
Intersectional Environmentalism
Creating a more socially and environmentally just world is the work of our time.
We are committed to protecting people and the planet and contributing to long-lasting cultural shifts where All of our Relations experience healing of the past, opportunity to thrive in the present, and great hope and dreams for the future.
Sunshine Community Compost is committed to working against and dismantling systemic racism and oppression and knows that sustained daily actions are the pathway to re-designing a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture no longer confined by white supremacy. We want to be part of the re-creation process for a different story of America. It is a long road ahead, and overcoming inter-generational betrayal and mistrust will take repeated intentional actions of repair, acknowledgment, personal responsibility, time, patience, interpersonal skills, community-building skills, and wisdom.
The team at Sunshine Community Compost understands that systemic racism is deeply rooted in the American culture and reaches into every sector, system, and structure, and has resulted in extended pain, suffering, and death for generations of Black people, people of color and indigenous people.
Promoting diversity, equity and inclusion are integral to fulfilling our mission and require transformation at the individual, organizational, and community level with sustained investment of present-moment attention, planning, resources, action, and assessment. To that end, our organization continues to evolve our Equity Guidance and Development Plan.
We align with and continue to use as guidance the 17 original principles of environmental justice that arose out of the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held on October 24-27, 1991, in Washington DC. We also strive to develop our work and style in alignment with the Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing that arose out of the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (SNEEJ), Jemez, New Mexico, Dec. 1996.
We understand that diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts must:
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Be lived through sustained action and a clear organizational guidance system with accountable, measurable objectives and milestones that enable us to account for progress and areas for improvement (see Equity Guidance and Development Plan).
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Require us to create education and action opportunities within and outside of our organization that are anti-racist, that work against inequity and systemic racism, and crimes of hate against Black people, people of color, indigenous people and all people who are subjected to discrimination in the forms of racism, sexism, heterosexism (homophobia), ageism, ableism, classism, xenophobia, religious prejudice and other forms of oppression.
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Affirm that Black Lives Matter, and acknowledge the present-day damage and intergenerational trauma that has occurred for millions of Americans from centuries of oppression and the legacy of slavery and genocide in the U.S.
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Require us to stay fully present and self-reflective in our responsibility for and awareness of conscious or unconscious benefit and bias from the systems of white supremacy and oppression that exist and our integral role in deconstructing these systems and structures to create a more equitable, vibrant, regenerative, diverse and peaceful world.
We accept the path of continual learning that a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion requires. We understand that we will make mistakes and that short term set-backs may happen, but that they are the set-up for long term growth and change. We will move forward, review, and assess our practices and progress and do our best to improve as we learn. We intend to share with our board, volunteers, and community as we evolve.
Intersectional Environmentalism
“Intersectional environmentalism [is] the type of environmentalism where both people and the planet are considered, so both social and environmental justice are considered, and [they're] talked about in the same conversation." - Leah Thomas
Social Composting
Our mission is about composting. At its heart, the act of composting is about personal and collective transformation and translates into a form of social composting.
We can learn from and mirror the natural processes of composting in our social and environmental justice work. Just like systems and structures of oppression that must be transformed, composting takes the remnant of that which we can no longer use and that which does not serve us - breaks it down into component parts and then reassembles it all into something that is life-sustaining, regenerative, and contributes to the future health of people and the planet. Active participation in and responsibility for transformative processes - whether it is food scraps or racism - can grow new systems, new structures, sustain new life, create abundance, vibrancy, and a bright and hopeful future for all Beings.
Learning Opportunities
Articles
The Gift of Ecological Humility
National Center for Biotechnology Information:
Precautionary Principle in Environmental Justice
United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries:
Toxic Waste and Race at Twenty
How to Dismantle White Supremacy
There Is No Climate Justice Without Racial Justice
Racial Justice in the Food System
What Teachers Need to Know about Restorative Justice
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man - The New Yorker
Zero waste promotes social justice
Social Justice and Food Production
Civil Eats
How Urban Agriculture can Fight Racism in the Food System
Duke Sanford World Food Policy Center
The Plight of Farmers and the Tools of Dispossession
Race Best Predicts Whether You Live Near Pollution - Environmental Racism Beyond Flint
Environmental Justice in Latin America
Center for Justice, Tolerance & Community, University of California, Santa Cruz:
Still Toxic After All These Years
Stop Dumping Their Pollution on People of Color
George Floyd Justice in Policing Act
Putting Soul Back Into the Soil
City Compost Programs Turn Garbage Into ‘Black Gold’ That Boosts Food Security and Social Justice
The Environmental Justice Movement
ProPublica:
Cancer Alley - Toxic Air About to Get Worse
Soul Fire Farms:
Sowing the Seeds of Food Justice
NonProfit Quarterly
Developing Human Capital: Moving from Extraction to Reciprocity in Our Organizational Relationships
Movies & Videos
James Baldwin Debates Howard F. Buckley
Chicano! Episode 2: The Struggle in the Fields
Mr. Civil Rights: Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP
The New Jim Crow - Michelle Alexander
You Cannot Tell People They Cannot Fall In Love -John Lewis
How to be an Anti-Racist - Ibram X. Kendi
Zero Waste Needs to Be More Inclusive - Jhanneu
The Consciousness Gap in Education - Dorinda Carter Andrews
This is my Ability - Blake Leeper
White Fragility - Robin J DiAngelo
Wheelchair Rugby - Rio Olympics 2016
I am Not Your Negro
Fourth of July Speech - Frederick Douglass
Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin
How Systemic Racism works in a Pandemic
The Power of Privilege TedX - Tiffany Jana
How Structural Racism Works - Tricia Rose
Non-Profit Focus
Thriving Across Our Differences - Intro
What to Do When You Say the Wrong Thing
Addressing Race Equity with an Organizational Change Lens
How do Boards of Directors Join the Movement for Racial Justice I
How do Boards of Directors Join the Movement for Racial Justice II
Stanford Social Innovative Review:
Five Practices for Staying Accountable to Racial Equity Plans
Expanding the Table for Race Equity
The Need & Importance of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Nonprofit Organizations
Organizations with a Heart for Justice
Click on Each to Learn More
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Institute for Local Self Reliance
Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
ALSO - Empowering LGBTQ+ youth
Black Lives Matter - Manasota Alliance