Students of colour views on racial equity in environmental sustainability

Racial and ethnic diversity in environmental sustainability advances social equity and innovation, solving social-ecological crises. Yet, Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) remain underrepresented in sustainability fields despite high environmental concern. Universities provide pathways...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature sustainability 2021-11, Vol.4 (11), p.975-982
Main Authors: Schusler, Tania M., Espedido, Charlie B., Rivera, Brittany K., Hernández, Melissa, Howerton, Amelia M., Sepp, Kailin, Engel, Malcolm D., Marcos, Jazlyn, Chaudhary, V. Bala
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
706/648/160
706/648/76
706/689/523
Earth and Environmental Science
Environment
Environmental impact
Environmental perception
Environmental science
Environmentalism
Interdisciplinary aspects
Minority & ethnic groups
Racism
Students
Sustainability
Sustainable Development
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Racial and ethnic diversity in environmental sustainability advances social equity and innovation, solving social-ecological crises. Yet, Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) remain underrepresented in sustainability fields despite high environmental concern. Universities provide pathways to sustainability careers and help diversify the field by making programmes more equitable and inclusive for racially minoritized students. Toward this end, we interviewed undergraduate BIPOC students in interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability degree programmes about their experiences. Their observations reflect a legacy of systemic racism that persists today within environmentalism. Many described motivations connecting ecological and social well-being but lamented limited interdisciplinary and global perspectives in the curriculum. Experiences of discrimination, lack of relatability and limited discussions of race led to feeling isolated and excluded. Support networks, extracurricular participation and BIPOC-specific opportunities improved student inclusion and belonging. BIPOC students hold knowledge unapparent to non-marginalized groups that illuminates pathways to racial equity in environmental sustainability. Despite concern among racially minoritized groups about environmental impacts within their communities, students of colour remain underrepresented in environmental science degree programmes in the United States and Europe. This study examines the experiences of students of colour to illuminate pathways to racial equity in the pursuit of sustainability.
ISSN:2398-9629
2398-9629
DOI:10.1038/s41893-021-00759-7