Intersectional Environmentalism Is the Urgent Way Forward
Leah Thomas, founder of the Intersectional Environmentalist platform, on how BIPOC voices in the sustainability movement have been silenced—but lifting up those voices is the only way to protect people and the planet.
By
Leah Thomas
Getty/ Morgan McMullen
In 2017, I was the only Black person in my graduating class to receive an environmental science degree. At times, I felt the pressure to silence parts of my racial identity. Because of the lack of representation in my studies and even in my textbooks (despite the many voices of color who shaped the environmental movement), I felt afraid to disrupt the status quo and advocate for issues of race within my environmental journey.