Podcast appearances and mentions of Carolyn Finney

What does it mean to reconnect with nature when you've always been connected? Dr. Carolyn Finney, author of "Black Faces, White Spaces," joins Alex Bailey of Black Outside Inc. for a transformative conversation about reclaiming Black presence in outdoor spaces.Dr. Finney shares her powerful personal journey growing up on a 12-acre estate where her parents worked as caretakers for nearly 50 years. When a conservation easement was placed on the property with no acknowledgment of her family's decades of stewardship, this erasure became the catalyst for her groundbreaking research. "I don't have to cancel anybody out to make space for myself," Dr. Finney explains, challenging us to reimagine environmental relationships beyond traditional narratives.Alex Bailey describes Black Outside Inc.'s mission to create culturally relevant outdoor experiences for Black youth through programs like Camp Founder Girls and the Charles Raunchy Bloom Project. Together, they explore how outdoor spaces can become sites of joy, liberation, and healing when approached through culturally affirming frameworks that honor the full spectrum of Black experiences.The conversation delves into profound territory: the false dichotomy between environmental urgency and diversity work, the importance of rest and dreaming in creating new futures, and how to connect Black youth to environmental careers by honoring their existing knowledge. Dr. Finney also shares details about her upcoming HBO documentary "Hidden in Plain Sight," which transforms a story of loss into one of collective accountability for Black environmental histories.This episode isn't just about diversifying outdoor spaces—it's about fundamentally reimagining who belongs in nature and whose stories count. Whether you're an outdoor enthusiast, educator, or anyone interested in creating more inclusive environmental movements, this conversation will transform how you think about our relationship with the natural world. Subscribe now and join us in expanding beyond the sandbox to play on the entire beach of possibility.Support the showhttps://www.patreon.com/c/EA_BookClub

In this episode of Edible Activist, we're kicking off the year with a powerful conversation about Taking Nature Black, a conference dedicated to celebrating Black leadership in the environmental movement.

“The presence of grief means that we need space, and our need for space means we need to honor our rest. We need to honor these natural cycles. And that is a key piece of our personal liberation effort.” Welcome back to Season Two of MUM. We ended Season One early in response to the genocide occurring in Gaza. As we return for this second season, MUM creator and host Ellen Wong reflects on the relationship between personal and collective liberation. If liberation is being in right relationship with all that is and honoring the natural cycles that govern our bodies and world, then celebrating death and embracing grief must be part of our liberation efforts. How are you focusing your energy and gifts in service of our collective liberation? Ellen's note – the documentary she mentions in the episode is called “Trees and Other Entanglements” and the story she tells is of Carolyn Finney, Ph.D., author and environmentalist. Your support allows us to continue creating this podcast. If you enjoy this episode, please take a moment to rate and review. Keep this conversation alive by bringing it to your communities. Follow Mum on Instagram ⁠@mumthepod⁠. If you are interested in working privately with Ellen, visit tripwithellen.com to learn more about her Death/Birth program and her spirit medicine solo retreats.

In our first episode, we'll explore what we recognize in 2023 as the industry standards for recreating: where did they come from, who are they meant to serve, why we trust them (or don't trust them), when they rose to prominence, and what promises they make to the recreational community. Who's really in charge here, and why? Featured in this episode: Lena Tibebe, Dr. Carolyn Finney, Dr. Rachel Gross, and Devin Cowens For show notes, visit frictionshift.org. 

With the encouragement of both Shadiin and Dr. Finney, Delma briefly considers taking up late night DJ-ing. Shadiin and Delma check in about the passing of Delma's colleague and classmate, Dr. Charles Banks and the disproportionate health outcomes of BIPOC populations. Shadiin discusses her son's and their future plans. She also raises what it means to receive feedback from listeners about her "single" status and what it means practice relationships beyond monogamy and her recent dating fun in her dating life. After the break our hosts welcome the "notorious" Dr. Carolyn Finney who discusses her journey through higher education and what it means to navigate the struggle of meeting her own expectations around social justice work and "the invisible list of rules" that come with being on "the left." She discusses how making money can conflict with her desire to be true to herself when "the rules" don't serve her. She powerfully discusses the task of knowing and meeting her own expectations in the face of people and institutions who expect something less than authenticity.

Welcome back to Season 3 of The Trail Ahead, hosted by Faith E. Briggs & Addie Thompson. In this episode they reflect on why bringing together their multiplicities of identity is essential to their theory of change - which is (clumsily) that with a multi-racial dialogue that seeks to amplify the voices on the frontlines of environmental justice they can encourage more people to fall in love with the natural world and aim to protect it. They discuss the potential flaws in this theory, how it has changed, how much they are learning and where they go from here. While Addie and Faith originally met through trailrunning, they bonded through their passions. Faith is a documentary filmmaker with a background in representation and a focus on identity politics. Addie's road to stories is grounded in work that has been a mix of climate policy and environmental grantmaking. It is at this intersection where these conversations live. This episode reflects on previous seasons and gives some sneak peeks on the kind of conversations coming down the road.Theme music is "All is Forgiven" from the band Alekesam and the Album Sound Proof Heart.This episode is sponsored by Subaru, learn more on social via @subaru_usa.Additional music comes from Track Club by Marmoset. Other links, orgs, and folks mentioned in this episode are:Rising Hearts:  An Indigenous led grassroots organization committed to the heart work in elevating indigenous voices, promoting, and supporting intersectional collaborative efforts across all forms of movements in cultivating community with the goals of racial, social, climate and economic justice.Rising Hearts' Running on Native Lands  program that aims to make land acknowledgements at trail AND road race events a common and inclusive practice and encourages those who become a partner to go the extra mile by giving back to the communities which the land is borrowed from.Runners for Public Lands toolkitDr. Carolyn Finney episode of The Trail AheadBlack Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors by Dr. Carolyn FinneyLink to This LandThe Tongass and the fight to protect it from clearcutsAlaska's Izembek National Wildlife Refuge#StopWillowJade Begay, Policy & Advocacy Director at @ndncollective and member of the Enviro Justice Advisory Council at the white house, on TWITTERNDN CollectiveGrist Fixers 2022Imagine 2200

Carolyn Finney is a storyteller, author, and a cultural geographer who is deeply interested in issues related to identity, difference, creativity, and resilience. She's focused on developing greater cultural competency within environmental organizations, institutions, and the overall environmental movement. As the author of “Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors”, she is dedicated to challenging mainstream media on their representation of difference while increasing awareness of the part that privilege plays in shaping who gets to speak on environmental issues, policy, and action.Today on The Trail Ahead, Faith and Addie sit with Carolyn for an insightful conversation about the importance of politics within the outdoor space. Carolyn shares her thoughts on what diversification of the outdoors, specifically the environmental movement could look like, why it's important to create a space that allows for more evolved conversation, and why we need to honor the changes that we as humans go through. Together, they discuss what a progress-oriented mindset within the environmental movement looks like, and why it's important to honor the products and results of different generations.This is an incredibly raw conversation that took place in the wake of some truly pivotal and disheartening events. However, Carolyn leaves us feeling inspired and motivated by sharing her decades of wisdom in this episode.Episode Resources:Finney Website: https://www.carolynfinney.com/Black Faces, White Spaces on Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/books/black-faces-white-spaces-reimagining-the-relationship-of-african-americans-to-the-great-outdoors/9781469614489The Story of This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie: https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/media-and-interactives/media/music/story-behind-the-song/the-story-behind-the-song/this-land-is-your-land/Sierra Club Grapples With Founder John Muir's Racismhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/sierra-club-grapples-founder-john-muirs-racism-180975404/Kaylynn TwoTrees: https://ktwotrees.com/about/America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurstonon: https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonthompson/2022/07/19/baratunde-thurston-on-the-value-of-america-outdoors-and-the-power-of-pbs/?sh=3376cd295834

In this episode, Dr. Jenny Wolgemuth interviews the QR SIG's 2021 Outstanding Dissertation Award winner Dr. Marie Vea. Dr. Vea is the Assistant Dean for Student Services and Staff Development at the University of Vermont. Dr. Vea's dissertation is titled Sense of Place and Ways of Knowing: The Landscape of Experience for Black, Indigenous and People of Color in Natural Resources, Environmental Education and Placed-based Learning. The follow text presents a transcript of the recording. ---Jenny  0:25  Hello, everyone and welcome to qualitative conversations a podcast series hosted by the qualitative research special interest group of the American Educational Research Association. I'm Jennifer Wolgemuth, the current chair of the qualitative research special interest group outstanding dissertation award committee. I am very excited to be joined today by Dr. Maria Vea, who is the recipient of the 2021 outstanding dissertation Award for her dissertation titled, Sense of Place and Ways of Knowing: The Landscape of Experience for Black, Indigenous and People of Color in Natural Resources, Environmental Education and Placed-based Learning. Dr. Vea is an assistant dean for student services and staff development at the University of Vermont in the School of environment natural resources, where she has worked and studied for over 20 years. Her areas of research expertise and experience include green jobs and internships, social justice, and engaged learning. Thank you for joining me today, Dr. Vea. I'm really thrilled to learn more about you and your work. So to get us going, I was thinking our audience would appreciate learning more about your dissertation work. Can you talk about your dissertation, maybe about its scope, and its methodological focus.Marie  1:54  Thank you, Jenny. And thank you also for the opportunity to talk with you more and to for the award, I was really honored to stand with so many wonderful researchers, and also to bring some light to some of the work that I and my co researchers and colleagues have been doing. And as you mentioned, so the title of the dissertation speaks a lot to what the content and scope is. So sense of place, and ways of knowing. So where we are in place, not just physically but also metaphorically and figuratively, and ways of knowing epistemologies, how we arrive at the things that we believe we know and are important to us and make meaning of experience. But that's specifically what is experienced for black, indigenous and people of color bipoc folks in the field that I spend the most of my time and career in. So those are places related to natural resources, environmental education, and place based learning. So I've worked in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources for 17 years, and have worked with bipoc folks coming through those curriculum in the environment, and have found witnessed the challenges that a lot of the students, alumni and colleagues have within environmental learning and working spaces. So the dissertation really focuses on what has been called academic imperialism and epistemic injustice, how ways of knowing and experiences of this population of folks are invisible alized, diminished, erased from the larger environmental narratives. And oftentimes, what I experienced is that when we ask questions about why aren't people of color interested, or in the environmental fields, it's from a perspective of no lacking something, or it's not interesting enough, it's from a deficits, perspective. And this dissertation focuses on the strengths based perspective because, like, with underrepresented folks of all identities, we're here, we've been here and we continue to be here. And why is that? How do we sustain how do we survive? So the dissertation is a strengths based perspective, with co-researchers that are nine alumni of the Rubenstein school. And we came together to share stories and images and reflections in an environment that really was inspired by indigenous research methodologies, methodologies and methods and came out understanding having a better understanding of our individual ways of knowing and our collective Ways of Knowing that help us to survive and thrive in these learning and working spaces. A big part of the journey qualitative research. So coming together with people that I had long time relationship with, and standing shoulder to shoulder and strength to strength with them, acknowledging and honoring their experience and wisdom, and uplifting, that they have as much wisdom and expertise of their experience as anybody that might have a credential behind their name. So the other piece that I'll just add in terms of scope, and I'm talking to primarily I hope, folks in education in higher education and environmental education, and in some part, telling them what has happened and how we can make a change. But really, I want to talk to the folks of color that are wondering, how can I make find my space in place in the field of education in research in the environment? And how do I do that, that is in integrity with who I am, where I come from my ancestors, and with a spirit of joy in the face of challenges, especially in the last couple of years. So, so all of that is, is part of the scope of this particular work.Unknown Speaker  6:26  Beautiful, I'd love to hear your talk. And and that really comes through so clearly in reading your work. One of the things that I appreciated about it as a methodologist is that the the commitment and the ethic and the epistemology, your epistemological position, seem to drive your methodology that the methodology emerged through the process of the inquiry, as opposed to what we so often see, which is the methodology was chosen and decided in advance. So I would be sort of interested to hear your thoughts on that, particularly in relation to your decision to take a participatory approach to do this as a collaborative work. Can you talk about why you involved your participants, as co researchers, and then more broadly, about the methodological decision making that you made this work?Unknown Speaker  7:28  Thanks, Jenny, it's, it's interesting and great that you should say that the methodology didn't drive the work was the the the work, the capital W work that drove the methodology. And if, you know, I was a career counselor for a number of years, and I'm still kind of a career counselor when I advise students. And oftentimes, I think the aspiration for all of us is that, that I can show up to my full as my full self wherever I am. And I'm working with students for the last 20 plus years and specifically with students that are interested in the environment for the last 17 building relationship, telling stories creating environments where people can explore and fail and be awkward and you know, share and be vulnerable is part of what I think really makes the community where work really vital. And so that when I was exploring dissertation work and doctoral work, from the very beginning, I wanted it to be creative. I wanted to I wanted it to keep me engaged, and have it be fun. I don't know that you can use the word fun in research I tried. And, and also have it be you can only tell stories, best the stories that you know, well. And the stories I knew well. We're working with students, with students of color, specifically, as they came through four years of development and in education, and then after they graduated. So when I thought about what I wanted to research and what what I wanted to spend a lot of time and heart on. It was with the students and alumni, actually, and these co researchers were alumni from the years 2005 to 2018. I kept in touch with them all of those years, dinners and chats and walks and adventures and really had gotten to see them through many years of change and, and identity work. So my I had several proposals for dissertation before it actually landed on this one. That's probably the case with A lot of people, but um, but out of relationship and love, I so wanted to tell the story of these folks that came through a lot of experience, and we're making changes in the world that I so admired. And I wanted to do it in a way where it felt like we were family coming together over the course of a few months. And certainly over the course of the year that I was writing this up. So um, so that drove the methodology, being in relationship, telling stories, being accountable to each other, creating environments where we could ask hard questions of ourselves, and of each other, and honoring the wisdom that they all brought. And it came together really beautifully. Because we loved being with each other. We love telling stories. And over the course of the two to three months that we conducted the research of talking and sharing stories, we saw each other through many changes and the methodology of a visual relational narrative inquiry, using images and stories. And using larger narratives as, as a means of making meaning just felt really natural. That's how we conducted our relationship, even before we could call it a dissertation research. So that's how we came to the methodology. And I have to, I have to give a shout out to my influences, Kelly Clark Keefe and the Rubenstein school. The the many authors, Robin kimmerer, and Gregory kahit. De and so many people that were part of the story and seen and unseen ways. It's a huge network. And I think that's part of a qualitative research is for me, is that it's not just when I sit down and crunch data, but it's all of my experience that bears meaning to what I'm trying to make sense of at the time.Unknown Speaker  12:13  I love that response I've been involved in pulled into not unwillingly some grant writing, and to do grant writing, you need to tell people what you're going to do in advance. And it's difficult to for me to, to do that we're going to do this in advance, but also hold that space for the emergent methodology in the emergent design and make everyone or try to make everyone on the grant team comfortable with that idea that, that in a really good qualitative research project like yours, the methodology does emerge with the work as opposed to often the other way around. So beautiful example of it. Thank you.QR SIG AD  12:58  The qualitative research special interest group was established in 1987 to create a space within the American Educational Research Association. For the discussion of ethical, philosophical and methodological issues in qualitative research. We invite you to consider joining the qualitative research SIG today are members of a era, the annual fee for joining qualitative research special interest group for regular non graduate student members is $10. And the annual fee for graduate students is $5. As members of the QR SIG, you will gain access to a network of fellow qualitative scholars, as well as our many activities ranging from mentoring opportunities to our podcast series to update to news related to recent qualitative publications and jobs, please visit the American Educational Research Association website at www dot att era dotnet to join the qualitative research sake today.Unknown Speaker  13:52  I'm really curious about you have a strike through in your title that that caught my eye immediately. There are some words that aren't sticking through and then there are words that are stricken through and in particular, the words that are stricken through our natural resources, environmental education and place based learning. Can you talk about why strike through there and what what you wanted to communicate? And how other people have reacted to those strike? throughs?Unknown Speaker  14:22  Yeah, yeah. Um, so those terms on the in the field of environmental education, those are the most popular terms to describe anybody that is interested in the environment. And those are the names of the programs that are really popular related to that. So there's a familiarity of that. Oh, okay. So we're going to talk about these fields. And those all three of those terms have a colonialist and imperialist history to it, and it extractive history to it. So natural resources is extraction from the natural world where that the land is the source of goods and services. Environmental Education, writ large is connecting people to the land. And it was coined at a time where it felt really novel, to call it environmental education where environmental education had been happening for millennia, anybody who was living on the land was doing environmental education, and then place based education as, as a pedagogy. I had always had questions about what place whose place? How deep, are you going to ask those questions about history of place and connect and relationship to place. So I wanted to trouble all of that, to bring your eye to bring a reader's eye to those terms, and what those terms meant to them, and then putting a line right through them to say, you know, we're not, we're going to trouble this a lot. And I'm hoping to add hope to, you know, just pull the rug out from under some folks a little bit. But also demonstrate that we are going to go to some places where, you know, when you see something crossed out, it kind of gives you a little bit of a shock. And I find in my work that that little instability is actually that tension can actually be a really great site for learning if you're open to it. So that's the invitation.Unknown Speaker  16:39  I love it. I might have to connect with you after this podcast, absolutely. Questions and even some resources. So you're a fabulous source. So I'm just going to ask you about what inspired you to do the dissertation? And maybe that's still a valid question, or a good question to be asking, given everything you've shared so far, far, I'd also be interested in hearing beyond your career and your professional interest, if there's anything personal that really drove you to doing this dissertation.Unknown Speaker  17:21  Sure. Um, so I've actually been thinking, I don't know how far back we want to go. But I have been thinking it's I did, um, my graduate work a Master's of education at the University of Buffalo, in, in higher ed. And out coming out of that, I knew that I wanted to do a doctorate at some point. And, you know, of course, I'm the kind of person that just sort of follows my nose and flies by the seat of my pants. So back then back in the 90s, when I graduated, like, oh, international education, that sounded like a good doctorate, and then I hold on to that for a little bit, and then let that go. And so that the the wanting to study more and study more deeply had always been there, especially if you work in higher education, it's, it's in the water, in some ways, it's kind of an expectation. And after my master's degree, I'd worked at a couple of different institutions, or during my master's degree, I've worked at a couple of institutions. So one of them was Naropa Institute, now Naropa University. And it's the only Buddhist inspired institution in the country. And so imagine, my very first day on the job, I was in tea ceremony for six hours. So that's education. That's incredible. You can get a bachelor's degree in transcendental meditation and these disciplines that coming out of higher ed, I didn't know you could study these things. So that was one experience. And then, for four years after graduate work, I worked at the Savannah College of Art and Design. And while I can't claim to be an artist, the way that these students are artists, it really underscored for me how sharing knowledge can happen in so many different ways. And that getting lost in a medium. When students would tell me they were up for four days straight putting their exhibition together, that kind of experience. I envied, you know, to be so steeped in what you loved. Doing and doing it in an experiential way, not just reading and not just with your head, but with your entire body in many ways. I'm finding just the questions that you asked me Jen and finding that those are those are really profound influences on what I how I wanted to manage my my doctoral work. And then in 20,000, in 2010, when I finally had time to take some graduate work, I took a class with Dr. Corinne Gladney on qualitative research and data analysis. And poetry could be data, what? poetic transcription, drama, really all of these things, images, paintings could be data and analyzes data. So that really got me going. And things percolate for me. So all of these streams of artistic and arts based kind of methods and looking at data and graduate work is beyond just doing the scientific method data and collecting data, and then analyzing it and putting it into five chapters of a dissertation. I got the sense that I could do something much different. And so I did formally pursue the doctoral work and found people that were a bit left of conventional to talk with and, and also being situated in a school of Environment and Natural Resources, the nature connection, there are so many beautiful metaphors, and synchronicities, and, and learnings from that area of my work. It all kind of came together. So I think I might have lost the thread of what of your question, Jenny, but the journey, but there were multiple, multiple journeys, that because there's a time constraints on completing a dissertation, I needed to bring it all together, and brought it all together somehow, in questions about my own experience, in relationship with other people of color, relationship to land and sense of place. And I'm really grateful for the folks that pointed the way in terms of what qualitative research could be, and what I loved, I love the quotes from thin clendenen, that...if you're, if you're not asking more questions, after your research, you're doing it wrong. And that you fall in love with the people you are working with along the way and with the work. And I can sincerely say that this is this was a work of joy and love. It motivated me through the work. And it also compelled me to finish it in a way that honored and respected the contributions of my co researchers and everybody that was a part of, of this adventure. So all of that all of my experiences, all of the adventures and all the detours come up in this dissertation.Unknown Speaker  23:04  I love it. There's there's so much in higher education. That that encourages segmentation and encourages only bringing in a piece of yourself or a piece of your life or a particular storyline to your research. And for some people, that's fine, the segmentation works. What I like about you is that that there's a wholeness, even as you said, the story you're telling is partial or even the story you're telling has multiple lines, and there are multiple ways you could story are coming to the dissertation. There's a sense of fullness and wholeness. And you're bringing in so many experiences and so many values and so many emotions into the work and for you, it sounds like it wouldn't be satisfying. And we certainly picked up on that as a committee as we read it. Had you not done that. So I'm grateful for your work as an exemplar.Unknown Speaker  24:03  Thanks. And if I just add one thing, I just want to name that I had the privilege of doing this as part of it, it was it was a benefit to me as as a staff person at a university. So I mean, I do want to acknowledge that if it weren't for even some of the systemic privileges that I have in this space. I wouldn't I don't know that I would have been able to travel about and, and and move in circles with this. So I mean, there are tensions with that to that, you know, the creativity that that is part of this and the magnitude of of the connections might not have happened if I was compelled to complete it in five years because I needed to find a job afterward. So I think there are those other questions I have about just a system of doctoral work where you got to get it done and you and then you got to go on to the next thing. I think that's that can hamper some people.Unknown Speaker  25:05  No doubt. So following that, what advice or suggestions then would you share with graduate students who are writing a dissertation? like yours or otherwise?Unknown Speaker  25:20  Yeah. I was thinking about this question last night. And my head went immediately to Oh, bullet points and all of these things and you know, straight strategies and tips and people. And and then I remember that last summer, so june of 2020, I taught a course, to graduate students called epistemological plurality, or multiple ways of knowing. And, and I had 10, masters students masters in the leadership for sustainability at University of Vermont, and then 10 doctoral students from our college of education and social services. And because I was deep into writing my dissertation, I was all about relationality and authentic dissertation. And really, honoring that this body, our individual bodies are the site of knowledge and data and research as well. So I had no idea how I was going to conduct the class with 20 graduate students with Masters and PhD level students. But at the center of it was that each of them are crucial sites of knowledge and crucial sites of experience. So over the course of those six weeks, they were their primary teacher and learner in that experience, I, I shared my thoughts, I shared resources, I gave them prompting questions, but it was really up to them to engage their own learning, where there were no boundaries, there were there were expectations that they would engage with each other and engage with their work, but no particular deadlines to produce anything. And when you take off those, the if you when you offer that freedom, and to express their their exploration, and their their questions and learning in ways that showed up, like music, and drawing, and bookmaking and gardening, oh my gosh, the energy that comes out of that the synergies that come out of that. So my suggestion to graduate students would be to where you can find the the spaces that really strengthen your own internal muscles, engaging the work that you want to do. When you really honor that you do know what you need to do. And there are coaches along the way, but you you're driving the bus and find the Find the language that works best for you. If music is your language, find that if drawing is your language, find that poetry and images are my language. Those are the suggestions that I would make to graduate students. You know, a couple of the practical things. There's, you know, graduate writing centers, and other graduate students that can can inspire and also motivate if I didn't have our Graduate Writing Center as a space where I needed to really focus on my computer and write, I don't I think I might still be writing. So that dissertation, but um, but those are some of the things was there another part of the question about suggestions for reading was thatUnknown Speaker  29:11  Yeah, absolutely. I would be interested in for people who might be specifically interested in your focus area, your content area, as well as your methodological approach. What recommendations might you give to them for readings that really inspired you and your work?Unknown Speaker  29:31  Sure, um so you know, the default I'm looking at my my list of notes and the the people that I will name all have doctor in front of them. Before I get to that list of folks. There are there were there were so many people and and more than human folks that were resources for me. So you know, I want to acknowledge The land I want to acknowledge the, the elders indigenous and and others that graciously gave their time to me I want to I want to acknowledge the other other people that are devoted to these questions, but not in any educational or programmatic sense. And I am going to cite one article. And it's called how to cite like a badass tech feminist scholar of color. And the point of this is unsettling existing research practices by centering indigenous Asian and black feminist perspectives. And as resources I would encourage graduate students or anybody that wants to kind of go off trail for a little bit, is to look for the sources that have been historically erased or diminished. They're not going to show up in peer reviewed journals. They're not going to show up on the reading list of the majority of your professors. It requires a little bit more work and some deeper questions, but it makes the journey so much richer. So having said that, and I think the other programs that I look to look to are the masters of leadership for sustainability at UVM has a group of affiliates that span so many different disciplines and practices. They are inspiring and how they move in the world and ask these questions. Dr. Carolyn Finney, Gregory kahit de and Robin wall kimmerer. Lenny Strobel, who is a Filipino scholar in California and helped me connect to my own Filipino heritage. I mentioned Corinne Gladney, and Kelly Clark Keefe. And the books that I had on my desk all the time, where research is ceremony by Dr. Shawn Wilson decolonizing methodologies by Dr. Linda Smith, I see that on a lot of graduate student desks, and then the authentic dissertation by four arrows or Don Trent Jacobs, those really were inspiring. And it held me up when I thought that am I doing this right? Should I be doing this at all? Is anybody going to pay any attention? They really kept me on track.Unknown Speaker  32:39  Fabulous, I'm so glad this is being recorded. Otherwise, I'd be madly scribbling. So right now, I have many more videos. Oh, yeah. Well, you send them maybe we can attach them to the, to the podcast. So right now you are currently an assistant dean at the University of Vermont. Can you talk about your career path a little bit and your decision to get a PhD and maybe offer any tips to those who are seeking both academic and administrative careers in higher education?Marie  33:28  It's interesting, because I'm just thinking through what what my what my career path was, I shared a little bit about it. And I really, if I were to really encapsulate what my journey was, I just followed the the questions that I loved and the people that I loved. And that happened to land me in higher education. It happened to land me at places like Savannah College of Art and Design and the University of Vermont and, and the Rubenstein School of environment natural resources. I think the experiences that were most helpful it were learning how to get to know people, part of my graduate education at the University of Buffalo, which doesn't exist as a program anymore, is understanding higher ed administration. And there was also a component of that where we learned how to be counselors. And we understood or at least explored the psychology and different methods of understanding how people make meaning and move in the world. And I think for anybody that's pursuing a career career where you're working with people. And when you're working with minds, especially 18 to 27 year old, and I don't even want to bound that in a particular age group. being interested in people, and being interested in how people behave, and what's important to them individually and collectively, has been really important to me in my, in my work and in my career and how I interact with folks. So I think if I were to lay each of my jobs beside each other, that focus on people place in purpose has been the through line across all of those from the from the time that I was an admissions counselor as a graduate student on up now where I work with student services and advising and working with staff on how to staff development in terms of professional development and seeking strategies and opportunities to, to, to, to work better. In some ways, I feel like I want to open a bottle of wine and talk more collectively and in relationship with other people about what that what career means, what work means what it means to work in higher education. And I think higher education is changing so much now, that the path into higher education, I'm not quite sure the traditional ways are getting the degree and applying for the job and understanding the mechanics and the politics of higher education. But I think, and I'm going completely off script with what was my notes? I think, what, what the moment that we have right now is really asking ourselves, what is the value of learning? And is it learning at a university? Or is it learning in some other way that I can contribute to my community contribute to the challenges that face us, and those challenges are huge, their environmental, and their social, and from my perspective, people at the edges, people of marginalized identities are bearing the brunt of a lot of these changes right now. So I'm in this moment, I'm, I'm less interested in career in higher education, and more interested in a pursuit in life that actually will contribute to life and living. If that's how your education, that's great, if that's some other venue, go for it. And I think the possibilities, we are yet to be discovered.Unknown Speaker  37:52  I love that I'm going a little off script to I have the privilege and the honor to have met a doctoral student who I'm working with right now, who is a career current career counselor at a university and getting their doctoral degree. And they are very interested in the ways in which the university does or does not function as a compassionate or as a caring climate. And so, a lot of the things you're saying or resonating with me about it may not just be that learning can happen differently, or that higher education may not be the only path the most joyful path to learning. But that higher education in and of itself, needs to shift needs to make some shifts needs to do some deep reflection about the kinds of relationships that it currently makes possible. And the ones that it can and should and nurture and the ways in which that nurturing can happen.Unknown Speaker  39:01  Mm hmm. Yes. So and you know, that I, I talked with students about internal locus of control, that's a student affairs can kind of term and in heartwood is that the metaphor that I use where the the heartwood is the thing that actually keeps a tree, upright and upright doesn't necessarily mean stuck straight, but at least having that foundation within oneself that you know, that when you bend in the wind or in certain forces, that you're going to come back up in some measure. And I, you know, I'll say, you know, to kind of bring it full circle is the, when it was clear to me that qualitative research could provide the flexibility and the grounding and the integrity that I needed to ask the questions and make the Explorations that I wanted to It also demonstrated to me that if there are a number of us within the system of higher education, exploring these lines of thought, and conducting methodologies that are within integrity and relationship, that we might actually shift to the experience of higher education for a lot of people, whether we're explicit about it or not, exactly, you know, whether we're, yes, I like to use the word subversion, subvert the status quo and subvert the systems that aren't serving. Well. So nice.Unknown Speaker  40:38  Well the last thing I think people listening to this podcast would be really interested to hear is, what do you what are you engaging and thinking with now? What is your work look like now? And how can people get access to it?Marie  40:55  It's, I'm laughing, because when I was writing my dissertation, the last, you know, few years, I'd say, Well, I can't do that. Because I'm doing this dissertation. Like, I'll get to that after I'm done. And everybody was sort of, Okay, well, let's make sure Marie has time and space to do this. And then when I was done, like, okay, now that you finished, can you do this, this, this and this, and all things that I was really excited about. But ironically, I, I'm feeling like, Oh, where did all of my time go that I said, I would have after I finished writing. But so what I'm doing is them. Because the dissertation, the work of that I'm still in relationship with all of those core researchers, we keep in touch. And that work is so foundational integral and consistent with what I do at University of Vermont. Right now, in real time, where I'm working with the Rubenstein school, in asking questions about how to be a more inclusive place. How to look at the curriculum and make changes to the curriculum, how do we change processes for undergrad and graduate students so that they do feel more supported as they pursue their degrees. So there's that work and doing similar work with organizations that are environmentally related, like fish and wildlife, and our Vermont agency of natural resources. So there's that I'm getting more involved with the Masters for leadership and sustainability here at UVM, that I mentioned earlier. And that's a really liberatory radical, love centered graduate program. So anybody listening, please look at that. And you'll see a lot of what I'm talking about here. Talking with the CO researchers, because qualitative research, I think, in its best, in the best of times, has ripple effects, so that the CO researchers have taken the experience that we had a couple of years ago, and are finding themselves talking about it or learning from it even now, in their different contexts. So I'm curious about those ripple effects of that work. So I'm gonna convene those co researchers over tea and find out what's up with their lives. Leadership practices, and really interested in leadership practices, and facilitation, facilitating, learning and working spaces that are decolonizing, anti racist,and joyful. And then the last thing I'll say that it is immediate. I've been involved with three organizations over the last few years that I'd really love to spend more time with. And I attend an elders gathering each year, where elders from across the globe, talk about their wisdom, share their wisdom, so I'll be doing that this weekend. There's a center for Bobby lon studies based in California that is about Filipino indigenous spirituality. So I'll be spending more time with that. And people of the global majority in the outdoors Environment and Natural Resources is also a national organization that I'd like to spend more time getting to know. And then on the lighter side of things, playing on the water, tending to my garden, picking lots of berries, because it's that time of year. So and having wonderful conversations, I hope with with you, Jenny, again, and with anyone else who's listening to this podcast, I don't have a website. I need to create one. But please feel free anyone to reach out to me. I'm happy to share my dissertation and thoughts. I have conducted a few workshops and, and video videos that you can find on YouTube that I haven't consolidated into one place. But happy to share that too if you reach out to me, and then reaching out to me that isn't in integrity with building relationships. So I love to talk with people that are interested with this.Unknown Speaker  45:23  Fabulous Do you if someone were interested in reaching out to you, how would they do that? Marie  45:29  Yes, so you can email me at marie.vea@uvm.eduJenny  45:38  Thank you so much for your time today, Maria. It's been a joy and a pleasure. And I strongly encourage all of our listeners to engage your work because it was certainly transformative for me, as I am sure it will be for many others. Marie  45:59  Thank you so much, Jenny and I sincerely hope we'll talk again soon.

This episode was sponsored by Seirus Innovation, a Black-owned brand that delivers the best products enabling every outdoor enthusiast to enjoy any cold-weather activity comfortably. Seirus is committed to innovating for a more inclusive and sustainable outdoors filled with transformative experiences.   https://www.seirus.com/Slim Pickins Outfitters, another Black-owned outdoor gear shop, is offering our listeners a 10% discount code EABOOKCLUB through August of 2021 when you purchase at slimpickinsoutfitters.com. In this episode of Entrepreneurial Appetite's Black Book Discussions, we highlight Black environmentalists with a conversation between Dr. Carolyn Finney, author of Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors, and Alex Bailey, founder of Black Outside.About the author: Dr. Finney is a storyteller, author, and cultural geographer interested in issues related to identity, difference, creativity, and resilience. Her work aims to develop greater cultural competency within environmental organizations and institutions, challenge media outlets on their representation of difference, and increase awareness of how privilege shapes who gets to speak to environmental issues and determine policy and action.About the facilitator:Alex's love for the outdoors started as a summer camp counselor. After spending three summers working at one of the premier summer overnight camps for boys in the country, he witnessed the transformative power of the outdoors. Alex soon joined Teach for America and served as a classroom teacher for four years and later became an instructional coach with Teach for America San Antonio. Throughout his experience in both the classroom and as an instructional coach, he witnessed the inequity in outdoor programming for Black youth in the city of San Antonio.In 2018-2019, he embarked on a journey to observe and shadow 10+ summer camps across the country to better understand the impact outdoor programming has on youth to build a culturally relevant program in the city of San Antonio. In January 2019, Alex, alongside a community of passionate education advocates, founded Black Outside, Inc with a passion for expanding outdoor opportunities to Black youth across central Texas.About the Book:Why are African Americans so underrepresented when it comes to interest in nature, outdoor recreation, and environmentalism? In this thought-provoking study, Carolyn Finney looks beyond the discourse of the environmental justice movement to examine how the natural environment has been understood, commodified, and represented by both white and black Americans. Bridging the fields of environmental history, cultural studies, critical race studies, and geography, Finney argues that the legacies of slavery, Jim Crow, and racial violence have shaped cultural understandings of the "great outdoors" and determined who should and can have access to natural spaces.

In this rich and wide-ranging conversation, storyteller, cultural geographer, and "accidental environmentalist" Carolyn Finney speaks with hosts Hannah Kasun and Savannah Holt about race, history, environmental belonging, "colorblindness," and much more. Dr. Finney is the author of Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors (UNC Press, 2014) and is artist-in-residence and the Environmental Studies Professor of Practice in the Franklin Environmental Center at Middlebury College.

Christian Cooper. George Floyd. John Muir. Systemic racism. Cancel Culture. In this moment of racial reckoning, how do we call ourselves out in order to call ourselves in? What does "keeping it real" look like in this moment? Our loftier ideals won't matter if we don't deal with the truth on the ground. No matter how rigorous we are in our articulation of diversity and sustainability, our good intentions don't necessarily translate into real change if we haven't dealt with the underlying issues. We need to go beyond what is academically sanctioned. What does total transformation demand? Are we ready? Carolyn Finney, PhD is a storyteller, author and a cultural geographer. She is deeply interested in issues related to identity, difference, creativity, and resilience. Carolyn is grounded in both artistic and intellectual ways of knowing - she pursued an acting career for eleven years, but five years of backpacking trips through Africa and Asia, and living in Nepal changed the course of her life. Motivated by these experiences, Carolyn returned to school after a 15-year absence to complete a B.A., M.A. (gender and environmental issues in Kenya and Nepal) and a Ph.D. (where she was a Fulbright and a Canon National Science Scholar Fellow). Carolyn's first book, Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors was released in 2014. Recent publications include Self-Evident: Reflections on the Invisibility of Black Bodies in Environmental Histories (BESIDE Magazine, Montreal Spring 2020), and The Perils of Being Black in Public: We are all Christian Cooper and George Floyd (The Guardian, June 3rd 2020). She is currently doing a two-year residency in the Franklin Environmental Center at Middlebury College as the Environmental Studies Professor of Practice. Explore Gund events: https://www.uvm.edu/gund/events​​ Learn more about MacMillan Scholars in Residence: https://www.uvm.edu/gund/visiting-scholars​

This week Good News Gals Emily and Morgan cover Dr. Carolyn Finney. Green spaces offer benefits to our physical, mental, and social health, but they aren't experienced or accessed equally. As a teacher, storyteller, and “accidental environmentalist,” Dr. Carolyn Finney asks us to join her in reckoning with the question of “which public” our outdoor spaces serve and how we can collectively re-create these spaces for everyone.  Carolyn argues that we cannot control the skin we are born in and so whiteness is no worse than blackness or brownness BUT the way that whiteness has been weaponized and systemically given power is where it becomes problematic.  To learn more: Black Faces White Spaces by Carolyn Finney TEDx : https://www.ted.com/talks/carolyn_finney_whose_story_counts (Whose Story Counts? ) https://www.melaninbasecamp.com/trip-reports/2019/7/7/mbc-guide-to-outdoor-allyship (Melanin Base Camp Guide to Outdoor Allyship) **Disclaimer** This episode was recorded a week prior and thus does not address the murder of Daunte Wright during the conversation about police traffic stops.  Support this podcast

Listen and learn from leaders in the outdoor industry in this special highlight episode of the virtual Women’s Outdoor Summit. In celebration of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day and created by Teresa Baker, this event centered around inclusivity, accessibility, sustainability, entrepreneurship, and outdoor career advice. Hear from inspiring and thought-provoking speakers like Dr. Carolyn Finney, Intersectional Environmentalist, Women CEO panels, and more.Featured in this episode: Teresa Baker, Melanie Cox, Sarah Crockett, Jaylyn Gough, Deb Haaland, Sierra Domaille, Karla Amador, Alison Desir, Michelle Wardian, Natali Zollinger, Jenny Bruso, Dania Rivas, Syren Nagakyrie, Anaheed Saatchi, Kareemah Batts, Patricia Cameron, Leah Thomas, Sabs Katz, Diandra Marizet, Kristy Drutman, & Dr. Carolyn Finney.Hosted & Produced by Gale StraubWith Thanks to Julie HotzA production of Ravel MediaSponsored by BackcountryJoin the She Explores Podcast community on FacebookVisit She-Explores.com & Follow Us on InstagramResourcesWomen’s Outdoor SummitWebsiteWatch all the sessions on YouTubeFacebook GroupIn Solidarity ProjectRead: Black Faces, White Spaces Additional Companies & Organizations Mentioned in this Episode:Native Women’s WildernessHiHeyHello Magazine52 Hike ChallengeHarlem RunOutdoor ResearchSmartwoolPatagoniaArcteryxRVR2RVRUnlikely HikersInclusively OutdoorsMelanin Base CampBelayAllAdaptive Climbing GroupDisabled HikersCO BlackpackersIntersectional EnvironmentalistBrown Girl GreenRavel MediaSponsors and Discount CodesBackcountryEpisodes air weekly on Wednesdays-- subscribe wherever you listen so you never miss an episode.

To kick off our 4th anniversary Pledge Drive, on this week's program we bring you one of the most electrifying conversations to crackle over our airwaves this past year. We’re taking this opportunity to share with you again our favorite moment from the November 2020 Louisville Sustainability Summit: “Climate Crossroads: Exploring the intersection of Climate Change and Social Justice.” Today we bring you the Regional Panel on Building an Inclusive Sustainability Movement in Kentucky, featuring: Carla Walker, Climate Advisor, City of Cincinnati; Cassia Herron, Board Chair KFTC; and Dr. Carolyn Finney, author "Black Faces, White Spaces." Carla Walker is the Climate Advisor for the City of Cincinnati. She has a 15+ year career developing complex projects for large-scale civic engagement and public policy initiatives at the local, state, national and international levels. She has managed or consulted on 100+ advocacy or political campaigns, held Senior staff posts in three urban Mayoral Administrations, staffed State Legislators, and managed regional operations in three Presidential campaigns. In 2010, she started think BIG strategies, LLC to integrate the typical project silos and accomplish project goals for clients, connecting communications, government & community relations, organizational operations, project development, and team building. Cassia Herron is a native of Richmond, KY and has lived in Louisville for most of her adult life. She is a community development professional and public policy activist with over 15 years experience working on projects at the intersections of community and economic development, food and the built environment and has a unique perspective on these issues as they relate to West Louisville and Kentucky. She has organized farmers markets in West Louisville with Community Farm Alliance and later served as Board Chair. When she worked in the Economic Development Department for Louisville Metro Government, Cassia was instrumental in establishing the Farm-to-Table initiative. As the President of Louisville Association for Community Economics, she is leading efforts to open the Louisville Community Grocery - a community-owned grocery store in one of Louisville's downtown neighborhoods. As Board Chair of Kentuckians for The Commonwealth, she is engaged in energy reform, voter engagement and racial justice issues. Cassia is a graduate of UofL and has a Masters of Urban Planning from the University of Michigan. Carolyn Finney, PhD is a storyteller, author and a cultural geographer. The aim of her work is to develop greater cultural competency within environmental organizations and institutions, challenge media outlets on their representation of difference, and increase awareness of how privilege shapes who gets to speak to environmental issues and determine policy and action. Carolyn is grounded in both artistic and intellectual ways of knowing - she pursed an acting career for eleven years, but five years of backpacking trips through Africa and Asia, and living in Nepal changed the course of her life. Motivated by these experiences, Carolyn returned to school after a 15-year absence to complete a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. She has been a Fulbright Scholar, a Canon National Parks Science Scholar and received a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Environmental Studies. Along with public speaking, writing, consulting and teaching (at Wellesley College, UC-Berkeley & UK), she served on the U.S. National Parks Advisory Board for eight years which assists the National Park Service in engaging in relations of reciprocity with diverse communities. Her first book, Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors was released in 2014 (UNC Press). Truth to Power airs every Friday at 9pm, Saturday at 11am, and Sunday at 4pm on Louisville's grassroots, community radio station, Forward Radio 106.5fm WFMP and live streams at http://forwardradio.org

Our first QatEotW Presents! Join us for a snippet of our interview on queer camps and the history of camping with Juniper Lewis, then check out their article: Queer Camping, Then and Now. For more on camping and whiteness, Juniper recommends Black Faces, White Spaces by Carolyn Finney. Also! Also! Queers at the End of the World has a Patreon where we're putting great new content—like the rest of our interview with Juniper on video game environments. Come see us! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/queerworlds/support

On this week’s Sustainability Now!, your host, Justin Mog, continues his 2020 retrospective with a look back at the November 14th annual Chapter meeting of the Kentucky Sierra Club which featured a talk by Dr. Carolyn Finney, author of "Black Faces, White Spaces.” Dr. Finney is a storyteller, author and a cultural geographer. The aim of her work is to develop greater cultural competency within environmental organizations and institutions, to challenge media outlets on their representation of difference, and to increase awareness of how privilege shapes who gets to speak to environmental issues and determine policy and action. Carolyn is grounded in both artistic and intellectual ways of knowing - she pursed an acting career for eleven years, but five years of backpacking trips through Africa and Asia, and living in Nepal changed the course of her life. Motivated by these experiences, Carolyn returned to school after a 15-year absence to complete a B.A., M.A. (both of these degrees focused on gender and environmental issues in Kenya and Nepal, respectively) and Ph.D. (which focused on African Americans and environmental issues in the U.S.) She has been a Fulbright Scholar, a Canon National Parks Science Scholar and received a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Environmental Studies. Learn more about Dr. Finney at https://www.carolynfinney.com More information about the Kentucky Sierra Club is at https://www.sierraclub.org/kentucky As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW! Sustainability Now! airs on FORward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at http://forwardradio.org The music in this podcast is courtesy of the local band Appalatin and is used by permission. Explore their delightful music at http://appalatin.com

Interview guest Dr. Carolyn Finney helps us explore the complicated relationship between land, race and belonging in the United States. She explains what representation means in national parks and other outdoor spaces, talks about "The Perils of Being Black in Public", which she recently wrote for the "Guardian", and how organizations as well as individuals could develop greater cultural competency. This is part 2 of a mini series about the Great American Outdoors. We recorded the interview in September. Guest:Dr. Carolyn Finney is a cultural geographer, author and storyteller who, among many other things, served on the U.S. National Parks Advisory Board for eight years. https://www.carolynfinney.com/ Useful links:"The Perils of Being Black in Public", published in the Guardian in June 2020 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/03/being-black-public-spaces-outdoors-perils-christian-cooper Carolyn Finney's book "Black Faces, White Spaces" (2014) https://uncpress.org/book/9781469614489/black-faces-white-spaces/ And if you want to see Carolyn talk, here's a TED talk she gave in February 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i58ayzQf4wc

On this week's program, we bring you one of the most electrifying conversations from the 11/12/20 Louisville Sustainability Summit: “Climate Crossroads: Exploring the intersection of Climate Change and Social Justice.” Today we share with you the Regional Panel on Building an Inclusive Sustainability Movement in Kentucky, featuring: Carla Walker, Climate Advisor, City of Cincinnati; Cassia Herron, Board Chair KFTC; and Dr. Carolyn Finney, author "Black Faces, White Spaces." Carla Walker is the Climate Advisor for the City of Cincinnati. She has a 15+ year career developing complex projects for large-scale civic engagement and public policy initiatives at the local, state, national and international levels. She has managed or consulted on 100+ advocacy or political campaigns, held Senior staff posts in three urban Mayoral Administrations, staffed State Legislators, and managed regional operations in three Presidential campaigns. In 2010, she started think BIG strategies, LLC to integrate the typical project silos and accomplish project goals for clients, connecting communications, government & community relations, organizational operations, project development, and team building. Cassia is a native of Richmond, KY and has lived in Louisville for most of her adult life. She is a community development professional and public policy activist with over 15 years experience working on projects at the intersections of community and economic development, food and the built environment and has a unique perspective on these issues as they relate to West Louisville and Kentucky. She has organized farmers markets in West Louisville with Community Farm Alliance and later served as Board Chair. When she worked in the Economic Development Department for Louisville Metro Government, Cassia was instrumental in establishing the Farm-to-Table initiative. As the President of Louisville Association for Community Economics, she is leading efforts to open the Louisville Community Grocery - a community-owned grocery store in one of Louisville's downtown neighborhoods. As Board Chair of Kentuckians for The Commonwealth, she is engaged in energy reform, voter engagement and racial justice issues. Cassia works as a freelance writer and urban planner with expertise in community engagement, facilitation, grant-writing, policy development and strategic planning. Cassia is a graduate of UofL and has a Masters of Urban Planning from the University of Michigan. Carolyn Finney, PhD is a storyteller, author and a cultural geographer. The aim of her work is to develop greater cultural competency within environmental organizations and institutions, challenge media outlets on their representation of difference, and increase awareness of how privilege shapes who gets to speak to environmental issues and determine policy and action. Carolyn is grounded in both artistic and intellectual ways of knowing - she pursed an acting career for eleven years, but five years of backpacking trips through Africa and Asia, and living in Nepal changed the course of her life. Motivated by these experiences, Carolyn returned to school after a 15-year absence to complete a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. She has been a Fulbright Scholar, a Canon National Parks Science Scholar and received a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Environmental Studies. Along with public speaking, writing, consulting and teaching (at Wellesley College, UC-Berkeley & UK), she served on the U.S. National Parks Advisory Board for eight years which assists the National Park Service in engaging in relations of reciprocity with diverse communities. Her first book, Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors was released in 2014 (UNC Press). Truth to Power airs every Sun. 4pm, Mon. 2pm & Tue. 9am on Louisville's grassroots, community radio station, Forward Radio 106.5fm WFMP and http://forwardradio.org

In May 2020, George Floyd was murdered by police in Minnesota. Within the same week, Christian Cooper, a Black man, avid birder, and member of the New York City Audubon Society was was birding in Central Park when a white woman called the New York City police on him after he asked her to leash her dog. In her phone call to police she portrayed Cooper as a threatening black man. As these events unfolded simultaneously, many people working in outdoor and environmental spaces reckoned with the traditional centering of white experiences in nature and the role that systemic racism has played in the environmental movement. In her book, “Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors”, Dr. Carolyn Finney explores why African Americans are underrepresented in environmental movements. In this River Talk, Cumberland River Compact Executive Director Mekayle Houghton joins Carolyn Finney for a conversation on the historic and lived experiences that have brought us to where the environmental movement is today and how we can build a more inclusive, equitable and just future. Dr. Carolyn Finney is a storyteller, author and a cultural geographer whose work aims to develop greater cultural competency within environmental organizations, challenge media outlets on their representation of difference, and increase awareness of how privilege shapes who gets to speak to environmental issues and determine policy and action. She is currently a scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College’s Franklin Environmental Center. Read more about Carolyn Finney and purchase her book at her website: https://www.carolynfinney.com/ Support the Cumberland River Compact's River Talks program: https://cumberlandrivercompact.org/get-involved/donate/ Learn More about the Resources Dr. Carolyn Finney Shared: Carolyn Finney's TED Talk MaVynee Betsch / The Beach Lady John Francis Audrey and Frank Peterman Rue Mapp and Outdoor Afro Angelou Ezeilo and Greening Youth Lovecraft Country Sundown Towns Orion Magazine "I Am Not Your Negro" Documentary Film Article: "Liberal, progressive — and racist? The Sierra Club faces its white-supremacist history." Robert Hanna's Podcast with Carolyn Finney --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thecompact/message

This week we're joined by the charming and witty voice of Laura Mendenhall. Laura is a biologist by day, and a conservationist in her spare time. In college, she describes herself as an "aggressive vegetarian," which changed when she was doing condor conservation work in California and went on her first abalone hunt. These days, Kansas is her home hunting territory, where she's Board President of the Kansas Wildlife Federation. Laura shares with us what it's like to join a board of directors, and why you should consider it, even if your first reaction is, "Uhhh, what is a board?" 2:30 Anyone else feeling a little soft and doughy before September? 3:00 "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat" with Samin Nosrat on Netflix and in print (it takes your turkey-cooking game to another level) 7:00 On being a Jane of all trades - hunting, gardening, birding, AND... (wait for it)... sourdough. Boom. 8:00 College memories: "I know I had classes with hunters...because there were always dudes who showed up in camo. But I never interacted with them." 8:30 From being an "aggressive vegetarian" to being a hunter 9:30 One of the biggest threats to condor recovery in California was lead ammunition 10:00 Check out the Artemis episode 9 on lead-free ammo with Kodi Jo Jaspers 11:00 Michael Pollan's book, "Omnivore's Dilemma" and his hunt for a feral pig in California 12:00 Diving for abalone in Pacific waters... it involves two wet suits, a special pry bar, and crossing a thermocline, kelp forests, pearls... and SHARKS. Abalone = basically a rock with guts the size of your face 18:00 Going from an abalone hunt to pheasants and beyond - hunting fills a void when your life circumstances need it most 24:00 Totally ok to dislike hunting with your husband 26:00 Finding female hunting friends... not always easy, almost always rewarding! 28:00 Feeding 100+ wedding guests on home-harvested turkeys... it can be done! (Eight turkeys did the job.) 30:00 MeatEater's "hunting purity score"  - the more primitive/ethical/harder you make it, the higher the purity score 32:00 Kansas deer hunting scene: Bowhunting season overlaps with the rut, people are big into tree stands and bait piles. Hunting on private land (especially ag land) is more common than public land hunts 36:00 Kansas... "we're more than I-70, you guys!" 37:00  Hunting shelter belts or hedgerows -- they're breaks in ag fields, and great hunting spots (kind of thorny sometimes!) 38:00 Kansas Wildlife Federation 40:00 On volunteering by serving on a group's board of directors.... and having that moment, "Want to join the board?" and you're all, "Wut is a board?" Not as scary as it sounds! And a great way to give back. 44:00 If you're thinking about possibly joining a board, try sitting in on a meeting or meeting some of the other board members. And don't fall victim to imposter syndrome! Reach out. Start talking. 46:00 Non-diverse boards taking on diversity 48:00 Artemis book club, "Black Faces in White Spaces" by Carolyn Finney  51:00 Laura's super-secret method for prepping yourself for any kind of speaking or interview engagement. (Spoiler alert: It starts with Beyonce... and there's hand-motions involved!) 55:00 Kansas Wildlife Federation: 70 years strong! Plus, they run an outdoor adventure camp for kids. 57:00 R3 - Recruitment, retention, reactivation 1:00:00 Axing mountain goats to save sheep in the Grand Tetons 1:01:00 Federal judge overturns Trump administration changes to Migratory Bird Treaty Act  1:04:00 Artemis is hiring! 1:05:00 Monday, Aug. 24, webinar on sports dog safety with a veterinarian/bird hunter/general badass Meg Puchlerz of On Point Vet. Register here!

Hiking has been all the rage lately. But its popularity also reveals uncomfortable truths about who gets to belong in the great outdoors. This episode, Cristen and Caroline cross paths with geographer Carolyn Finney and Outdoor Journal Tour founders Kenya and Michelle Jackson-Saulters to map out the duality of America's hiking trails as sites of racial pain as well as Black joy and healing. Follow Unladylike on social unladylikemedia. Subscribe to our newsletter at unladylike.co/newsletter [unladylike.co]. And join our Facebook group! Unladylike: A Field Guide to Smashing the Patriarchy and Claiming Your Space is available now, wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Signed copies are available at podswag.com/unladylike. This ad is brought to you by Prose [prose.com/unladylike for 15% off first order [prose.com]], Best Fiends [bestfiends.com [bestfiends.com]], and Wild Basin [drizly.com [drizly.com] code UNLADYLIKE for $5 off first order].

Hiking has been all the rage lately. But its popularity also reveals uncomfortable truths about who gets to belong in the great outdoors. This episode, Cristen and Caroline cross paths with geographer Carolyn Finney and Outdoor Journal Tour founders Kenya and Michelle Jackson-Saulters to map out the duality of America's hiking trails as sites of racial pain as well as Black joy and healing. Follow Unladylike on social unladylikemedia. Subscribe to our newsletter at unladylike.co/newsletter [unladylike.co]. And join our Facebook group! Unladylike: A Field Guide to Smashing the Patriarchy and Claiming Your Space is available now, wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Signed copies are available at podswag.com/unladylike. This ad is brought to you by Prose [prose.com/unladylike for 15% off first order [prose.com]], Best Fiends [bestfiends.com [bestfiends.com]], and Wild Basin [drizly.com [drizly.com] code UNLADYLIKE for $5 off first order]. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stevie Parsons is an angler and conservationist whose values were shaped by her upbringing in native Hawaiian culture. Stevie joins Artemis to talk about how she got into fishing. It started with a book, a GPS, and a can-do attitude that she could bag a salmon if she gave it a try. (Spoiler alert: She did bring home a salmon.) Sharing the ocean's bounty with friends and family is part of her mojo, and it works to spread the love and enthusiasm for wild places, too. 5:00 Hawaiian Native words for 'love of the land' and 'balance' - which are part of a greater ethos for living/harvesting responsibly, and sharing bounty with friends/family 7:00 "To take and to not give back is to be a thief." With harvesting comes a responsibility for conservation. 12:00 First fish: A two-inch bluegill on a spinning rod. For the win! Then upon moving to Oregon, learning salmon-fishing 15:00 Salmon fishing... Stevie started with a book, a GPS, and a great attitude! No really... that's all you need to get started 18:00 You can do a lot to be ready before your line hits the water... there's YouTube, there are books, etc. 22:00 If you're flailing to fly-fish, why not pick up a spinning rod? What you learn from spin-fishing totally carries over to fly-fishing 24:00 Sturgeon fishing: Trying to land a big, strong dinosaur 26:00 Lingcod are about as fun in the kitchen as they are on the line. Miso lingcod is just... [smacking fingers to mouth] 29:00 Where to find lingcod - just about anywhere off the Pacific Coast 31:00 Lingcod can be bluish-green when you cut into them, they have some gnarly teeth, and they're adventurous in what they'll bite. A super-fun game fish! 33:00 Use your bait in scale to the fish. Want a big fish? Need some big bait on that hook, like herring or salmon bellies 38:00 Big fishing rods, little people 41:00 Part of what makes fishing so awesome is that you're always learning new things... no one has seen it all 42:00 Chinook versus sockeye/coho fishing 43:00 Stevie's salmon-smoking secrets! Rub recipe: 3 c. brown sugar, 1 c. Johnny's seasoning salt, 1/4 c. fresh ground pepper (don't skimp!). Mix it up, put it in a bottle, then sprinkle it over the salmon. Put it in the fridge overnight. Next morning: Put salmon out to drain (no toweling it off!) -- you need that tacky surface for good smoking. Stevie uses a Traegar for smoking, and she watches it closely. It's done when the white oiliness starts to appear on the surface. (Also a winning recipe for sturgeon!) 51:00 Albacore tuna fishing off the Pacific Coast 56:00 Bear-on-car vandalism! 1:00:01 Artemis Book Club: "Black Faces, White Spaces" by Carolyn Finney  Discussions start this week.

Carolyn Finney, PhD is a storyteller, author and cultural geographer. Her widely-praised first book, Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors (UNC Press 2014) brought her to national attention as a scholar and speaker on race, belonging, environment, narrative and place – on whose story counts and who belongs. She is a former Fulbright scholar and has served on the U.S. National Parks Advisory Board.Previously a faculty member at UK, Finney is now the Environmental Studies Professor of Practice in the Franklin Environmental Center at Middlebury College.

We can't talk about eco-friendly and sustainable living without understanding how environmentalism as we know it has not been accessible to all in the past, and still isn't today. Intersectional environmentalism puts environmentalism and social justice squarely together, and in this episode, we spoke about all things sustainability and equality with Carolyn Finney, the author of Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors. Carolyn shared her own experiences around being Black in the outdoors, serving on the National Parks Advisory Board and what intersectional environmentalism means to her. For show notes and more, visit brightly.eco/podcast.

It’s the start to a holiday weekend, which often means spending time outdoors, whether that’s going to the beach, on a hike, or grilling in a park. But not everyone feels safe enjoying the great outdoors—and we’re not talking about getting mosquito bites or sunburns. In late May, a white woman, Amy Cooper, called the police on a Black bird watcher who asked her to leash her dog. This incident felt familiar to many other Black outdoor enthusiasts, many of whom had encountered similar experiences of racism outside. To understand why the outdoors is an unwelcoming place for some people, we need to look back at our violent history. Joining Ira to talk about this is Dr. Carolyn Finney, author of the book Black Faces, White Spaces. She is also a scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College in Vermont. And later in the conversation, Ira is joined by two scientists, biology graduate student Corina Newsome from Statesboro, Georgia, and exploration geoscientist Tim Shin from Houston, Texas. They’ll talk about what it’s like to do fieldwork while Black, and what responsibility academic institutions should have in keeping their students safe.   As coronavirus cases surge across the U.S., including in Texas, Florida, Arizona, and California, it’s more important than ever to have an accurate and real-time understanding of transmission. Epidemiologists have been measuring the spread of the virus based on the number of individual people who test positive. But depending on when people get tested, and how long it takes to get their results, confirmed cases can lag days behind actual infections. Luckily, there’s another way to find out where people are getting sick: The virus that causes COVID-19 can be detected in feces, and for months, researchers have been studying whether sampling sewage systems can help identify new outbreaks faster. Scientific American technology editor Sophie Bushwick joins Ira to talk about the value of sewage tracing for COVID-19. Plus, a new sparrow song has gone viral in Canada, and why summer fireworks can damage not only your hearing, but also your lungs.

Dr. Carolyn Finney is a storyteller, author, and cultural geographer. Her work looks to develop greater cultural competency within environmental organizations and institutions, challenge media outlets on their representation of difference, and increase awareness of how privilege shapes who gets to speak to environmental issues and determine policy and action.Her work is grounded in both artistic and intellectual ways of knowing - she pursued an acting career for eleven years, spent five years backpacking through Africa and Asia and living in Nepal, and eventually returned to school after a 15-year absence to complete her bachelors, masters degrees, and eventually a Ph.D.She has been a Fulbright Scholar, a Canon National Parks Science Scholar, and she received a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Environmental Studies. Carolyn has worked with the media in various capacities including the Tavis Smiley Show, MSNBC, and Vice News Tonight; she’s written op-eds for Outside Magazine & Newsweek; was a guest editor & contributor for a special section on Race & the National Parks in Orion Magazine; participated in a roundtable conversation with REI and The Atlantic; and has appeared in interviews with NPR, Sierra Club, Boston Globe, National Geographic, and The Guardian; and she served on the U.S. National Parks Advisory Board for eight years. Her first book, Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors was released in 2014.In this episode, I talk to Dr. Finney about what sustainability means to her, how sustainability and environment became part of her work, and her unique approach in working both inside and outside of academia. She discusses how her scholarly work complements her creative artistic practice, and vice versa. We also get a glimpse into current and upcoming projects.About This PodcastThis show asks the broad question: What does ‘sustainability’ really mean? Finding out is partly what this show is about. Doing the deep dive with each guest, I try to come at the concept from various perspectives.In this podcast series, I'll take a broad view of the term, as we hear from educators, activists, community organizers, artists, scientists, designers, journalists, and more on what it means to them, and how they - and we - play a part in it.Dr. Finney snaps a selfie for the podcast.Artifacts gathered by Finney for use in her creative nonfiction book project.

Engage, Connect, Protect Empowering Diverse Youth as Environmental Leaders by Angelou Ezeilo with Nick Chiles Angelou Exeilo on Engage, Connect, Protect: Empowering Diverse Youth as Environmental Leaders. This is an important contribution to the ongoing conversation about our environment, and an inclusive one as well. For everyone looking to really make an impact, be of service, connect and bridge the cultural and generational divide, this is it! "Ezeilo's book is powerful, personal and practical. Speaking truth to power, she engages our hearts while challenging our comfort zones as it relates to race and the environment.— Carolyn Finney, Ph.D. author, Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors While concern about the state of our land, air, and water continues to grow, there is widespread belief that environmental issues are primarily of interest to wealthy white communities. Engage, Connect, Protect explodes this myth, revealing the deep and abiding interest that African American, Latino, and Native American communities – many of whom live in degraded and polluted parts of the country – have in our collective environment. Part eye-opening critique of the cultural divide in environmentalism, part biography of a leading social entrepreneur, and part practical toolkit for engaging diverse youth, Engage, Connect, Protect covers: >Why communities of color are largely unrecognized in the environmental movement >Bridging the cultural divide and activate a new generation of environmental stewards >A curriculum for engaging diverse youth and young adults through culturally appropriate methods and activities A resource guide for connecting mainstream America to organizations working with diverse youth within environmental projects, training, and employment.

José G. González is the Founder of Latino Outdoors. He is an experienced educator as a K-12 public education teacher, environmental education advisor, outdoor education instructor and coordinator, and university adjunct faculty. He is also an illustrator and science communicator. His commentary on diversity and environmental/outdoor equity has been featured by High Country News, Outside Magazine, Earth Island Journal, and Latino USA, among others. He engaged in collaborations with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, U.S. Department of Interior, and the National Park Service during the Obama Administration. He also represented Latino Outdoors in several coalitions including the Latino Conservation Alliance, the Next 100 Coalition, and California Parks Now. He has been recognized with several honors, including the National Wildlife Federation Environmental Educator Award, Grist Magazine “Grist 50”, and The Murie Center Spirit of the Muries, among others. You may have also seen him in various outdoor spaces or read his poetic musings. He received his B.A at the University of California, Davis, and his M.S at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources & Environment. Want to start your own cause-based podcast? Let’s get you launched!! For more details on how you can work with me 1-on-1 to get your show up and running, please visit http://www.ASustainableMind.com/launch In this episode Marjorie and José González discuss: The importance of having minorities represented in the outdoor community - as participants and as leadership The challenges that some communities encounter regarding outdoor access and how to overcome those challenges How strategic partnerships play into building a more racially diverse outdoor community and why not just commitment, but alignment, plays a key role in success partnership success How to support youth in building healthy relationships with nature Resources from Jose: Four Network Principles for Collaboration Success by Dr. Jane Wei-Skillern and Dr. Nora Silver  Dr. Carolyn Finney, author of Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by Adrienne Maree Brown Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer  @TheNapMinistry Connect with José González & Latino Outdoors: José González: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/josebilingue/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/josebilingue/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/josebilingue/ Latino Outdoors: latinooutdoors.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/LatinoOutdoors/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LatinoOutdoors/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latinooutdoors/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/latino-outdoors     Connect with Marjorie Alexander: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asustainablemind/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/SustainableMind Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/asustainablemind/ Website: asustainablemind.com Subscribe, Rate & Review ASM on Apple Podcasts: http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1039692339

This week on this show, Ben O’Brien and Phil the Engineer take a closer look at the reaction (both good and bad) to Episode #89 with Dr. Carolyn Finney. In the interview portion of the show, Ben is joined by Brianna Pobiner, a paleoanthropologist at the Smithsonian studying the evolution of the human diet. After a walk through “The Hall of Human Origins,” they discuss how eating meat has contributed to our humanity. Enjoy.   Connect with Ben and MeatEater Ben on Instagram MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube Shop MeatEater Merch See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week’s show, MeatEater’s Miles Nolte and I discuss the issue of race in the hunting community and consider the idea of increasing diversity within and among hunters. For the interview segment, I’m joined by Dr. Carolyn Finney, a storyteller, author, and cultural geographer who wrote the book, Black Faces, White Spaces, which addresses the relationship of African Americans to the outdoors. It’s an incredibly difficult and important conversation for us all. Enjoy.   Connect with Ben and MeatEater Ben on Instagram MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube Shop MeatEater Merch See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week’s edition of Sustainability Now!, your host, Justin Mog, brings you highlights from Carolyn Finney’s October 3rd talk at the Louisville Free Public Library entitled “Attending to Place: Black Faces, White Spaces." Dr. Finney is a storyteller, author and cultural geographer. Her widely-praised first book, Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors (UNC Press 2014) brought her to national attention as a scholar and speaker on race, belonging, environment, narrative and place – on whose story counts and who belongs. She is a former Fulbright scholar and has served on the U.S. National Parks Advisory Board. Previously a faculty member at UK, Finney is now the Environmental Studies Professor of Practice in the Franklin Environmental Center at Middlebury College. As always, our interview is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW! Sustainability Now! airs on FORward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at http://forwardradio.org The music in this podcast is used by permission from the fantastic Louisville band, Appalatin. Explore their inspiring music at http://www.appalatin.com

Carolyn Finney, PhD is a storyteller, author and cultural geographer. Her widely-praised first book, Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors (UNC Press 2014) brought her to national attention as a scholar and speaker on race, belonging, environment, narrative and place – on whose story counts and who belongs. She is a former Fulbright scholar and has served on the U.S. National Parks Advisory Board.Previously a faculty member at UK, Finney is now the Environmental Studies Professor of Practice in the Franklin Environmental Center at Middlebury College.

Carolyn Finney, PhD is a storyteller, author and cultural geographer. Her widely-praised first book, Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors (UNC Press 2014) brought her to national attention as a scholar and speaker on race, belonging, environment, narrative and place – on whose story counts and who belongs. She is a former Fulbright scholar and has served on the U.S. National Parks Advisory Board.Previously a faculty member at UK, Finney is now the Environmental Studies Professor of Practice in the Franklin Environmental Center at Middlebury College.

What will Mi'kma'ki look and feel like when environmental justice is achieved? Over the last couple of years, we've asked this question to dozens of people working on the front lines of these movements. Because it turns out that environmental justice is not just about dismantling systems of oppression like colonial and white supremacy. It definitely IS about those things, but it's also about imagining and shaping futures where we can all safely live, work and play together on these unceded lands, humans and non-humans alike. For some it was a daunting questions. After all, environmental justice can only happen when we've healed from all of the other kinds of injustice too. As Indigenous Climate Justice activist and member of Chipewan First Nation Eriel Deranger describes, "It’s not just about the environmental movement.  Decolonization only works if it’s across the board.  Through economics, through commerce, through trade, through the development of those resources.  For me, decolonization is a restoration of balance in our relationship with mother earth, and it would change everything." Others really relished in sharing their visions of a just future. Mi'kmaq rights holder and activist Barbara Low's vision was on the tip of her tongue.  “This has always been Mi’kma’ki and it will be fully Mi’kma’ki again and that means all of our unceded territories. This whole colonial project is just going to be a drop in the bucket of our whole time." In today's episode we'll be exploring how tools and frameworks from reparations and reconciliation to decolonization and afrofuturism can help us to envision and shape futures where we don't have to fight for environmental justice any longer. African American writer and cultural geographer Carolyn Finney compels us to imagine  how we will attend to the relationships at the centre of these visions, too: "What if  everything from legislation to the way we structure our institutions, our curriculums, and our behaviour, came from that premise that justice is love made public? That’s a state of mind I want to be living in, where we don’t necessarily have to call things out like environmental justice or social justice anymore, because we are always tending to it in a full, rich, and complex way, as part the fabric of who we are." We all have roles to play in imagining and shaping just futures on these lands.  For many of us, it begins with learning to listen. And as we've heard throughout this podcast series, many of us need to be willing to let go and allow environmental justice movements to change everything.  In Mi'kma'ki, it turns out that our ancestors made treaties that lay out a relationship framework that can help show us the way. As Mi'kmaq rights holder, artist and metal fabricator Tayla Paul describes, all of these concepts are within reaching distance. "It’s come to the point where we have to retire the old way of doing things. And I think it’s not just indigenous people that understand that. We already get it on a grassroots level. On a friendship level. We know what friendship, and sharing and peace are."  Featured Voices: Dr. Wanda Thomas Bernard Eriel Deranger Dr. Carolyn Finney Shaya Ishaq El Jones Lynn Jones Barbara Low    Catherine Martin Rebecca Moore Michelle Paul Tayla Paul Dr. Ingrid Waldron Quotes have been condensed here for clarity and brevity. Huge thanks to every one of the ears and voices that made this episode and this five episode series possible.  Our theme was composed by the incredible Nick Durado. We are also grateful to N'we Jinan Artists and youth from Asiniw-Kisik Education Complex in Kawacatoose First Nation, Saskatchewan for allowing us to excerpt the amazing song, Many Paths. This project has been supported by Ecology Action Centre and the Community Conservation Research Network

When it comes to environmental justice, are environmental organizations listening? Are we willing to change in the ways that we are being asked? Environmental justice movements define our environment more broadly than the mainstream environmental movement, recognizing the interconnectedness of the social and ecological crises we are facing. Centring the voices of Black, Indigenous and people of colour, environmental justice works to resist and reshape the ways that race, space and power intersect. These grassroots advocates have also repeatedly called on mainstream environmental organizations to address environmental racism, elitism in the movement, and lack of diverse representation on their staffs and boards. As questions around diversity, decolonization, and justice begin to gain more traction in mainstream social movements, environmental organizations are beginning to respond. But the path is messy and uncertain. As Ecology Action Centre‘s Joanna Bull describes: “We don’t actually even see what were being asked to do yet, I don’t think. We being the environmental movement. I don’t think we fully understand what is seen as problematic about the way we are now. And I think a lot of those things that are problematic are really deeply entrenched with the structure of how we exist.” In this episode we’re going to explore some of the ways that the environmental movement has responded to the challenges presented by environmental justice, including some stories of Ecology Action Centre’s own journey here in unceded Mi’kmaq territory. We’ll be asking some uncomfortable questions as part of this work to explore our complicity with the oppressive systems we are fighting. We’ll be practicing listening to environmental perspectives from outside of our bubble. And we’ll be wondering about our own roles and responsibilities when it comes to a just future here in Mi’kma’ki and beyond. We don’t have any answers, but we want to share the questions we have been asking so far, in the hopes that more of us can begin to share this messy work of shifting from good intentions to good practice. As Dr. Carolyn Finney suggests, these questions are just the beginning: “Maybe what we need to do is to be asking different questions. Maybe what we need to do is to restructure the way we’re in relationship to one another across difference. And that is a lot more work. It might change everything we’re doing.” We hope you’ll tune into this Shades of Green podcast episode, “Listen Up: On Building Relationships Across Difference in the Environmental Movement.” Stay curious with us as we dig into some juicy questions that challenge us to step up to the work of building a just future together. Featured Voices: Joanna Bull Eriel Deranger Dr. Carolyn Finney Barbara Low Randolph Haluza-Delay Lynn Jones Stephen Thomas Dr. Ingrid Waldron Quotes have been condensed here for clarity and brevity. Huge thanks to every one of the ears and voices that made this episode possible. Further thanks to Joanna Brenchley, Erica Butler, Cintia Gillam, Jen Graham and Peter Lane. Our theme was composed by the incredible Nick Durado. We are also grateful for permission from Ansley Simpson to excerpt from her lovely song A Mixture of Frailties. This project has been supported by Ecology Action Centre and the Community Conservation Research Network Subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, or Feedburner. And follow us on Twitter! Further Reading: https://shadesofgreenweb.wordpress.com/2018/03/01/listen-up-building-relationships-across-difference-in-the-environmental-movement/

What is environmentalism? What do we mean when we talk about “the environment” here on unceded Mi'kmaq territory? Who defines what's included in that meaning, and what's left out?  At Shades of Green, these juicy questions have led to... well, more questions.  The Canadian Encyclopedia tells us that the environmental movement got started in the early 1900s, "when conservationists aimed to slow the rapid depletion of Canadian resources in favour of more regulated management.”  It sounds like a time where settlers were beginning to sense that the forests of Turtle Island weren't as endless as they'd once seemed. When we talked to Mi'kmaq rights holder and land defender Barbara Low, she described the origins of environmentalism a little differently. “When settlers started showing up we were doing our best to show them how to be human beings, like us. 'We’re the human beings and this is how the human beings interact with the trees and the rocks and the beavers and the deer and the moose'. They wouldn’t listen... they were just going to go on their way. And so they went on their way. Now a few hundred short years later, they come around and they are like, 'We need to save the environment!' 'Join us!" Environmentalism has shifted and changed over time, but as we'll hear in this episode, the movement is still shaped by colonial thinking, including unacknowledged racism and paternalism. As Dr. Carolyn Finney told us: "A student asked me, ‘I don’t know how to say this... but it’s so interesting how in the environmental movement it seems people care so much about animals, but they don’t really care about black people. So what do we do with that?” I said, ‘well you just hit that on the head!’" We found that folks outside of the mainstream environmental movement tend to define “the environment” more broadly. Mi'kmaq artist and metal fabricator Tayla Paul summed it up like this:  "This is my environment too. Kjipuktuk. Halifax. This is where my ancestors are. This is where their bodies are buried in the ground. This is the environment. It’s not just about the trees and the undeveloped areas. It is definitely about those areas but it’s not just about those areas. It’s about the environment that we experience every day, and that includes the social environment." Environmental justice takes that expanded definition and works to highlight how race, space and power intersect in unjust ways across the land and in our communities. As poet and activist El Jones put it, "The environment isn’t unattached to police brutality, police shootings and mass incarceration of black people. For me, adding justice moves it beyond simply thinking in terms of land and environment to thinking about how space and race intersect and interact, and how poverty and space interact.” We hope you'll tune into our first Shades of Green podcast episode, "What is the Environment and Where is the Justice?"  Pause, listen and get curious with us as we explore some different ways of understanding ourselves, our environment, and our work to protect it.   Featured voices:  Dr. Julian Agyeman Eriel Deranger Dr. Carolyn Finney El Jones Mark Leeming Barbara Low Catherine Martin Tayla Paul Dr. Cheryl Teelucksingh Dr. Ingrid Waldron Quotes have been condensed here for clarity and brevity. Huge thanks to every one of the ears and voices that made this episode possible. Further thanks to Joanna Brenchley, Erica Butler, Jen Graham and Christen Kong. Our theme was composed by the incredible Nick Durado. We are also grateful for permission from Lido Pimiento to excerpt from her gorgeous song Humano.  This project has been supported by Ecology Action Centre and the Community Conservation Research Network Subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, or Feedburner. And follow us on Twitter!                        For further reading, visit the original post at ShadesofGreenweb.wordpress.com/Season2Ep1

The importance of storytelling in elucidating and challenging understandings of race and the environment. The post Nature and the Rules of Race: A Conversation with Carolyn Finney appeared first on Edge Effects.

In March 2016 a group of environmental activists came together to share a vision. Gathered from across the country this eclectic mix of men and women came to Washington D.C. in order to  collaborate on the creation of a plan to protect and preserve the natural spaces of the United States for future generations. As our National Park Service celebrates its 100th anniversary the group aims to make it possible for those in our society least likely to spend time in the outdoors to become passionate stewards of our public land well into the 21st century and beyond. Called the Next 100 Coalition this dynamic assembly of leaders is telling the stories of African-American, Latino, Asian and Native American people of color who have long enjoyed a history and legacy of conservation. As a member of the Next 100 Coalition, Dr. Carolyn Finney is helping to define a new vision of conservation that will carry us into the future. In the sincere belief that sustainable land management requires the cooperation and participation of all the American people Dr. Finney has crafted a compelling narrative that details the rich cultural heritage of our past while celebrating the great opportunities we enjoy today to build a brighter tomorrow. In this moment she wants us to realize that now is the time to set aside all that had divided us in the past in order to make a better world for the millions of children who will one day inherit the land we leave behind. I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Finney recently in Washington D.C. and she shared with me her wonderful vision of the future in an essay called This Moment. Addressing the potential lives of children born eight years ago at the begining of the administration of President Barack Obama, Finney details a series of challenges and opportunities to make proactive change in the decades which still lie before us. Dylan Rain Ash-Ostfeld is the son of Jackie Ostfeld, Co-founder/Steering Committee Chair at Outdoors Alliance for Kids and Director, Nearby Nature at Sierra Club "What we can do in this moment is work to change the nature of the next moment. What we can do in this moment is to remember, learn, fight, stand and expand who we are and who we might become," she said. "In 2008, 4,247,694 babies were born (in the U.S.). And no matter the color of their hands, they will be reaching for grass, dirt and dreams and we will need all their love and fight and possibility." Dr. Finney is the author of the book Black Faces White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors. She is a professor geography at the University of Kentucky and you can follow her work online at CarloynFinney.com

In March 2016 a group of environmental activists came together to share a vision. Gathered from across the country this eclectic mix of men and women came to Washington D.C. in order to  collaborate on the creation of a plan to protect and preserve the natural spaces of the United States for future generations. As our National Park Service celebrates its 100th anniversary the group aims to make it possible for those in our society least likely to spend time in the outdoors to become passionate stewards of our public land well into the 21st century and beyond. Called the Next 100 Coalition this dynamic assembly of leaders is telling the stories of African-American, Latino, Asian and Native American people of color who have long enjoyed a history and legacy of conservation. As a member of the Next 100 Coalition, Dr. Carolyn Finney is helping to define a new vision of conservation that will carry us into the future. In the sincere belief that sustainable land management requires the cooperation and participation of all the American people Dr. Finney has crafted a compelling narrative that details the rich cultural heritage of our past while celebrating the great opportunities we enjoy today to build a brighter tomorrow. In this moment she wants us to realize that now is the time to set aside all that had divided us in the past in order to make a better world for the millions of children who will one day inherit the land we leave behind. I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Finney recently in Washington D.C. and she shared with me her wonderful vision of the future in an essay called This Moment. Addressing the potential lives of children born eight years ago at the begining of the administration of President Barack Obama, Finney details a series of challenges and opportunities to make proactive change in the decades which still lie before us. Dylan Rain Ash-Ostfeld is the son of Jackie Ostfeld, Co-founder/Steering Committee Chair at Outdoors Alliance for Kids and Director, Nearby Nature at Sierra Club "What we can do in this moment is work to change the nature of the next moment. What we can do in this moment is to remember, learn, fight, stand and expand who we are and who we might become," she said. "In 2008, 4,247,694 babies were born (in the U.S.). And no matter the color of their hands, they will be reaching for grass, dirt and dreams and we will need all their love and fight and possibility." Dr. Finney is the author of the book Black Faces White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors. She is a professor geography at the University of Kentucky and you can follow her work online at CarloynFinney.com

Carolyn Finney, Ph.D., is the guest on this edition of "Behind the Editor's Curtain" with Don Corrigan. Finney is the author of “Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors.” For more information, visit www.environmentalecho.com Pictured: Carolyn Finney. Photo provided by Finney.

Geographer Carolyn Finney wrote Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors (University of North Carolina Press, 2014), out of a frustration with the dominant environmental discourse that, she asserts, doesn't fully take into consideration the perspectives and interests of African Americans.Finney takes care to recognize the multiplicity of African American relationships to the natural environment and to the environmental movement, broadly understood.Finney'sapproach to the subject matter, in which the personal (family history and herpersonal politics) is fully integrated into her scholarly project, is deliberately directed to a diverse audience in order to allowthe broadest possible cross section of readers to engage meaningfully with issues surrounding the environmental movement and natural resource management in the United States.

Geographer Carolyn Finney wrote Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors (University of North Carolina Press, 2014), out of a frustration with the dominant environmental discourse that, she asserts, doesn't fully take into consideration the perspectives and interests of African Americans.Finney takes care to recognize the multiplicity of African American relationships to the natural environment and to the environmental movement, broadly understood.Finney'sapproach to the subject matter, in which the personal (family history and herpersonal politics) is fully integrated into her scholarly project, is deliberately directed to a diverse audience in order to allowthe broadest possible cross section of readers to engage meaningfully with issues surrounding the environmental movement and natural resource management in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies

Geographer Carolyn Finney wrote Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors (University of North Carolina Press, 2014), out of a frustration with the dominant environmental discourse that, she asserts, doesn’t fully take into consideration the perspectives and interests of African Americans.Finney takes care to recognize the multiplicity of African American relationships to the natural environment and to the environmental movement, broadly understood.Finney’sapproach to the subject matter, in which the personal (family history and herpersonal politics) is fully integrated into her scholarly project, is deliberately directed to a diverse audience in order to allowthe broadest possible cross section of readers to engage meaningfully with issues surrounding the environmental movement and natural resource management in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Geographer Carolyn Finney wrote Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors (University of North Carolina Press, 2014), out of a frustration with the dominant environmental discourse that, she asserts, doesn’t fully take into consideration the perspectives and interests of African Americans.Finney takes care to recognize the multiplicity of African American relationships to the natural environment and to the environmental movement, broadly understood.Finney’sapproach to the subject matter, in which the personal (family history and herpersonal politics) is fully integrated into her scholarly project, is deliberately directed to a diverse audience in order to allowthe broadest possible cross section of readers to engage meaningfully with issues surrounding the environmental movement and natural resource management in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Geographer Carolyn Finney wrote Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors (University of North Carolina Press, 2014), out of a frustration with the dominant environmental discourse that, she asserts, doesn’t fully take into consideration the perspectives and interests of African Americans.Finney takes care to recognize the multiplicity of African American relationships to the natural environment and to the environmental movement, broadly understood.Finney’sapproach to the subject matter, in which the personal (family history and herpersonal politics) is fully integrated into her scholarly project, is deliberately directed to a diverse audience in order to allowthe broadest possible cross section of readers to engage meaningfully with issues surrounding the environmental movement and natural resource management in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Geographer Carolyn Finney wrote Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors (University of North Carolina Press, 2014), out of a frustration with the dominant environmental discourse that, she asserts, doesn’t fully take into consideration the perspectives and interests of African Americans.Finney takes care to recognize the multiplicity of African American relationships to the natural environment and to the environmental movement, broadly understood.Finney’sapproach to the subject matter, in which the personal (family history and herpersonal politics) is fully integrated into her scholarly project, is deliberately directed to a diverse audience in order to allowthe broadest possible cross section of readers to engage meaningfully with issues surrounding the environmental movement and natural resource management in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Geographer Carolyn Finney delivered a lecture titled "What's Race Got to Do with It?: Climate Change, Privilege, and Consciousness." Her talk, presented by the Mount Holyoke College Center for the Environment was Finney's talk, cosponsored by the Office of the Dean of the College, the Office of the Dean of Students, and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Introduction to geographer Carolyn Finney at a recent lecture titled "What's Race Got to Do with It?: Climate Change, Privilege, and Consciousness." Presented by the Mount Holyoke College Center for the Environment, cosponsored by the Office of the Dean of the College, the Office of the Dean of Students, and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.