Making a Place in the Whiteness of Green Spaces
By Alyssa Quintyne
When I think about the climate crisis at hand, I move between feeling overwhelmed to mildly amused. I look at the scale of solutions we need to mitigate these impacts, but I take inspiration from the movements across the country that guide our communities and our leaders through these unprecedented times. I remember the attempts by those in our community to improve our sustainability, some successes, and some missteps. But all helping me see that movement has been and must still be made.
I remember 7th grade when they pushed us to take shorter, colder showers, switch out lightbulbs for LEDs, and that maybe we didn’t need that burger every other day that they still made for lunch. Growing up in my home, we talked about our food waste and how to respect life and take care of our plants and animals.
After the forest fires got worse and worse, I learned to bathe and drink hot water and honey to cleanse my sinuses. I heard my parents whisper in the living room about how major corporations and governments who caused this waste and pollution were never held responsible for those decisions that forced us into systems of extraction.
It was defeating having to defend my home in the West Indies and our cultures from being reduced to meat-eating and 2nd class from my Midwest scholarly high school teachers. It became laughable and performative when white experts from Sweden would come to my college classes to talk about zero-waste habits, how soap is capitalism, that we need to stop ‘buying things all together’ to save the turtles.
It was hard to be in those conversations. Dealing with the discrimination that we do every day, just getting through, was my first priority. Even though I knew and felt how imperative it is to push back against the extraction and pollution affecting our air, waters, lands, and our people, it didn’t feel like there was a space for me to be involved or seen. It seemed that these spaces were just for the white and the privileged to be frankly honest. There was no presentation given by a professional of color teaching about zero-waste or sustainable industry practices. No 5-minute videos were highlighting the successes of communities of color who took ownership of their energy and resources, just our continued deaths and exclusion. It’s not because those professionals or successes don’t exist. It’s because those spaces created exclusion.
People of color and Indigenous people’s ideas, knowledge, medicine, wisdom, histories, and experiences are rarely included in this dialogue about sustainability and mitigation. The marginalized people and the Civil Rights movement that birthed, and very much still sustain, our current sustainability and environmental justice work are rarely credited. Solutions focused on personal responsibility didn’t make sense. Growing up, I didn’t see myself in this movement, and therefore I didn’t see my part or responsibility in making my home a better place.
It wasn’t until I became frustrated with the gaps of solutions made by our leaders and corporations did I realize that this separation from power structures fueled my frustration. These exclusionary spaces kept and still keep us separated, marginalized, and in poverty so that we all would be easier to exploit.
Because of this, I shifted my focus to learn about sustainability and justice by watching my own family and listening to other leaders in marginalized communities have these conversations and navigate these spaces that weren’t made with them in mind. Because of their continued leadership and innovation, it instilled a drive in me to learn how to carve out my role to enter these spaces and conversations, on my terms, so others like me could see themselves in this work.
It is time to recognize these historical divisions and exclusions and open ourselves up to new and sometimes hard conversations so that we collectively can work to mitigate this climate crisis. There are knowledge and perspectives that we can share and learn from if we can open the door and really listen.
I believe in us, and my climate commitments are focused on our knowledge and our voices to foster true solutions to the crisis that impacts us all.
- I’m going to share my knowledge and host zero/low waste workshops with our communities of color, and talk about the barriers of food access and waste in a space that’s more inclusive and aware.
- I’m going to explore and work with the Southside Market to lower single-use plastics.
- I’m going to advocate for us as customers to be able to use our own mugs and cups for coffee and restaurants, and our bags and boxes for groceries.
- I’m going to start planning an art show for artists, artisans, and performers about our experiences with climate change.
- I’m going to ask our local and chain stores for refill stations for bulk cleaning and hygiene products, like laundry detergent, dish soap, and shower gels.
- I will work with our local agencies to provide infrastructure and facilities where we can actually reduce, reuse, and recycle our waste in the Alaska Interior, instead of collecting it and shipping it out. #LetUsRecycleGlassAlready
- I will continue to push my local and state leaders and business for actions and policies that will create more industrial responsibility, transparency, public engagement, and equity for climate action. I will celebrate those companies, corporations, businesses, and elected leaders who champion these actions and hold accountable those who do not.
- And a personal one: While it’s important to recognize and deter from false solutions, there is no one fix-all to climate change. There are many things that all of us can do. I recognize my limitations. I realize that not every alternative will be a perfect solution, and that not every cool idea will be accessible or available. I reinforce the notion that I will do what I can, and to be happy with what I am doing.
All in all, what continues to give me motivation in this movement is what I can build and contribute. Every challenge offers the chance to create. Our actions caused this crisis. Some view this negatively, but it also means we also have the absolute ability to solve it. Every single person has something beautiful and necessary to bring to this movement. To be able to bring all of who and what I am into these spaces fills me with the certainty that we collectively can make an impact. There is a space for all of us here and now to TAKE ACTION.
