Nature has always been a big part of who I am. With the Trinity Mountains spilling in from the West, the Cascade range sliding down from the North, and Lassen Volcanic National Park sprawled to the East, nature has always been incredibly accessible. As a kid, my most cherished memories — camping with my family, hiking in the mountains, building tree forts — center around nature.
What I never seemed to notice, though, was that I was usually the only Asian-American kid playing outside. When I did notice, it didn’t really bother me. Growing up in a predominantly White town meant that being the only Asian-American kid around was a given; it was the only thing I had ever known. But as I’ve gotten older, and especially throughout these past months, the whiteness of the outdoor community has really been on my mind a lot. Why? Why is the outdoor community so White? Where are the people of color? Where are the Asian hikers? The Black rock climbers? The Native American bikers? The Latinx rafters? The Middle Eastern skiers?
Much of the answer lies in the racist histories of the global North. Being from the United States, I am going to focus on the United States; this is not to say, however, that the United States is the sole contributor to the racism and exclusivity in the outdoor community. Founded upon slave labor and the forced removal of Indigenous communities, the United States has had a long history of discriminating against racial minorities, and it is this discrimination that has allowed Whites to dominate the outdoor scene.
So, some history. In the nineteenth century, White upper class elites like John Muir and George Catlin began to explore the outdoors. Hunting and hiking, these early White explorers marveled at the pristine, “untouched” beauty of nature. In doing so, they fed the idea that nature should be preserved in its pure glory and sheltered from the human presence. They established the narrative of environmentalism. Where were people of color during these times? They were battling systemic, intense racism. Facing “extreme forms of oppression such as enslavement, internment, deportation, and dispossession and denial of land”, people of color did not take to exploring the outdoors or engaging in “the environmental” movement. Instead, they engaged in civil rights movements that aimed to dismantle racism in their workplaces and communities. But aren’t our workplaces and cities and
neighborhoods and homes also our environments? Seen this way, people of color did engage in environmental movements, just not the environmental movement we traditionally think of. Nonetheless, the mainstream environmental movement — the one we picture when someone says “I’m an environmentalist” — was, and continues to be, a predominately White space.
How, you ask? In short, the ways with which the White upper class interacts with nature and “the environment” affect the goals of environmentalism. Because Whites tend to interact with nature in a recreational way — through fishing, hiking, hunting, climbing, and other recreational activities — a big portion of environmentalism is centered around preserving these interactions. Thus, we see that the main goals of mainstream environmentalism — wilderness preservation, wildlife protection, and pollution control — reflect the desires of the White upper class to use nature as a leisure space. While these ideals are not inherently harmful, they do limit the effectiveness of the environmental movement because they exclude people of color.
Environmental hazards disproportionately affect communities of color, but it is often these same communities that are excluded from discussions about environmental policies and climate change. In a study conducted by the National Center for Environmental Assessment, it was found that Black people are exposed to about 1.5 times more particulate matter than White people. The study also found that both pollution and polluters are disproportionately located in communities of color. Doesn’t it seem paradoxical that the very people environmental hazards and the climate crisis are affecting the most are not being included in the conversations about these issues? Until environmentalism includes these voices and works towards protecting ALL from environmental dangers, it will continue to fall short in serving every community.
Written by Eila Chin, Climate Justice Now Social Media Intern