Coloring Climates: Race, Stories, Environments

1 Course Unit

Why is the Green New Deal not talked about as a "Black Agenda"? Why are Black people not employed in 90% of the leadership positions in environmental organizations? Do Black folks resist environmentalism as a "white" issue? Why are cannabis farmers, once arrested by cities for growing hemp, now being priced out of the regulated industry in legalized states? These questions may also be asked for people of color broadly. Since the "Manifest Destiny" days of John Muir, white spatial imaginaries have shaped how environmentalism is branded; planning has been in lock-step. These persistent myths motivate the basis of historical reflection and contemporary re-constitution of what it means to be "green" while Black in place. This seminar that proposes to "Blacklight" urban space: bare visible the oft-hidden Black Geographies in urban and environmental history on the margins. By drawing on texts in critical ecology, we will elucidate how primarily Black people imagine attachment to rural, pastoral, and urban spaces. This decentering of the colonial history of environmentalism is especially urgent in environmental and land use planning. Readings will include popular literature from Camille T. Dungy's Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry, The Green Collar Economy by Van Jones, The Good Food Revolution by Will Allen; sociology from Dorceta Taylor's The Rise of the American Conservation Movement: Power, Privilege, and Environmental Protection, , Ron Finley's "Ganstga Gardening" videos, environmental planning from Mabel O. Wilson's "Black & Green" in Begin with the Past: Building the National Museum of African American History & Culture, and Richard Westmacott's African-American Gardens and Yards in the Rural South, Majora Carter's Sustainable South Bronx: A Model For Environmental Justice; memoirs by The Cooking Gene by chef Michael Twitty, Unbowed by Wangari Maathai. Articles will also include voices from BIPOC geographers, psychologists, and planners with relevant views. While being primed with these histories, students will identify a mode of environmental action and land use engagement for a "Blacklight" case study in either their hometown or current place of residence. Students will contribute to a Wikipedia page on eco-poetics or ecoliteracy to build public consciousness around Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) sensibilities in these places. 1 Course Unit