Although it is a joke and we can make memes out of it , it is so very true! A lot of communities from all over the world have been doing what is now trending for a very long time, but their actions have never been acknowledged. From personal experience I can tell you that something as simple as using a bar soap,recycling plastic bags, or wearing used clothes can be JUDGED as a poor people thing. Yet, when a white person does it and claims that it’s for the environment it’s suddenly trendy.
We know it is an uncomfortable conversation, but inequality and racial injustice is a discussion that MUST be had. At Tierratletix, as latinas, we acknowledge our privilege and clarify that our environmental goals are truly intersectional.
Now what exactly is intersectional environmentalism ?
In essence it is taking into account the needs of marginalized people when protecting the environment. In order to do so the following must be done.
Acknowledge your privilege- perhaps the hardest step of all
Understanding that not everyone has the means to take action
Make environmentally friendly items and resources available to ALL communities
Ensure that current actions you or your peers are taking for the environment do not negatively affect marginalized communities
Number 1 takes time and can be extremely painful to process. Understanding that our hardships big or small should not invalidate other people's hardships takes time. Especially since we live in a society of competitiveness and comparison.Here you can find a compilation of resources and videos to learn more about privilege. Number 2 is an easy follow up that naturally happens once we properly understand our privilege and Number 3 is perhaps the easiest. It takes everything a step further by doing simple actions such as verifying and reading up on movements you support such as stores or companies.Ultimately, it determines what route the environmental movement will take. Here are some useful questions to ask yourself when thinking of supporting new stores, companies or buying products.
What type of communities are they making their items accessible to ?
What is the company's/store’s/people’s mission?
Do they acknowledge that not everyone can take immediate action? If so, what are they doing in regards to it?
Are they funded by big corporations? If so, what is that corporation's point of view on accessibility to resources?
At Tierratletix, throughout the entire clothing making process , we constantly ask ourselves these questions to ensure that our product will be accessible and beneficial to all communities. Since we are at the very start of our process, this is the most we can do right now in terms of our clothing. However, in order to fulfill our mission of intersectional environmentalism we also offer free tips and hacks on sustainability on our forum and we make ourselves available to answer any questions you may have on sustainability. But for today , I leave you with this handy pdf that I made for you with some useful tips on how to live more sustainably.