在5月下旬,然后在6月,公司和个人在社交媒体上发布黑色广场是他们对黑人生活的承诺的象征切实的方式,以有意包括黑人,土著和其他有色社区的方式改善环境运动。
在那一刻,托马斯建立了Intersectional Environmentalist(IE)是一个由任务驱动的组织,致力于通过与联合创始人Diandra Marizet,Philip Aiken和Sabs Katz一起放大历史上沉默的声音来消除压迫系统。
"We want transparency. We want people to be inclusive, and we want people and companies not to be silent on these issues anymore because that’s how we’ve gotten to this point in the first place," said Katz, director of communications at IE. "By continuing to be silent, we will only perpetuate these negative aspects of society."
我与Katz(左图)谈了该组织自6月成立以来一直在建立的建设,其与Tazo的新合作伙伴关系以及截面环保团队对2021年的希望。
这次采访已被编辑,以进行长度和清晰度。
Deonna Anderson: What has Intersectional Environmentalist been up to since you founded the organization a few months ago?
Sabs Katz:这有点旋风确实真正了解了我们不到六个月的增长量。但是,我们一直将精力集中在几个不同的支柱上,这些支柱确实是IE作为一家业务的核心。其中之一是社区建设。我们通过我们的Instagram页面做到这一点。而且我们还有一个网站,该网站汇总了许多教育资源,这些教育资源着眼于不同的主题,并为有兴趣了解更多有关交叉环境主义的人们探讨了不同的社区。因此,我们一直专注于那里的社区建设。
我们还一直在制定一个责任计划,供企业纳入他们的工作场所。而且,我们一直致力于真正发展,并希望将标准设定为企业,并向其他公司展示您可以成为一家以任务为导向的公司,并且仍然向您的工人公平工资支付。您仍然可以盈利,并拥有所有这些积极的举措,这些计划可以改变世界,是的,并不能真正损害您的价值观。
安德森:您能描述什么是交叉环境主义,以及与环境正义和气候正义有何不同,或者这些事情可能如何共同努力?
卡兹:I’ll start off with a little bit of background.交叉理论批判种族理论主要是由Kimberlé Crenshaw,教授和律师。她确实启发了我们的创始人利亚·托马斯(Leah Thomas)将这种交叉性的想法纳入环保主义的想法,因为很多时候,当我们听到一词交叉时,它应用于女权主义。因此,莉亚(Leah)上大学时,听到并理解了交叉女权主义并认识到这一点,但注意到在环境空间中,实际上并没有很多适用于人们的环保主义。
And historically the environmental movement has been very white-washed. So after the murder of George Floyd in May, she came out with this graphic that ended up going viral that said environmentalists for Black Lives Matter and defined intersectional environmentalism, a form of environmentalism that advocates for both people and the planet and identifies the ways that injustices are done to certain groups of people without minimizing or silencing under-amplified voices within this space. Intersectional environmentalism ... is more of a framework for one to achieve environmental justice. So someone can be an intersectional environmentalist with the goal of attaining climate justice.
安德森:由于格林布斯受众主要是公司可持续性专业人员,所以我对您的业务问责制计划感到好奇。必威体育2018您能告诉我该程序如何工作吗?
卡兹:在我们创建之后,有很多公司与我们联系,他们想以不同的方式与我们合作,或者只是找出如何将更多的交叉视角纳入其业务中,并将其纳入他们的CSR目标。我们制定了这个责任计划,因为我们希望人们继续做这项工作,并且我们不想失去被激活和使用声音的势头。问责计划由四个月的四个模块组成,因此每月有一个模块。
There are a couple of different aspects but one of them is largely an online coursework program where the company can participate and learn more about intersectional environmentalism. They can learn more about why it’s important to have sustainability goals and also have diversity goals. I feel like when we see a lot of companies that participate in sustainable practices, it’s very non-human-focused in many ways.
For example, a lot of fashion companies might use organic cotton or maybe they’ll use recycled plastic. But one thing that they might not necessarily talk about is how the production of plastic can cause pollution. A lot of chemical factories or factories that create plastic are located in largely BIPoC [Black, Indigenous and people of color] communities and cause negative health consequences. We want to really encourage companies to lean into those conversations and not minimize those conversations that are deemed maybe a little bit too political. Because what we’re seeing a lot of is that a lot of new folks in Gen Z, a lot of millennials, want to be supporting companies that are transparent. They want to support companies that have a stance against social injustice and environmental injustice. So it’s not only something that is good for moral's sake. It’s good business practice as well.
安德森(Anderson):听起来您鼓励企业采取更全面的方法来实现其业务中的可持续性,而不是仅仅是他们的底线以及对人的思考。必威体育2018
卡兹:绝对地。And within the environmental space for so long, the conversation has been very focused on conservation or it’s been focused on like plastic in the oceans, all of which are obviously very important conversations to have. But we are not really talking about the ways that humans are being negatively impacted by the effects of the climate crisis and disproportionately BIPoC communities and low-income communities are being impacted. And those are the voices that continue to be erased within the environmental movement because it seemed a little bit too political. But when these are realities that are happening every day, it does no good to continue ignoring or to continue silencing those voices when we should be all fighting for an environment that is just for everyone. So that is one of our main goals with this program.
安德森(Anderson):跨环保主义者最近与塔佐茶(Tazo Tea)建立了合作伙伴关系,以帮助启动IE的第一批实习生,并向Tea Brand捐款50,000美元。我对实习计划的运作方式以及合作伙伴关系的实现感到好奇。
卡兹:我们的创始人利亚·托马斯(Leah Thomas)与塔佐(Tazo)的某人联系。他们是利亚本人的忠实粉丝。因此,这是一场对话,一直在进行来回,因为Tazo一直想采取立场并希望投资环境正义组织。我们一直都知道,我们想为他们的工作付款,我们不认为人们应该自由劳动。而且我们认为应该废除无薪实习,因为坦率地说,他们是不公平的。他们从可能无法免费工作的人那里夺走了机会。
我们要做的很大一部分是找到方法来确保我们可以支付我们团队中所有激进主义者的活动家。我们还很年轻。有时我们的预算有些杂乱。但是我们不想利用人。所以这种合作伙伴关系is really a collaboration in many ways because of TAZO’s desire to really support a lot of these environmental justice initiatives.
当我们都应该为每个人的环境而战时,继续忽略或继续沉默这些声音是没有好处的。
And our goal is to continue growing as a team and also ensure that everybody on our team is paid fair wages. All of our interns are paid $21 an hour. And we just want to make sure that we set the standard, like I said before, to show companies that regardless of how big or how small you are, there are ways that you can fund your interns. And so we don’t want these huge companies, especially companies that are much larger than us, to think that it’s still OK to have unpaid internships when there are ways to really fund that.
安德森(Anderson):实习已经为这些人开始了吗?
卡兹:是的,第一天的官方日是大选后星期二的11月10日。所以这是一个旋风。但是,是的。他们开始了几周。我们有创意的实习生。我们有生态通讯,社交媒体,环境正义研究实习生。听到反馈真是令人兴奋。我知道我们收到了超过1,000份申请,申请仅开放一周。因此,它确实表明了更多公司真正地将这些社会正义和环保主义理想真正浸入其业务中。这表明人们想做这项工作,人们真的想表达自己的声音,并成为一个在世界上真正改变世界的社区的一部分。
安德森:在我看来,您与Tazo的合作伙伴关系是独一无二的。其他企业是否有机会参与IE?您是否对企业可以参与您的业务问责制计划以及与Tazo的合作伙伴关系的方式有愿景?
卡兹:绝对地。我认为我之前忘了一件事是我们与某些企业的合作非常周到。例如,今天我们正在做一系列不可能的食物野炊。我们建立了很多社交媒体伙伴关系。我们与可持续的鞋类公司Allbirds合作。他们制作了一堆在纽约市张贴的海报。他们与IE合作,将他们放在[洛杉矶]和旧金山。
我们非常愿意以许多不同的方式建立伙伴关系。话虽如此,我们希望变得非常体贴和体贴,并与这些业务建立关系,而不是使这是一件事情,因为我们真的专注于社区建设方面。我想说的是,肯定还有其他与我们合作的方法,而不仅仅是在该问责计划方面的尊重。
安德森:我期待着看到其他伙伴关系的变化。2020年的旋转点几乎结束了 - 这是一个有趣的一年,即今年开始。当我们进入2021年时,我很好奇,IE对您对环保主义运动的影响有什么希望?
卡兹:我将其分为两个不同的答案。第一个,我们的希望是什么?我们的希望确实是将交叉环境主义带入主流环境运动,并将其作为未来环境对话的重点。我们不希望它只是谈论北极熊。显然,我们想谈论北极熊。但是,我们想真正就人们受到影响的方式进行对话?谁是受到气候危机的负面影响最大的人?我们再也不能继续忽略BIPOC社区受到不成比例的影响的方式。
We’re already seeing climate refugees, folks who are no longer able to live within their communities or within their countries because the weather is too hot to live there or the conditions, the air conditions, the air pollution conditions make it no longer a viable community. We really want folks to not shy away from these conversations. When we look at a lot of environmental organizations, a lot of environmental nonprofits, the largest ones are ones that focus on conservation. They focus on nature. They focus on animals. All of which are absolutely wonderful.
但是,当我们查看环境司法组织被资助的频率时,与世界野生动植物基金或自然保护协会这样的东西相比,这些公司资助的资金和这些举措的资金微不足道,而不是贬低这些组织。但是我认为这反映了一个更大的问题,为什么我们不资助这项研究?为什么我们不资助这些计划?因此,我们真的希望以多种方式改变对话。我们已经听到了大学中要求学校的学生在课程中实施交叉环境主义课程的故事,并为任何环境专业的学生提供所需的课程。
这些将是我们希望看到的更多基层倡议之一,我们希望继续看到。然后,就IE作为一家业务而言,我们正在寻求扩展一点。现在,我们是一个营利性,我们非常有意识地决定成为营利性,因为我们想表明您可以成为一个以任务为导向的组织,并且仍然赚钱,您仍然可以向人们支付公平的工资。One of our goals for 2021 is to create a nonprofit arm so that area can focus on doing a lot more of the grassroots work, whether that’s through our mentorship program, which we’re still continuing to flesh out, or funding grants for sustainability of intersectional environmentalist organizations.
我们在2021年拿出那只手臂。我们也希望创建一个几乎像禧年为了真正强调了许多这些环境不公的故事,并真正将其带到了最前沿,以便人们再也无法忽略这些对话了。
安德森:有什么我们没有谈论的是,您觉得对格林比斯读者了解您在IE所做的工作很重要吗?
卡兹:我只想重申,如今,许多人和许多年轻的消费者都希望能够支持在环保主义方面采取立场的公司。我们不需要在社交媒体上看到黑色正方形。我们希望看到采取的真实动作。我们想要透明度。我们希望人们具有包容性,我们希望人们和公司不再对这些问题保持沉默,因为这就是我们首先要达到这一点的方式。通过继续保持沉默,我们只会使社会的这些负面方面永存。
And not to shy away from them because, like I said, folks want to be supporting these companies ... There will always be some folks who don’t want to have that conversation, who don’t want companies to necessarily feel like they should be having that conversation. But at the end of the day, it’s the right thing to do. And it’s the way of the future. And we have to continue having these conversations in order for us to have a future that is intersectional.
本文已更新,以纠正Tazo对交叉环保主义者的捐款数量。茶牌向IE捐赠了50,000美元,它是向环境正义团体承诺的25万美元的一部分。