I'm Gail Straub and you're listening to She Explores.

On today's episode, we're going to rethink what it means to be an environmentalist with the help of Leah Thomas and Christie Drott

two storytellers who use their lived experiences and gifts for language to help fight for a more just world.

And the more that we separate culture and race from environmental

and justices are going to continue to thrive because people say oh no no no

that's actually a race issue that's actually a wealth inequality issue instead of just saying these things are interconnected

and we need to just address them all because they are an environmentalist issue.

And if someone identifies as an intersectional environmental

they'll be able to say that these other issues are environmental issues

because both people in the planet should be protected and that's what I

think environmentalist should stand for.

This is Leah Thomas, also known as Green Girl Leah. A couple of weeks ago,

she introduced the concept of intersectional

environmentalism on her Instagram account. While the fight for

environmental justice isn't a new one, it's not been historically talked about

enough within the environmental movement, and the need to look at it

through an intersectional lens hasn't been prioritized. We're going to use this episode to talk about some of the reasons

why among other things.

But first, let's meet Christy Drottman.

Everyone has a role, and everyone has talents to bring to this space,

and I think it's a matter of you not staying in a place of

guilt or shame that you haven't done enough or you haven't been perfect.

...