118: Racism + Social Justice in Conservation + Outdoor Recreation; Whitewashing Environmentalism; Unpaid Internships + Tokenism | Wanjiku “Wawa” Gatheru

ECO CHIC

Cloud10

Natural Sciences, Arts, Fashion & Beauty, Society & Culture, Science

4.7 • 641 Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2020

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We’re joined by Wanjiku “Wawa” Gatheru, a brilliant environmental justice scholar passionate about empowering BIPOC communities! Wawa is a recent alumnus of the University of Connecticut, and a Rhodes scholar set to attend Oxford in the Fall to continue her intersectional environmental studies. She has had two recently published pieces shake the Internet: her piece in Vice titled “It’s Time for Environmental Studies to Own Up to Erasing Black People,” and in Glamour, “Want to be an Environmentalist? Start with Antiracism.” Our conversation today covers a lot of ground, primarily stemming from this ideal of white environmentalism: we discuss racism + social justice in the conservation movement, and also in how BIPOC communities experience outdoor recreation; the whitewashing of environmental studies and histories; unpaid internships + tokenism, especially when it comes to making big nature-focused organizations into more diversity. Wawa speaks honestly about generational trauma and violence against Black folx, and criminalization still present today; this leads us to the topic of accessibility to the outdoors for non-white students. We close out the conversation discussing colorism and the role that self love and beauty standards play in the outdoor experience, particularly for black women… that deeper dive will come in a separate episode this upcoming Friday! Let’s connect! Instagram is @ecochicpodcast / @lauraediez, + I am now on Twitter, @lauraediez. Follow us on social media! @ecochicpodcast / @lauraediez, on Facebook, ECO CHIC Podcast. Email me at [email protected]. You can sign up for our newsletter + support our shop at totallyecochic.com (code ECOCHIC gets you 10% off!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:00.0	Everything you do is making an impact in this world
1:03.0	This is not an elitist issue this is a quality of life issue
1:08.0	How dare you and I feel like it's my responsibility as a human
1:12.2	being. So what? The world is at stake. You're listening to Eco-Sheek, a podcast about climate,
1:18.0	sustainability, and eco-conscious lifestyles. What? Like, it's hard?
1:27.0	Hello, hello. Welcome back to Eco-Sheek. My name is Laura Diaz. It is so good to see you today. I hope you're doing well. Thanks for joining me. Today's episode is excellent. I really must say. We are joined by Wanjika Gatheroo, Wawa. Wawa is an environmental justice scholar, passionate about empowering BIPA communities in the environmental decision-making process. She's a recent alum of the University of Connecticut, and she graduated magna cum laude in environmental studies and a minor in urban and community studies.
2:02.9	Plus, she's Yukon's first Rhodes Scholar, so she is set to attend Oxford University in the fall.
2:09.8	In fact, by the looks of the archives, Wawa is the first black person to receive the Rhodes, Truman, and Udall scholarships.
2:19.8	She's a big deal. I first connected with Wawa after reading her article in Vice, which we allude to a couple of times in today's
2:25.2	conversation. Her article was published a little over a month ago in June and titled,
2:31.1	It's Time for Environmental Studies to Own Up to Erasing Black People.
	...

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