Green Team Sustainability Advocates

"Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot."

Brian here. The speech in this video, and Carl Sagan's other work, have been very influential on my environmentalism for years. I hope you'll consider the lessons of the Pale Blue Dot photo as you grapple with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and with the many other destructions of the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupToqz1e2g&t=21s

Join Green Team as we watch & discuss "Trashed," a documentary about the effects of waste around the world.
When: Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022, 2 – 4p.m.
Where: Virtual
Sign up here: https://www.edmonds.edu/calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D157650920

Leah Penniman is a farmer, author, and food sovereignty activist.
Her book Farming While Black is "the first comprehensive manual for African-heritage people ready to reclaim their rightful place of dignified agency in the food system. This one-of-a-kind guide provides readers with a concise 'how-to' for all aspects of small-scale farming."

The book's website explains, "Some of our most cherished sustainable farming practices have roots in African wisdom. Yet, discrimination and violence against African-American farmers has led to their decline from 14 percent of all growers in 1920 to less than 2 percent today, with a corresponding loss of over 14 million acres of land. Further, Black communities suffer disproportionately from illnesses related to lack of access to fresh food and healthy natural ecosystems. Soul Fire Farm, cofounded by author, activist, and farmer Leah Penniman, is committed to ending racism and injustice in our food system. Through innovative programs such as the Black-Latinx Farmers Immersion, a sliding-scale farmshare CSA, and Youth Food Justice leadership training, Penniman is part of a global network of farmers working to increase farmland stewardship by people of color, restore Afro-indigenous farming practices, and end food apartheid."

She is currently Co-Director and Farm Manager of Soul Fire Farm in Upstate New York. "Li co-founded Soul Fire Farm in 2010 with the mission to reclaim our inherent right to belong to the earth and have agency in the food system as Black and Brown people."

https://www.farmingwhileblack.org/
https://www.soulfirefarm.org/meet-the-farmers/leah-penniman/

Farm clean up 🧹

Welcome to Edmonds Campus Farm 🥰

Dr. Robert D. Bullard is regarded by many as "the father of environmental justice." He is a sociologist who, since 1979, has been the leading expert on environmental racism in the American South and the United States as a whole. He led a study, 'Solid Waste Sites and the Black Houston Community,' which showed more comprehensively than ever before that garbage dumps, landfills, and other toxic waste sites are mostly situated in primarily non-white neighborhoods, by the decisions of white-dominated government bodies. He told Grist magazine, "Without a doubt, it was a form of apartheid where whites were making decisions and black people and brown people and people of color, including Native Americans on reservations, had no seat at the table."
http://drrobertbullard.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Bullard-Solid-Waste-and-Houston-Black-Community_Sociological-Inquiry-Vol-53-Spring-1983_4-7-14.pdf
https://grist.org/article/dicum/

Evidence of environmental racism and activism against it are widespread throughout the United States and beyond. The damage to human and non-human health caused by toxic waste, fossil fuel refineries, and other industrial facilities is horrifying, and infuriating. A good place to begin your research into this overwhelming issue is this Library Resource Guide on Environmental Racism and the Environmental Justice Movement, which the Green Team initiated last year.
https://edcc.libguides.com/environmental_racism

The environmental movement in the United States has been focusing more and more in recent years on the intersection of systemic racism with environmental issues. The growing ideological division in America, including the resurgence of white supremacy, has led many environmental groups to re-evaluate their histories and reform their leaderships and priorities. The Green Team is passionate about diversifying the voices that the environmental movement listens to and speaks with. We are also excited to follow the growing intersections of work on issue areas, like environmentalism and racial justice, which the loudest white voices have traditionally regarded as separate.
This month, we will share posts to highlight some Black leaders in the environmental movement, past and present.

Happy valentines everyone! 💖

Do you know we have a Bug Hotel 🤯?!

Join Green Team's kickoff event to our participation in the national Campus Race to Zero Waste (CR2ZW). We will be sharing a documentary called Racing to Zero, about San Francisco's innovate efforts to achieve zero waste. After the film, we'll have a discussion about the movie, the CR2ZW competition, and how you can develop a less wasteful lifestyle for yourself and the world.

Register for this event, and we will share the relevant Zoom link with ya. See you there!
Link to sign up:

https://www.trumba.com/calendars/green-team?trumbaEmbed=eventid%3D157312787%26seotitle%3DCampus-Race-to-Zero-Waste-Kickoff-Racing-to-Zero-Film-Screening%26view%3Devent%26-childview%3D