Sustainability and Social Justice

Let’s talk about the connection between sustainability and JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion). For awhile now the link between these two concepts has been growing more and more apparent to me and I’d like to walk you through how I got here.

A lot of language around sustainability and climate change is about “saving the planet”. Let’s be clear, the *planet* will survive whatever we throw at it. The human race is another story. By dehumanizing the fallout of the climate crisis, we erase the fact that the majority of people who are experiencing and will continue to experience the first effects of climate change are black and brown people.

Refusing to value the humanity of black and brown folks in other parts of the world, allows us to continue to devalue the humanity of black and brown people here at home and vice versa.

Our liberation is bound up with one another’s. We who are living in the “developed world” need to recognize that we are actively harming our global family by ignoring how our consumption directly affects their survival and, in turn, affects our own.

Now, is it entirely up to marginalized communities to turn things around RE: climate change? No, but those of us in the outdoor JEDI community need to start incorporating sustainability into our work.

Just as we recognize the intersectionality of racial oppression and gender oppression, we can begin to include the layer of climate injustice in how we frame JEDI-related issues.

Does this connection make sense to you?

Is this something you’ve considered before?

Let me know your thoughts! 📸📍Molalla territory