So, what are we getting real about? It’s simple – an acknowledgment and sustainable corrective action of a fractured system that consistently burdens Black and marginalized populations to the point of poverty, illness, and even death. It’s a normalized system of complacency even in the face of discomfort. As a queer Black woman, I’m constantly on edge about which spaces are built for me to thrive, steadily thinking about which neighborhoods, cities, policies, or jobs, were created with people like me in mind. The truth is – not many.
Let’s examine statistics about Pittsburgh, which has been called “the most livable city in America.” In 2019, “Pittsburgh’s Inequality Across Gender and Race,” a report released by the University of Pittsburgh and the city’s Gender Equity Commission, provided data proving that Pittsburgh is considerably less livable for Black people, especially Black women. Ranking lowest across all populations within most livability categories such as health, poverty and income, education, and employment, the city of Pittsburgh has essentially failed to create vertical opportunities to rudimentary success for Black women.
These statistics coupled with the marginalized experience of many people of color lend truth to the powerful grip of systemic oppression. This includes low-quality public education, inequitable health care, failing public-assistance programming, extreme forms of policing, and police brutality. Yet, of all these systems, I’ve failed to mention this: There are other factors, often unseen and unheard, that hurt the quality of life for many Black Americans and communities of color.
This is where we, the Black Environmental Collective, exist. We are a burgeoning Pittsburgh-based program, supported by the UrbanKind Institute, operating in action-oriented spaces to challenge forces, often intangible, that are working against Black people. It’s a space that critically examines the intersections of climate change and the social determinants of health while re-establishing the relationship between the sustainability sector and its intrinsic connection to race and environmental justice.
The Collective’s goal is to build an interdisciplinary network of researchers, funders, activists, advocates, residents, and neighborhood organizations grounded in socio-environmental issues. The network seeks to drive regional education, policy, and action agendas through direct services and movement building while increasing awareness of climate change, health, and equity challenges sustained in Black communities in Pennsylvania.
As a disruptor for equity and progress, we question why many urban spaces are disproportionately exposed to pollution and other environmental hazards. Researchers who produced the report, “Toxic Waste and Race at Twenty 1987 – 2007,” found that more than half of the population living within 1.86 miles of toxic waste facilities such as landfills, hazardous waste sites, and other industrial facilities, in the United States are people of color.
These facilities contribute to air pollution, safety issues, and other health concerns. We study the historical exclusion of Black people in spaces deemed white, by many people, such as schools, parks, swimming pools, and hillsides. We look at how systems influence society and question why Black people are exponentially less prepared to survive the perils of a global pandemic, dying at rates 2.7 faster than our white counterparts, according to AMP Research Lab.
Even before COVID-19, environmental issues were hurting families with low incomes, especially those who depend on publicly funded support systems for daily living. Everything outside the body is considered our environment, including the ground, the grass, structures, trees, and the trash. It’s the natural elements that are unmentioned. Yet, pollution particles affect our health – mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Andrea, a Black mother from Pittsburgh, is one example. I met her while engaging Black residents about climate change. Andrea explained her battles living close to a steel mill while raising four children. Her eldest daughter, she told me, began exhibiting signs of poor breathing and was eventually diagnosed with chronic asthma. Andrea learned her immediate environment contributed to her daughter’s asthma and corrective action needed to be taken immediately.
Andrea found more jobs to purchase an oxygen machine, portable air conditioners and additional supplies to help her daughter. Unfortunately, it only got worse, leading to weekly hospital treatments for her asthma. Because Andrea worked multiple jobs and was taking care of three other children, she was flagged by Child Protective Services for negligent behavior. As her daughter’s chronic asthma worsened, her daughter was removed from the home.
Eventually, due to emotionally traumatized stress of chronic asthma, her daughter missed out on crucial development opportunities and suffers severely as a result. Andrea wound up on public assistance and working domestic jobs to support her children.
Also suffering from chronic illnesses, Andrea said it best, “There’s a relationship between the cycle of illness and environment affecting Black families, and it’s not within the control of parents or adults.”
Many burdens and experiences in Black communities, such as this one, can get buried in reports, and do not appear to be an issue for the majority to care about. But who is responsible for our environment, especially where Black people live? It’s everyone who has an impact on where Black people live. Here’s what we need to acknowledge: Respect for Black Americans is required. Respect is an unheard action that has been lacking in our Black neighborhoods for too long. It recognizes a person’s presence is important and valuable, establishing a relationship before communicating. It’s at this point where equity becomes possible. Black people are rarely exposed to considerable equity and too often excluded from justice.
The Black Environmental Collective supports sustainability for Black people in Black neighborhoods. We plan on mobilizing to execute regional projects dictated by data and comprehensive community planning. We seek to establish a regional, racial justice education pipeline with an emphasis on Black populations. We’ll continue weighing in on relevant municipal planning activities, including policy and legislative actions that further promote sustainable spaces for Black people.
And what does it really look like when we have Black people leading environmental work? The answer is an increase in opportunities. The opportunities we need for Black progression have been created within the Black Environmental Collective where members have access to funding for personal and professional development, environmental justice DEI workshops, board development trainings and matching, employment opportunities and access to a national network of BIPOC and allies within the environmental justice and sustainability sector. Additional opportunities will arise as the Collective continues to grow.
Another goal for the Collective is to collaborate with existing neighborhood organizations and institutions to co-host community-driven public conversations around environmental issues in our effected communities, to groom current and next generation leaders to serve in spaces affecting the quality of life in Black communities, and to connect neighborhood needs and priorities to resources of public agencies and environmental organizations. We need to equip residents with the tools to challenge environmental racism.
We seek to be an authentic space where leaders of color can quickly, empathetically, and responsibly respond to the needs of Black populations as emergencies arise. The Collective’s presence throughout Pittsburgh’s 90 neighborhoods, Allegheny County, and Southwestern Pennsylvania, serves to broaden and deepen the understanding of environmental equity as well as activate transformational change in community perceptions and attitudes regarding environmental justice.
It’s no secret that what we’re exposed to, taught and trained, forced and able to do, determines how we make decisions. And now, it’s time to change the narrative of what Black people are exposed to. The Black Environmental Collective exists because our social behaviors should benefit our lifestyle choices and economic status. We exist because it’s time to conduct business differently within Black communities and with Black people. Who better charged to do that than our allies and us? Like I said, it’s time. It’s time for us to act as if what we do makes a difference – because it does.
For more information about Independent Sector, please visit: https://independentsector.org/
Alyssa P. Lyon is the director of the Black Environmental Collective, which is based at the UrbanKind Institute. Her experience as sustainable communities director at Green Building Alliance helped her recognize the importance of amplifying marginalized voices in the sustainability sector, and that environmental justice is ultimately a civil rights issue.
Jaquaya Mills is the program associate at the UrbanKind Institute. She is a community activist, spoken word artist and author. She has worked for East End Cooperative Ministries, Community Empowerment Association, Homewood Community Sports, and A+ Schools.
