why I'll always be an environmentalist

As climate catastrophes rock our globe, climate anxiety is on the rise, but despite how overwhelming the climate crisis is, I’m in it for the long haul. I’ll always be an environmentalist.

Like many Black families and other families of color, I grew up practicing environmental mindfulness without giving it that label. We recycled our plastic bags and also asked for paper bags if that was an option. With smaller purchases from the drug store, we declined bags altogether. Ziplock bags were washed well past the time the writing on them faded, foil was reused, we didn’t take super long showers, and hand-me-downs and making clothes last were embedded in my childhood. Some of it was money-saving measures and some just seemed plain common sense. Why would we toss out a perfectly good ziplock bag when it could be cleaned out and reused? Paper bags and recycling had been drilled into our heads in the ‘90s.

It wasn’t until I was studying fashion design in college that I really started reexamining my entire life as it came to being sustainable. The fashion industry, like many others, is incredibly wasteful. From discarded fabric to the churning out of fast fashion, a major overhaul and push towards more circular design practices is in order. When I took an eco-fashion course in college it opened my eyes to the steps that the industry could take, but also to the steps I could, and should, take in my everyday life. Reusable coffee cups, reducing my meat consumption even more, learning about which foods it was best to buy organic, emphasizing public transportation or carpooling all became a part of my life.

Then again, when I switched careers from the fashion industry to the environmental nonprofit space came another overhaul. This one was less about lifestyle, although it did reignite my commitment to begin composting this year!, and more about learning about the history of the environmental movement. I learned about what environmental and climate justice meant, that environmental racism was a very real systemic evil, and started visiting national parks (and then learning the history of those, too). I watched as young people and people of color began to carve out more space for themselves within the movement and begin to coin terms like “intersectional environmentalist”, organize rallies and marches, and talk about how climate change wasn’t on the way—it was already here.

It’s overwhelming when you dig into it. The more informed you become, the more anxiety-inducing it can be. How can we fix this? And who exactly is “we”? Even though there’s an inordinate amount of emphasis on individual action, the truth is that corporations are the ones doing the most damage. Marginalized and poor communities contribute the least and face the brunt of shifting hurricane patterns, increased wildfires, and droughts. We confront climate change as a movement—as a force of our own. We take time to acknowledge and feel the sometimes despair, then we keep pushing, not just for us, but for those that come after us. We keep pushing and advocating and educating for survival and for hope.

in hope