Hey Muses!?
Happy April! How’s everything? Are you enjoying the warmer weather and longer days? I absolutely am.
Silhouette Island, Seychelles- Feb. 2019
This month, I am focusing on environmental wellness. That’s one part of the dimensions of wellness I’m aiming to amplify. This isn’t a post to dive into my views. I simply want to introduce you to how I view environmental wellness and provide some resources that I’ve come across. First up, let’s define it.
Environmental wellness is your relationship with the outdoors + nature AND your awareness of, contribution towards and personal responsibility of Earth’s condition. I feel like environmental wellness is two pronged and has both micro and macro aspects. Some things I consider are:
Accessibility - Can you easily access are trails and green space in your community? Do you even have access?
Affordability - Do you have the means to buy equipment to explore the outdoors and/ or participate in outdoors recreation?
Safety - Do you feel comfortable being outdoors? Are you creating spaces that are welcoming to everyone?
History- Are you familiar with regulations and polices that contribute to environmental inequities? For example, lead exposure, access to fresh water, dumping sites and many others environmental issues that that disproportionately effect Black and Brown communities.
A walk in the Wissahickon.
I’ve often spoken about the benefits I feel when outdoors, but the environmental space is broad, growing and has been welcoming in a robust number of organizations and leaders that speak to the multitude of benefits of having a healthy relationship with the environment. The environment isn’t just recycling, it is sustainability - BROADLY, it’s our energy sources and carbon footprints, the changing climate, being able to get outside to enjoy nature and much more. I’m generalizing it, I know😔, but I hope you take time to explore this facet of wellness.
When I think about the environment it can become extremely overwhelming- with climate change, energy regulations, the issues with recycling and the question “do my individual changes really make a difference?” always looming. I decided to do what I can do help out, albeit small in the grand scheme. So what can you do?
Figure out your relationship with the outdoors and your views on this ever changing environment. Decide what you can do and why.
Start small and then do more.
Enjoy the outdoors.
Keep educating yourself. As I move forward in this post, I’ll be highlighting a few organizations and resources in the environmental space that are Black owned/led, women-led or POC led.
Resources:
Sustainable Brooklyn- Works to bridge gaps between the sustainability movement and targeted communities
Women of Color Collective in Sustainability (WOC/CS) - A collective created to support women of color who want to connect, collaborate, identify mentorships, job opportunities and seek resources within sustainability.
Melanin Base Camp- Created to increase ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ participation in the outdoors.
Black Girl Environmentalist-Supportive community of Black girls, women and non-binary environmentalists.
Anti-Racism Daily (environment tag)- Newsletters focused on a wide range of environmental issues.
Outdoor-Afro- Network that celebrates and inspires Black connections and leadership in nature
If you have a Fire Stick, there’s an app called Documentary TV (it’s free) which has documentaries…dassit. I recently watched No Impact Man (2009) which was interesting and hope to check out soon. soon.
Food Choices and the environment-When it comes to food…I’m plant-based ish. I’m vegan-ish. I eat a ton of veggies, legumes, fruit and have drastically reduced my intake of gluten, meat and sugar… but a jawn loves a good sushi roll, burger and a big bowl of noodles. I have been learning more and the impacts of our food choices and thought this would be a good read.
What you do matters. Have a great day.
Share your resources & thoughts below.
XO-JM