2.24: Environmental Science

Environmental Science is defined as an “interdisciplinary academic field that draws on Ecology, Geology, Meteorology, Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, and Physics to study environmental problems and human impacts on the environment” (Kte’pi, 2014).Environmental Science provides knowledge and learning across several disciplines to create amore holistic understanding of human interaction with the planet and atmosphere.Environmental Science is a field with an inherent impact of the intersection between society,the environment, and human survival. In fact, in the face of an impending environmental crisis,Environmental Conservation and Innovation are among the most needed fields for overall species survival.

In spite of this fact, Environmental Science is one of the least diverse STEM fields. While African American account for 13.6% of the U.S. population, they received just 2.8% of Environmental Science degrees awarded in 2016 (Ruf, 2020). This disparity and underrepresentation has been questioned multiple times, and rather than recruit minority students, or conduct research to find insights on why this disparity exists, universities, faculty,and administration choose another explanation, stating that “People of color are not interested in the environment” (Ruf, 2020). This narrative is a generalization and oversimplification that fails to accurately convey reality.

In 2018, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) concluded that both white people and people of color associate the term “environmentalist” with a white face,and that both demographics also underestimate the environmental concern felt by racial and ethnic minorities. Despite being perceived as the least environmentally sensitive, all survey edminority groups (Native Americans, African Americans, Latinxs, and Asian Americans) reported greater levels of environmental concern than white people (Ruf, 2020). This evidence is further supported by the disproportionate effects of climate change on communities of color. In a 2020 article entitled, People of Color Experience Climate Grief More Deeply Than White People, published by Vice, Nylah Burton writes that people of color experience greater trauma surrounding the climate crisis. This occurs in large part due to environmental racism, which causes people of color to be affected by the negative effects of climate change at greater rates.This applies to negative effects such as greater levels of displacement, having greater risk of experiencing natural disasters, exposure to pollution, and negative health effects (Burton,2020).

The article also discusses differences in how people of color react to climate change.Because they feel the negative effects on a harsher level, there is a greater call to action and sense of urgency. Mary Heglar, who is a Black climate justice essayist and writer at Columbia University, believes that the climate community in its current iteration relies on hope too often,which causes inaction. She is quoted saying that, “Hope is ‘such a white concept,’ You're supposed to have the courage first, then you have the action, then you have the hope” (Burton,2020). Heglar finds that the underrepresentation of people of color, who face more negative consequences from climate change, leads to an unrealistic and over optimistic perspective toward climate change due to skewed data.

A 2018 report from the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, also reported that race is the greatest determining factor for particulate matter exposure, even more so than class or socioeconomic standing. The researchers discovered that Black Americans were exposed to 1.54 times more of a particulate matter known as PM 2.5, which is associated with heart disease, lung disease, and a shortened life expectancy. PM 2.5 primarily is found through burning fossil fuels. When comparing other demographics, people classified as ‘poor’ were exposed to 1.35 times more pollution than white people, and people of color as a whole were exposed to 1.28 times more PM 2.5 (McKenna, 2018). Environmental racism is a real phenomenon, and although minorities are affected by environmental damage at higher degrees of severity, they are still seen as less concerned about the environment.

Dr. Dorceta Taylor, a Professor of environmental justice and environmental sociology at the University of Michigan, cited several barriers to minorities in Environmental Science. The greatest barrier she cited was cost, which particularly affects people of color because they fear being able to find a job after graduating. This is an even greater burden on people of color who lack resources in juxtaposition to whites, both financially and socially (Ruf, 2020). People of color have less access to a wide network and social capital, and they may often be the first in their family to attend college.

Minorities overall are underrepresented in environmental sciences as compared even to other STEM fields; a 2014 report detailed that while 40% of employees and 17% of executives in tech were people of color, only 25% of staff and 4% of executives and senior staff were reported as people of color (Ruf, 2020). Some hypotheses as to why from a student’s perspective environmental science may be less appealing are that environmental based curriculum does not focus on environmental issues relevant to people of color, issues such as increased access to green spaces, rerouting interstates out of minority dense neighborhoods, and reducing the amount of toxic waste spaces in communities of color (Ruf, 2020). Further, “Black and Brown people experience environmental hazards and crises first and worst but are not the ones in the environmental fields making the decisions that are going to mitigate these issues”(Ruf, 2020). Despite pursuing a graduate degree in nature, society, and environmental governance at Oxford, Dr. Taylor says she was not an environmentalist as a child. She grew up perceiving environmentalists only as white people who climbed mountains and advocated only wildlife protection(Ruf, 2020).

“Traditional or mainstream environmentalism doesn’t tend to center its scholarship on things like the protection and experiences of people of color and indigenous folks. That scholarship is sidelined and seen as an environmental justice issue rather than centered within what is considered mainstream environmental scholarship or advocacy”(Ruf, 2020).

As academics and as people of color in environmental science, many describe having been met with racism from their peers and colleagues. On one occasion, Dr. Taylor was not allowed by a receptionist to check into a conference where she was the keynote speaker (Ruf, 2020). Incidents of discrimination and microaggressions and feeling like the only person of color amongst an ocean of white academics can lead to a feeling of isolation and for some they may question whether they even belong in the field at all.

One program seeking to offset this is the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars’, which unites underrepresented students in its program in hopes of providing a safe space for students of color. However, it is important to note that efforts to alleviate racism and implicit biases in academia should not fall on people of color alone. Programs and departments “ should invest resources to educate White students, White faculty and White staff to understand where their biases are coming from, where their ignorance is... Because the assumption is that they are knowledgeable, nothing needs to be done and it’s for the people of color to make all of the adjustments” (Ruf, 2020). Dorceta Taylor emphasized that white people should not see people of color engaging in nature as an anomaly, while also recognizing how American history has restricted their access to nature spaces and environmental activism (Ruf, 2020).

As a suggestion for white people, Taylor mentioned attending Climate Conventions at HBCUs across America, as this would demonstrate that people of color are not simply“disinterested” in the environment. At these Climate Conventions at HBCUs there are hundreds of environmentalists of color who are making an impact. In the immediate need for environmental innovation, action, and activism, it is imperative that higher education facilitate the learning of marginalized communities of color, especially in the wake of possible climate disasters in the coming future.