Earth Sciences
**Breaking Green Ceilings**

Breaking Green Ceilings spotlights passionate environmentalists we don’t often hear from or hear enough from including those from underrepresented groups – Disabled, Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous and People of Color. Join eco-nerd, Sapna Mulki, for your weekly installment of Breaking Green Ceilings and learn about the journeys of success, failure, challenges overcome, and aspirations of our eco-warriors. Breaking Green Ceilings features interviews with inspiring environmentalists like Bill Tripp Director of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy at Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources, Dr. Ingrid Waldron, author of There’s Something in the Water, Isaias Hernandez of QueerBrownVegan, and Dr. Mariaelena Huambachano, a native Peruvian Indigenous scholar, and more!

Latest Episodes:

EP 17: Securing a Future for Lions in Kenya May 26, 2020

Show notes

Dr. Shivani Bhalla is a fourth generation Kenyan Indian who grew up going on safaris with her family, which nurtured her obsessionwith wildlife. Her passion has always been big cats, in particular, Cheetahs. When Dr. Bhalla moved to Samburu to research cheetahs for her master’s project. But she never saw any cheetahs. Instead, she saw lions that tended to be solitary or in pairs, which piqued her interest because she was only familiar with seeing lions in large prides as a child.

Dr. Bhalla was soon curious to learn more about the lion population and decided to create Ewaso Lions in 2007, a nonprofit dedicated to conserving lions and other large carnivores by promoting coexistence between people and wildlife.

Lion Conservation

Africa’s lion population has declined by some 90 percent over the past 75 years, primarily due to loss of habitat and human-animal conflict. In Kenya, there are fewer than 2,000 lions left. Ewaso Lions took a community-based conservation approach where they work hand-in-hand with local communities - Samburu warriors, women and children - to provide education, training and improved conservation practices that help people and wildlife.

One of the ways in which Ewaso Lions collaborates with local communities is through Warrior Watch, which is a group of Samburu warriors who conduct daily patrols around the region to prevent lions coming in contact with herders and their livestock

“They themselves really understand what it is like to lose livestock to carnivores, they can empathize with the person who has lost his cow or camel, and they are able to really convince them why it’s important not to retaliate.”

Because of Ewaso Lion, Shivani, and the Samburu Warriors, nearly 100s of lion killings have been ceased.

Other Topics

Ewaso Lions, Shivani and the Samburu Warriors are a powerhouse in lion conservation. From the intricacies of funding conservation, to Kenyan Indian conservation, to her hopes of the future, this week's episode is one you don’t want to miss.

About Dr. Shivani Bhalla:

Born and raised in Kenya, Shivani believes the key to lion conservation is working in partnership with local communities. She founded Ewaso Lions in 2007 to promote coexistence between carnivores and people. Together with her team, she works with Samburu communities to reduce livestock loss to carnivores, and monitors the existing lion population within the Samburu-Isiolo landscape in northern Kenya.

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EP 16: Being a Voice for Forests in Kenya May 19, 2020

Show notes

Journey

Dr. Dr. Walubengo Walubengo is a Kenyan Forest/Natural Resources and Environment Management Specialist with experience in institutional capacity building, project planning, monitoring, evaluation and analysis, and engineering. With an emphasis on managing forests of Kenya, Dr. Walubengo has made huge strides in the realm of forestry, from establishing small, neighborhood forests through individual tree planting, to teaching local communities the importance of forests and empowering them to planting some of their own.

Forests in Kenya

The Forest Sector is key to Kenya’s social and economic wellbeing. The Sector contributes about Kenya Shillings 7 billion to the economy and employs over 50,000 people directly and another 300,000 indirectly. Forest ecosystems also enhance landscape resilience to climate change.

Kenya’s forest cover is estimated to be about 7.4% of the total land area, which is a far cry from the recommended global minimum of 10%. On the other hand, Kenya’s closed canopy forest cover currently stands at about 2% of the total land area, compared to the African average of 9.3% and a world average of 21.4 per cent. Most of the closed canopy forests in Kenya are montane forests that are also the nation’s water towers.

Although the population of Kenya has gone from less than 10 million people in the 1960’s, to surpassing 50 million people in recent times, the most recent forest policy was established in 1968, over 50 years ago. There is a lack of government initiative to properly manage forests throughout Kenya, ranging from extreme protection in the name of conservation, excluding the local communities completely from sustainably harvesting necessities or conducting rituals, to solely considering plantation forests, such as coffee plantations, under the umbrella of manageable forest resources.

Dr. Walubengo believes with proper governmental influence, the forests could be managed for their resources, while also being conserved, creating an assortment of environmental jobs for local communities and environmentalists.

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Dr. Walubengo's Twitter

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EP 15: Fighting Vulture Poisoning in Kenya May 12, 2020

Show notes

Although still early in her environmental career, Valerie Nasoita is already making a large impact in conservation efforts towards vultures in Kenya. Originating from the Maasai tribe, Valerie is currently working hands-on as a Vulture Liaison Officer for The Peregrine Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to the global conservation of birds of prey.

In many parts of Africa, only 1-2% of previously abundant vulture populations remain today. This is a result of many agricultural producers poisoning the vultures, in hopes to deter them from their livestock. Unfortunately, this has proven ineffective in preventing predation upon the livestock, but also has contributed heavily to the rapid decline in vulture populations. Valerie focuses her conservation efforts on educating the public on the importance of vultures in an ecosystem and how devastating the effects of poisoning these birds prove to be.

A wide range of discussion takes place in this week's conversation with Valerie Nasoita. She shares fascinating insight about the struggle as a woman conservationist in a male dominated society, and how she navigates getting work done despite these obstacles. From vulture facts to what it’s like growing up in the Rift Valley of Kenya, we are very grateful for what Valerie presents to Breaking Green Ceilings.

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Empowering Youth to Become Advocates for their Environment May 05, 2020

Show notes

Sam Dindi has been working in the field of environment conservation for eight years now. As the co-founder of Mazingira Yetu, Sam is engaged in:

Environment education and communication
Community mobilization and training
Ecosystem restoration

Trained in sustainability development, tourism and wildlife management, Sam was awarded the Head of States Commendation (HSC) by the Government of Kenya for his exemplary service to the Republic of Kenya. He also received the IUCN-CEC award for his efforts in educating the public on environment conservation and sustainability development. Sam enjoys nature walks, bird watching and travelling.

Youth Education and Empowerment

Environmental education is crucial in inspiring children to understand the importance in conserving and protecting their natural spaces. Unfortunately, many primary and secondary schools fail to incorporate this into their curriculum, which ultimately stunts the environmental movement. Sam emphasizes the importance of not just educating students, but empowering them to take action in their local environment and claim their right to protect and restore the land and waterways as well. Because of the many young adults who have never had the opportunity to plant a tree, or grow their own garden, Sam’s vision is to give these students the tools they need to understand the importance of these tasks.

Nairobi River Restoration

The Nairobi River is a prime example of a waterway that is heavily polluted. Used for everything from bathing to washing clothes to waste disposal to industrial drainage, the Nairobi River is riddled with garbage and contaminants. Sam inspires a group of around 100 local individuals to take control of cleaning their portion of the river by teaching them the ropes of water restoration. Empowering communities in this way allows for them to rely less on governmental intervention, which often proves to be ineffective, and creates space for a shift in the idea that environmentalism is a white person commodity.

Other Topics

This week's conversation with Sam Dindi is full of insight and inspiration. From the intricacies of dealing with bureaucracy and corruption, to Sam’s vision of Kenya’s environmental future, to his advice on keeping a level head in the hectic sector that is environmentalism, this is an episode of Breaking Green Ceilings that you won’t want to miss.

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EP 13: Defining Your Own Environmental Activism Apr 28, 2020

Show notes

Kristy Drutman is Jewish Filipino American environmental media host, activist, independent consultant and digital media strategist who created the podcast and media series known as Brown Girl Green.

Forging her own path through the careers within environmentalism, Kristy is passionate about working at the intersections between media, diversity, and environmentalism and has used that passion to speak in front of thousands about the current climate crisis, facilitate workshops, and work with youth from around the world to create collaborative, intersectional online media with the goal of creating conscious, culturally relevant content.

Environmental Communication

Community outreach is something many organizations struggle with, especially when it comes to connecting with communities of color. Generally asking themselves how to make people of color come to them, they often fail to consider how they can make themselves more accessible to the local communities of color.

“Figure out who your community is and how you can communicate with them. I think everyone has an important story to share, and we need as many storytellers as possible right now to be able to engage people, because maybe you come from a completely different community than where I come from, and you’re able to communicate to your community in a different way than I could that will be able to connect with their hearts and mind to take action.”

-Kristy Drutman

Collaboration

Along with strategic and effective community outreach, the importance of collaboration continues to grow with the increasing specialization of skills and activists. Ranging from the protesters to the policy makers, and everywhere in between, to make an impact, larger and larger groups with specific specialties will have to work together. Kristy uses her education, platform, and consultation to bridge these gaps, bringing people together, and promoting a sense of community within environmentalism.

Other Topics

This week's conversation on Breaking Green Ceilings is full of insight and inspiration. From the difference between forest service and urban planning type environmental jobs, to what defines an environmental activist, to why identity politics matter, there is much to learn from guest Kristy Drutman.

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EP 12: Getting People to Care About the Environment Apr 21, 2020

Show notes

Ariel Maldonado is a hispanic artist and environmental social media influencer/strategist with nearly 50K followers on instagram. Standing as an example that one does not have to have a nature-oriented childhood or education to become an environmentalist, Ariel did not post her first image on gogreensavegreen until the spring she graduated from college. With a newly developed interest in making budget-friendly environmental choices, she was able to use her lifelong passion of sharing information with people around her to find her place in the environmental movement.

A Gateway Into Caring

Men often apply to jobs they feel only 60% qualified for, while women will typically only apply if they feel 100% qualified. This is exactly what inspired Ariel to break that chain and dive head first into the realm of environmentalism and educate the public that everyday people making their own sustainable decisions are environmentalists as well.

“I’m not hoping to talk to just people who are in the business already, or living perfect zero-waste lives, or educators or academics, I love the work that they’re doing, but I also realize that we need more everyday people to care, and we need more people to act. So I am hoping to act as a kind of gateway for people that never thought of themselves as environmentalists, to show it can be accessible to anyone, it can be as simple as voting, or a toothbrush.”

Social Media Influencer

Reaching tens of thousands of people every single day is a large responsibility. 71% of millennials are more likely to buy a product or service that has been promoted by a trusted influencer over a celebrity. That is why it is essential for influencers to be promoting environmentally friendly brands and choices. Ariel pushes this even further by acknowledging the financial struggles many experience when attempting to shop sustainably, and informs her followers how they can also make budget-friendly environmental decisions.

Other Topics

From bamboo toothbrushes, to the importance of empathy, to why Ariel decided to open gogreensavegreen, this week's episode of Breaking Green Ceilings is packed with insightful and inspiring conversation.

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EP 11: Making Space for Queer People of Color in the Environmental Movement Apr 14, 2020

Show notes

Isaias Hernandez is the founder of the instagram page Queer Brown Vegan, and co-creator of Alluvia Magazine, a “publication highlighting the intersections of decolonized environmentalism through media”. Through his Instagram, Isaias educates his audience about the collegiate jargon associated with environmental topics related to climate change mitigation such as veganism, zero-waste, and environmental justice.

His environmental narrative was influenced by his experience of growing up in a low income community in California, which was predominantly black and brown. Lack of access to clean air and drinking water and green spaces made him realize later (in college) that his community was a victim of environmental racism. Isiais came to this realization only because he gained access to information that helped him to identify the problem and its definition.

While he gained a lot of knowledge attending University of California, Berkeley, he found that language used in academia was often inaccessible and defeatist and as a result tended to be exclusionary. The same pattern continued in the real world when he became involved in various environmental initiatives.

To break the barriers often created in the environmental community, Isaias chose to focus on educating his followers about complex environmental terminologies using simple descriptions and delivery methods. The goal being to get more people from various backgrounds interested and involved in environmentalism.

Knowledge Inaccessibility

Academic language often creates distance between those who went to college and those who did not. Frequently, those who obtained a higher education become familiar with words and phrases, of which those who enter straight into the workforce may not be exposed to, cultivating a type of language barrier between the two groups of people.

This often results in a smaller portion of the population having the necessary knowledge to make informed, environmentally friendly choices, further perpetuating the idea that less educated communities, often of color, care less about environmentalism. Isaias creates colorful, informative, and concise content with an effort to bridge this gap and allow more accessibility to the knowledge of the many facets of environmentalism.

Making Space for Queer People of Color

In addition to focusing on environmental education, Isaias was keen on increasing representation of LGBTQ+ and BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color). As a queer Mexican he realized that there was often a lack of diversity and inclusion in his college and mainstream environmental organizations, which are predominantly white and heterosexual. Further, there was a lack of attenton being given to the plight of LGBTQ+ communities, especially low-income, queer trans people of color, who are often at the frontlines of environmental injustices.

In the same vein, he wanted to raise awareness of the contributions that BIPOC make to the environmental movement. Isaias has known BIPOC communities have also been at the frontlines of environmental justice for many years but have been silenced or ignored by mainstream media and environmentalists. At the end of the day Isaias wants to be able to bring an intersectional lens to climate change mitigation and do so with humility.

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EP 10: There's Something In The Water Apr 07, 2020

Show notes

Author of the book There is Something in the Water, Dr. Ingrid Waldron is a powerhouse of a community activist and researcher. Using community based participatory research (CBPR) to examine environmental racism in Nova Scotia, Dr. Waldron took on the ENRICH Project in 2012. At first Dr. Waldron was hesitant as she didn’t know much about environmental racism. However, later on she realized that her research in “social, economic, and political inequalities that shape health outcomes in Indigenous, Blakc, and other racialized communities” could make a significant contribution to understanding the health inequalities in Nova Scotia.

It was only after Dr. Waldron’s book was published in 2018 that actress Ellen Page got notice of the work that needed to be done and expressed a desire to help the Indigenous and Black communities. After much discussion, the decision was to produce a documentary by the same name. The documentary premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and was released on Netflix on March 27, 2020. We were able to dive deeply into Dr. Waldron's amazing journey and the results during this week's conversation.

Environmental Racism

When asked if the landfill contamination in Shelburne water was responsible for their high cancer rates, Dr. Waldron responded:

“It’s probable, highly probably. We did testing, we found contaminants in the well. Now, the issue is that, you could no longer have contaminants now, but you would have had contaminants in the past, do the people who are currently dealing with cancer, that might be a result of contaminants in the past. You also have to be careful about being conclusive. As a researcher, I have to stand back and say it is not conclusive but it is highly probable.”

Nova Scotia is historically the oldest and largest community of color in Canada, and continues to have the highest concentration of African Canadians in the country. “A study from Winnie Benton and Sandra Loppie (2001) found that African Nova Scotians had a higher cancer mortality rate than the general population, which they attribute to systemic forms of racism within various social institutions including the health care system” (Waldron, p.98).

Oftentimes, environmental racism acts in a cyclical nature. Low income and mainly black, indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) tend to be destabilized due to the myriad of injustices and social ills they are already experiencing, such as low income or under employment, that results in violently unfair policy decisions. Governments often place landfills, paper mills, and other hazardous projects in these areas without consulting the community, furthering the detriment to their personal health and environment.

Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR)

Dr. Waldron emphasizes the importance of community based research. This was originated in health research, a familiar area for Dr. Waldron, and allows the community to have direct say in how the research is conducted. It starts with engaging the community before the research even begins, informing them of the researcher’s intention and asking how the researcher can give back to them.

Building and maintaining trust and integrity is crucial. From there, the community prioritizes the research, proposes the questions they want studied, and how they want it shared. This creates a partnership where the community is allowed to speak for themselves. The difference between extractive research and research that empowers the community is vast.

Other Topics

Spatial Theory of Racism
Slavery in Nova Scotia
Intersectional Analysis
Gender and Environmental Injustices
Social Determinants of Health

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EP 9: The Power of Indigenous Youth Environmental Movements Mar 31, 2020

Show notes

Michael has developed a love for the world through many years of exploring Mother Earth’s beauty, respecting her gifts, and interacting with cultures across the globe. Hailing from the Southwest, Michael’s family is from both the Navajo reservation in northeast Arizona and also northern Colorado. Michael identifies as Dine’ or Navajo and describes himself as an “Urban Indian”, Michael spent all his vacations on the reservation with his grandmother, aunts, and other close family members. This changed after he graduated high school.

Out of high school, Michael moved to Ithaca, New York to attend Cornell University, studying chemical engineering with a minor in music. At Cornell, he developed a strong sense of his own cultural identity, a passion for serving underrepresented students in the STEM fields, and began questioning how sustainability issues affect different communities. Currently, Michael is a chemical engineering Ph.D. student at The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH.

Indigenous Culture and the Environmental Movement

As Michael progressed through his PhD, he began to question what his role was in giving back to his community. With a desire to use his education to help his community and future generations of indigenous youth, the Standing Rock protest was a pivotal moment in time. Although the movement was uplifted and greatly supported by environmental NGOs all over the nation, the conversation was derailed from a focus on Native American injustices to the war between oil and renewable energy. Michael encourages these protests to “highlight the humanity” of a movement, so the voices who are being directly affected can have the loudest say.

According to the World Wildlife Foundation, areas managed by indigenous peoples and local communities hold as much as 80% of the Earth's biodiversity. Further, recent studies have shown that when the rights of indigenous communities to their land and natural resources are respected, deforestation rates are lower and that local participation in conservation management can improve biodiversity outcomes. It is essential to protect human rights and in turn, indigenous communities can continue to protect the environment.

Inclusion of Indigenous Culture

Indigenous communities are often left out of large scale decision making processes. Although the United Nations has a Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the inclusion of indigenous voices across all UN Conventions is scarce. Very few indigenous individuals represent the voices of hundreds of millions of indigenous peoples from communities across the globe. At the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the indigenous representatives have the difficult task of bringing voices and specific issues from different geographic regions to the broader convention as one global indigenous voice, diluting the many sovereign indigenous identities and experiences.

Other Topics

A wonderful discussion is had this week with Michael, with topics ranging from the indigenous youth environmental movement, to the importance of carrying the ancestral torch, to how to guide a movement based on change, and so much more. We will leave you with a prophecy Michael shared with us from a Dené Elder of the first nations people of Canada:

“We’ve expected people to come and our ancestors have known, ‘the white man’ will basically come and take. They’ll be looking for gold and oil and they’ll get it. Time will pass and we expect them to come back again, looking for food and water… and we will be happy to welcome them back.”

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EP 8: 29 years of Insights at California State Parks Mar 24, 2020

Show notes

Jack Shu worked for California State Parks for 29 years, mostly as a Park Superintendent. With a great deal of time spent in the Office of Community Involvement, a unique section called Urban Services gave him insight into the value of outdoor recreation and education.

“The kind of recreation, like hiking and backpacking, was just one part of the bigger picture of what recreation could provide. It was important for me to learn that and to realize that wilderness and outdoor recreation and the benefits of that, are individualized. Some people will get more out of playing team sports, some people will find wilderness in their backyard; you don’t have to necessarily go out to the middle of the Sierras or the Rocky Mountains to get to experience and receive the benefits of outdoor recreation.”

Measuring the Effectiveness of Recreational Facilities

To measure how effective an outdoor facility is, the “output” is in conjunction with the “outcome”. Output describes the amount of use that is observed, comparing things such as two playgrounds of the same age, one with worn in equipment, and in pristine condition but rarely utilized, and determining which has more community value.

Outcome is the metric through which community value is determined, which includes things such as how one feels after spending time there, and if there have been community improvements, such as less crime, in the time since it has been constructed.

Creating Increased Accessibility and Inclusion

With a focus on park service accessibility, Jack also emphasizes the importance of inclusion in the parks system. Based on his experiences Jack found that interaction with outdoor recreational facilities is often influenced by lack of security and cultural attitudes that don’t encourage outdoor activity:

“Culturally we think that to get a better grade or to do better in testing we need to stick kids in classrooms and force information down into them, like force feeding. We know that’s not true, we know as educators for a long time that it may be effective in some respect, but in other countries whether you go to Finland or even Japan, they still value independent thinking as well as being outside and playing.”

Lack of inability to interact with the outdoors particularly impacts underprivileged individuals from communities of color. Lack of understanding, information and accessibility to resources and tools on how to plan a trip really limits access opportunities to visit a state or national park. This often results in exclusion of lower income communities and perpetuates the stereotype that people of color do not enjoy outdoor recreation.

Instead of asking how we can incorporate more people of color into the parks, Jack recommends asking park systems can have less barrier to entry and be more relevant and community centric. For example, creating reservation systems that are easy to understand and navigable is one such way to create opportunities of increased accessibility and interaction for individuals from all walks of life. Jack explains that the current reservation system is restrictive:

“We rely on various mechanisms to reserve campgrounds and campsites and to say that these systems are equitable in any way would be completely false; they’re simply not. You have to have a lot of information about how these reservation systems work, plan in advance, have the ability to plan in advance, have vacation in advance, have everything set up so you can make that reservation and get that campsite and then have everything fall in place, have notifications worked out. Very few people in our society have the ability to do that, particularly if you’re below medium income or if you’re poor; you don't have the ability to do all these things. And that’s why in many ways those systems are selective in who can have access.”

As a solution to creating accessibility, Jack created outdoor education programs that catered to various groups from young women to low-income families. Jack and his team worked with nonprofits that were seeking to empower marginalized individuals through outdoor camping trips, called FamCamp. These are found in most areas of the US, and take kids and their families into regional wilderness areas to teach them the ropes of camping, many for the first time in their lives.

Jack also conducts cultural excursions. Through The Sing Peak Pilgrimage, Jack is able to take people through Yosemite National Park annually, on a three day hike, to teach them not just about the park and camping knowledge, but about the Chinese contribution to the park that is often overlooked in history books.

Other Topics

A wide range of topics are covered this week with Jack Shu on Breaking Green Ceilings. From institutional racism, to bridging language gaps, to the cultural assimilation model versus diversity approach, to the Chinese contributions in National Parks, this week's episode is one you won’t want to miss!

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