Last But Not Least

This is my final blog as an intern for Climate Justice Now. For this last blog, I wanted to do a wrap up of what we have talked about over these last 14 blogs, and discuss my next steps as an activist.

When I look back on my blogs, one overarching theme I see is relevance and visibility. My first blog series was composed of a handful of posts about how race fits into environmentalism. I wanted this connection to become visible to environmentalists on this platform, especially considering the current social movements. One thing I think modern environmentalism prides itself on is its inclusion and progressive ideologies, but when you break it down how are these ideals actually being acted upon within the actual movement itself? Most climate activists are aware of environmental racism and the impact that climate change has had on a lot of poorer communities and countries, but how has the recognition been transformed into action? Personally, I don’t see much of it. I don’t think it is lacking because the people don’t care. On the contrary, I believe that they care a lot, and they want to contribute to that positive change, but don’t know what to focus on first. Do you focus on trying to transform the energy industry into a renewable and sustainable industry or do you focus on making sure that our current industry isn’t taking advantage of people in the poorer and less advantaged communities? I think this one of the questions that some environmentalists think about often. I am not gonna lie

and say that I have the answer to these questions, because I don’t think I do. But one thing I do know that would aid the cause in working for a solution is by diversifying the movement itself. Different ways of doing this can be by doing effective diversity events at national parks or by pushing for natural resource education in public school systems. I highlighted effective, because there are some programs that don’t connect these students with their environment correctly. One of my blog series was about the social media movements that aren’t getting as much attention as they did during their prime and one lesson I wanted to share during that entire series was that not only are different things important to different people but also, there are problems out there that even the wisest of the wise have forgotten about. When you diversify a certain movement each of those things that were previously forgotten come to light yet again because someone in that diverse crowd remembers and was impacted, either physically or emotionally, by one of those forgotten problems. The environmental movement has a history of exclusivity, but today I want that to change. I want us to put action behind our beliefs of inclusivity and look deep into where this movement can make improvements.

Currently I am in the process of applying for law schools and doing my next step as an activist. There are a lot of different ways of facilitating change.

You can start a social media movement, you can write a blog and spread awareness, or you can do what I do and prepare to spend over $150,000 on another degree. But in all seriousness, I am so excited to take my next steps and see what change will come in the future.

Throughout my time as a Climate Justice Now Blogging Intern, I have learned a lot about how I see the world and my place in it. My first blog post on this site was about recognizing the importance of race in environmental history (you can access that blog here), and the theme of that first blog continued in a lot of my other ones. One of the reasons I wanted to become an intern for Climate Justice Now, is because I knew that this would be a great platform where I could share my stories and my perspectives on climate change and race relations. I knew that Climate Justice Now was a inter-sectional platform that understands the importance of looking at things from all angles and hearing from people that are not traditionally listened to. I am so grateful to have had this platform, and I thank all of you for reading my words.

Written by Dominique Agnew, Senior at Cornell University and Climate Justice Now Intern