author provides a reminder that radicalism is not a fixed way of being, rather a constantly evolving creative process. For more read here.
What’s Missing From “White Fragility”
This article offers a critical look at Robin DiAngelo’s book, White Fragility and describes her experience attending one of Diangelo’s anti-racism workshops. The author discusses how the emerging field of whiteness studies acknowledges that whiteness and its power exists, but can fail to extend into more sustained antiracist action. For more read here.
When Fashion Gets Gender Wrong
This article discusses how fashion designers and clothing producers use the male body as a basis for “gender neutral” designs, making them not functionally “gender neutral” at all. The author explores this in the subset of techwear, but ties this into a broader trend to use male bodies as neutral. For more read here.
Conservation and Eugenics
This article provides an in-depth look at how eugenic thought was intertwined with the conservation movement and political leaders of the early 20th century, such as Theodore Roosevelt. The author seeks to understand this history and demonstrate how it affects contemporary environmentalism, such as through anti-immigration sentiments and concerns about curbing over-population. For more read here.
Environmentalism’s Racist History
This article in the New Yorker discusses the how racist ideologies are intertwined with the creation of the conservation movement in the early 20th century. It also provides historical links to the present that show how the environmental movement has not focused on the needs of communities of color. For more read here.
The Environmental Movement Needs to Reckon with Its Racist History
This article calls for the contemporary environmental movement to address a deeply imbedded history of racism, which dates back to early conservationists, like John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt, who were also white supremacists. They also detail the history of the environmental justice movement and how contemporary environmental organizations and policy goals need to do more to address the tenants of environmental justice. For more read here.
‘Bees, not refugees’: the environmentalist roots of anti-immigrant bigotry
This article discusses a long history of “eco-xenophobia” in America by drawing connections between the motivations behind the 2019 mass shooting in El Paso, anti-immigration sentiments in the Sierra Club and early conservationists. For more read here.
Redwoods and Hitler: the link between nature conservation and the eugenics movement
This article explores the often-overlooked links between early 20th century conservation and eugenics. They discuss how three prominent conservationists, Henry Fairfield Osborn, Madison Grant and John C. Merriam, who were responsible for the preservation of the redwoods in California, were also leading figures in eugenic thought. For example, Madison Grant wrote a book called “The Passing of the Great Race”, which Hitler later referred to as his “bible”. For more read here.
What Does It Mean to Decolonize Design?
This article defines decolonization and offers suggestions on how those in the design industry can engage in decolonization practices through their work. The author also provides a list of resources for further reading on the subject. For more read here.
Shenandoah National Park Is Confronting Its History
This articles discusses the history of racism and exclusion in American National Parks, in particular at Shenandoah National Park, which had segregated facilities under Jim Crow Laws. The author provides examples of how the National Parks Service is beginning to reckon with this long history of exclusion in their efforts to make National Parks for inclusive. For more read here.