Black climate leaders changing the world

Here are two unfortunate truths. (1) Climate change disproportionately impacts people of colour. (2) People of colour are historically and continue to be excluded from creating climate policies and solutions. Yet, despite facing many and various obstacles, Black climate leaders continue to drive the change that we need to solve the climate crisis. Climate solutions only work when they are anti-racist. Today, we want to recognize the tremendous efforts of 5 incredible humans committed to advancing environmental and social justice.

Juju Milay, founder of Colour the Trails

Juju Milay (@jujumil) is an activist and advocate for equal representation in outdoor sports like hiking, climbing, skiing, etc. She’s pointed out the lack of diversity in marketing campaigns of large outdoor gear and sports brands and has worked with companies like MEC to improve BIPOC representation in their advertising.

The outdoors is for everyone, it’s time we acted like it.

To make the space more inclusive, Juju founded Colour the Trails and is run by a team of intersectional environmentalists, visionaries and adventure-seekers. With the support of brand partnerships, Colour the Trails subsidizes outdoor sports for members of the BIPOC and LGBTQ2S+ communities. By creating a safe space for everyone to learn and try new things in the outdoors, Juju is helping hundreds of people access the beauty of nature. Some events that Colour the Trails has held in the past include glacier exploration, skiing, kayaking and rock climbing. See their 2021 impact report here.

If you are a business you can consider partnering with Colour the Trails. You can also consider making a one-time donation or signing up for an ally membership for $12 CAD/month. Follow Colour the Trails along on instagram to see upcoming events and stay up to date on CTT news!

Ron Finley, founder of The Ron Finley Project

Ron Finley, also known as Gangsta Gardener, is a resident of South-Central Los Angeles. He recognized the lack of fresh food in his community. In fact, this area of Los Angeles is what is known as a “food desert” or “food prison” - a place where healthy food options are scarce to non-existent. In the United States, an estimated 23.5 million people live in food deserts, predominantly in African American and Latin American communities.

In 2010, Ron began planting vegetables on neglected dirt patches in his community and was soon cited for gardening without a permit by the City of Los Angeles. After fighting back and winning, he began a movement that demanded the right to grow fresh and healthy food in his neighbourhood. Now, the Ron Finley Project teaches communities to cultivate fresh food right in their neighbourhood.

You can support the Ron Finley Project by donating to support the fight against food scarcity. Follow along on his journey at @ronfinleyhq and don't miss Fin’s truly inspirational TED Talk on his vision for creating healthy food systems and changing communities for the better.

Leah Thomas, Author of The Intersectional Environmentalist

Leah Thomas is an environmental communication specialist and activist. She studied environmental science and policy in Southern California during the time of unrest in her hometown of Ferguson due to the tragic police shooting of an unarmed Black teenager, Michael Brown. As social justice was at the forefront of her mind, Leah found herself looking at her environmental studies through a lens of social justice. Unfortunately, in her classes at the time, there wasn't recognition, conversation or education regarding the disproportionate impacts of climate change felt by BIPOC in her classes.

Leah is now an advocate for environmental justice, the intersection of racial and environmental injustices. She is the author of The Intersectional Environmentalist and co-founder of the media platform Intersectional Environmentalist (IE), helping to educate the public on the relationship between social justice and environmentalism. Leah explains how the Black Lives Matter movement and environmental justice are connected in a Goodful Youtube video.

The people who are currently facing the harshest impacts of climate change are people of color.

You can support Leah's work by pre-ordering her book, contributing a monthly donation to support IE. Stay up to date by following along @intersectionalenvironmentalist on Instagram and listening to the IE podcast, Dismantled, on spotify or apple music.

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Larissa Crawford, Founder of Future Ancestors Services

Larissa is a published anti-racism researcher, restorative circle keeper, and founder of Future Ancestor Services. With Métis and Jamaican heritage, Larissa’s work focuses on advancing climate justice and removing systemic barriers in communities. Future Ancestors Services was founded in 2020 and is a youth-led professional service and social enterprise that aims to tackle racism and climate change. By taking ancestral accountability and anti-racism approach to problem-solving, they create thoughtful and effective solutions for all community members.

Tackling racism requires us to tackle climate change. The root causes are one in the same.

The Future Ancestor Services Youtube channel has excellent learning resources for understanding anti-racism, ancestral accountability, and more. If you are a business, you may consider working with Future Ancestors Services to provide several services to your company.

Cheyenne Sundance, founder of Sundance Harvest

At 22, Cheyenne became one of the few Black farmers in Ontario. With a 1.5 acre greenhouse, Sundance Harvest (@sundanceharvest) is an urban farm bringing fresh produce to the city of Toronto while paying its workers a dignified living wage.

Cheyenne also runs a non-profit program for BIPOC youth that provides the knowledge and skills necessary to run an urban farm. Growing in the Margins program is 12-weeks long and free for BIPOC youth. By investing in food education in minority groups, Cheyenne hopes these efforts will help reduce the rates of food injustice and environmental racism seen today.

She also speaks about her experiences and challenges as a young Black Farm Director and business owner in a white-dominated industry in her writing "The Freedom of the Ordinary." Check out the several learning resources that Cheyenne has compiled to help people learn about colonialism, injustice, and racism in our food systems.

AND if you love fresh produce, sign up for Sundance's Spring CSA (community-supported agriculture). You'll receive a box of fresh and local produce for 10 weeks beginning in April. Bonus - each box is delivered via emissions-free vehicles, available in the East and West of Toronto. You can also support Cheyenne's work by donating to Sundance Harvest and following Sundance Harvest on Instagram.

This Black History Month we’ve been critically reflecting on our growing business and how we can become better allies to the Black community and acknowledge that we have work to do. Our mission is to 'make climate action accessible to everyone' and to honour that mission, we must include the voices of those most impacted by climate change in our climate solutions. As Larissa Crawford said, “if we're trying to address climate change, then we cannot do that work without recognizing how certain people have been dehumanized in the interest of the practices that have led to climate change”.