Environmentalism has historically been a white upper-middle class movement, and our environmental groups at Amherst College follow this trend. Green Amherst Project, Green Athletics, and Divest Amherst are predominantly white groups, and although they would like to be inclusive, they continue to fail to do so.
I am one of the many white females who is a member of Green Amherst Project and Divest Amherst, and the lack of diversity in these groups frustrates me. As the president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Frances Beinecke said, “Without collective action to create inclusive workplaces, broaden our community partnerships, and diversify our voice, we will not be equipped to confront the great environmental problems of our time.” Our on-campus environmental groups are clearly not equipped. We cannot tackle environmentalism correctly from a position of white privilege.
Our green groups rest on the surface of discussions of environmental issues from a normalized white perspective. The clubs’ meetings tend to maintain a heavy focus on planning for the future and neglect addressing current realities.
Green Amherst Project is working on a tray-less initiative, but in efforts to plan at meetings, the group has neglected to discuss the intersections between race, justice, and access to clean water. We do not go into discussions of what an environmental issue and action means, who it is affects, and why it matters at our club meetings. I believe this is a major reason these groups continue to lack diversity. Environmental groups must incorporate lived experiences, realities, and intersectionality into discussions of environmental issues and plans in order to avoid normalizing typical historical white environmentalist values and experiences.
The national divestment movement has attempted to be more inclusive by establishing its color as orange, to step away from a green movement that only considers nature, and shift towards an environmental justice movement that considers human rights. This is a step in the right direction. However, as an on-campus group, Divest Amherst continues to struggle to include a diverse group of students.
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Environmental groups on campus seem to call for diversity for the sake of diversity without having or discussing the how and why. Whenever we discuss diversity or intersectionality, the discussion leads to “reaching out to affinity groups on-campus” or “co-sponsoring an event.” However, groups cannot sustain diversity simply by reaching out, attending one event by La Causa or BSU, or shallowly tacking an affinity group’s name on an event. Environmental groups must reciprocate and act in genuine solidarity. Spaces must be open to expose the inequality. Otherwise, they will continue to maintain a racialized perspective that lacks diversity and cannot effectively tackle issues that disproportionately impact marginalized people.
