Navigating the Frontlines of Climate Change: Resilience and Perspectives of Climate Champions

Abstract

The frontline of climate change in the African diaspora has been championed by the efforts of women. Although visibility has been given to women on the continent, the heroic efforts of African American women have often been largely ignored. Just as in the developing world, women of color have disproportionally experienced the repercussions of the assaults of a changing climate—rising sea levels, changing weather patterns, and increasing pollution are threatening food security, increasing infant mortality, exacerbating poverty, and maternal death rates exposing other health inequalities. This chapter will explore the life’s work of three climate champions at Historically Black College or Universities (HBCUs) via teaching the next generation of climate activists. We use a conceptual framework that situates their work in three broad areas: (1) risk reduction and emergency preparedness; (2) curriculum, education, and health policy; and (3) outreach and environmental capacity. We will explore their stories, the political actions that have contributed to the lack of resource management, and their role in shaping women’s roles in addressing the impacts of climate change and environmental justice.

1. Introduction

Sometimes, when we think about the environment, it becomes the movement of elite white women, who can be described as ecofeminist. In an article entitled, “6 Female Environmentalists Who Changed the World by Sabai Design” it highlights the accomplishments of six phenomenal women. These women are from a myriad of backgrounds; however, none are African American women [1]. Each woman featured in the article brought climate change and the efforts from grassroots beginnings to international prominence. This is not the only article that takes this approach to explaining environmentalism. Reading about their collective resilience, we started to think about the role that African American women play in this story of resilience and climate activism.

The father of environmental justice, Robert Bullard, is the pioneer and architect of the environmental justice moment [2]. He is the former dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University and co-founder of the HBCU Climate Change Consortium, which he served as the founding director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University prior to his arrival at Texas Southern. Over his career, he has written 18 books that address sustainable development, environmental racism, urban land use, climate justice, housing, transportation, community resilience, regional equity and more. His book Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class and Environmental Quality is a standard text in the environmental justice field. Although, we could spend a tremendous amount of time looking at the role that black men play, we started to specifically address hidden figures in the HBCU community, specifically the role that African American women have played. We are not underplaying the role that other ethnicities and races contribute to this conversation, but in most social dynamics, black women are looked upon as counterproductive and the inequality are expressed enacted upon how their contribution is chronicled in the literature.

When we think of climate change in the United States, we should think of two leaders who have been instrumental in bringing attention to underserved communities that have experienced climate deficits: Drs. Robert Bullard and Beverly Wright. Both are sociologists, who have made environmental justice a focal point of their scholarship [3]. They have brought attention to environmental justice issues from Warren County, NC and to Cancer Alley, LA [4, 5]. It has been their seminal work that has brought attention to marginalized communities. They sounded the alarm when others ignored the problem. We refer to them as the father and mother of the environmental justice movement, particularly in the African American community. Although a recent article focused on celebrating the works of what has been termed “black justice heroes [6],” there are still others that have championed this cause by being ambassadors for social justice through their teaching, service, and research.

Table 1 illustrates a number of projects happening at HBCUs. In a report entitled “30 Colleges That Are Fighting Climate Change – This Is How American Colleges Are Working to Save the Planet” not one HBCU was mentioned. Giving the impression that there is no involvement in this quest to find climate solutions. We would expect Texas Southern University to get a mention since it is the home for the Father of the Environmental Justice movement and the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice. But not one of the HBCU Climate Change Consortium members is listed. We recognize that part of the issue is the methodology for making the listing included checking University websites. Although for our table we searched deeper and looked for grants, active Centers of Excellence, and curricular offerings. We also reached out to Beverly Wright and Mary Williams of the Deep Horizon Environmental Center, LA. In collaboration with TSU and Robert Bullard they received funding from the NIH to support the HBCU Climate Change Consortium (HCCC), which was established in 2011. The consortium was formed to raise awareness about the disproportionate impact of climate change on marginalized communities. The consortium is composed of 30 colleges and universities throughout the Southeast U.S. The organization has a mission to develop HBCU students, leaders, scientists, and advocates on issues related to climate change.

A. Risk reduction, sustainability and emergency preparedness	B. Education, health, curriculum and policy	C. Outreach and environmental capacity building
Karen Magid (Huston-Tillotson University) Center for Sustainability and Environmental Justice	Reginald Archer (Tennessee State University) GIS curriculum	Duncan M. Chembezi (Alabama A&M) - Director of the Small Farms Research Center, Public policy and applied economics
Paul B. Tchounwou, (Jackson State University), Director of Environmental Science program	David Padget (Tennessee State University) GLOBE curriculum	Dexter Wakefield, (Alcon State University) Interim Dean and Director of Land-Grant Program
Robert C. Wingfield, Jr., (Fisk University) Director of Environmental Toxics Awareness and Sustainability program	Ranjani W. Kulawardhana (Alabama A&M) GIS, Remote Sensing, and Environmental Science	Nicholas Panasik Jr., (South Carolina State University) Departments of Biology & Chemistry.
Michael A. Reiter (Bethune-Cookman College) Director and Chair Department of Integrated Environmental Science	Ruby Broadwell (Dillard University) Biology, GeoPath Urban Water Program	LaDon Swann (Mississippi Valley State University) director of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium
Mintesinot Jiru (Coppin State University) Chair of the Department of Natural Sciences	Dagne Hill (Grambling State University), Associate Professor of Environmental Science	James Hunter (Morgan State University) Civil Engineering Storm water management
Fatemeh Shafiei, Ph.D., (Spelman College) Chair of the Political Science Department and Sustainability Committee	L. Faye Grimsley (Xavier University of Louisiana) Public Health.	Arnab Bhowmik, (North Carolina A&T State University) College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
	Olga Bolden-Tiller (Tuskegee University) Dean of Agriculture, Environment and Nutrition Sciences	Zhu H. Ning, Ph.D. (Southern University of Louisiana), James and Ruth Smith Endowed Professor, Urban Forestry and Natural Resources Educational
	Deidre M. Gibson (Hampton University) Associate Professor, and Chair, Marine and Environmental Science
	Winston Thompson (Morehouse College of Medicine) Frontiers in Environmental Science and Health (FrESH)

Table 1.

Climate champions and special projects.

However, others have been toiling in this aspect of research and community activism for more than 20 years, and they have worked with historically black colleges and universities. Further, we have exposed our students to be the next leaders in developing leaders in the climate movement. So, the three women who were looked at in this chapter include Dr. Pamela Waldron Moore at Xavier University, Ms. Felicia Davis of the HBCU Green Fund and Dr. Mildred McClain, also known as Mother Bahati, from Savannah, Georgia. We researched these women, and when possible, we interviewed them. We categorized them as “womanist environmentalists” from their collective work. These women are at the nexus of environmental education and empowerment of minority communities.

In our conversation they did not identify as an ecofeminist. As was explained by Gross in “Buddhism and Ecofeminism: Untangling the Threads of Buddhist Ecology and Western Thought” [7], ecofeminism is a portmanteau that results by combining two words, “ecology” and “feminisms.” The problem with simply giving every woman the title of ecofeminism, is that for women of color the concept of feminism does not exactly fit. We support Gross’ argument “that feminism is in danger of ignoring the environmental crisis from the lens of anyone who is not white European ancestry. Leaving BIOPC woman viewpoints from the analysis of outcomes can make the definition skewed, incomplete, and often inadequate.

Dr. Waldron-Moore stated it best that

“Ecofeminist is an environmental movement. The men have messed up this world and this environment. They [men] have been the ones in place to make decisions. And they [men] have made decisions purely based on their own economic interest. Men have not found a way to profit from the environment or thinking about preserving the environment. And so, while their greed and their desire for power, has allowed them to sort of push, push, push, push, for those things. They have left women to clean up.”

Womanist environmentalism” is based in womanist theory, while diverse, holds at its core that mainstream feminism is a movement led by white women to serve white women’s goals and can often be indifferent to, or even in opposition to, the needs of Black women. Thus, we describe the work of our participants as womanist environmentalist and not feminist. Feminism theory does not inherently render white women non-racist, while Womanism places anti-racism at its core. Both the empowerment of women and the upholding of Black cultural values are seen as essential to Black women’s existence, which is an important distinction. In this view, the very definition of “feminine” and “femininity” must be re-examined [8].

Womanist environmentalist supports the idea that the culture of the woman, which in this case is the focal point of intersection as opposed to class or some other characteristic, is not an element of her identity, but rather is the lens through which her identity exists. As such, a woman’s Blackness is not a component of her feminism. Instead, her Blackness is the lens through which she understands and experiences both feminist/womanist identity [9].

The current state of environmental discourse tends to view environmental issues as problems for science only, and not as issues of social justice. Such an approach ignores the fact that not all groups of humans are situated equally regarding ecological degradation and exposure to environmental toxins, as a direct result of histories of inequality and oppression:

“These histories are linked through processes of dualism, in which nature/humans, Anglo-European “whites”/people of color, and masculinity/femininity are placed into opposition. Such conceptual pairings are gendered, as well as raced, classed, and species. Ecofeminism directly interrogates the sources and effects of these pairings, exposing the ways in which sexist ideologies are connected to “naturism [10].”

Therefore, this chapter argues, struggles for environmental justice that do not incorporate an explicitly gendered and ecofeminist analysis of ecological problems will not adequately understand the ways in which systems of oppression (such as racism, colonialism, gender discrimination, and environmental degradation) are interconnected and mutually reinforcing. For this reason, ecofeminism, a political movement, and theoretical stance which identifies and articulates these interconnections, is a necessary intervention into discussions and debates about how to alter the fact of environmental injustice.

Following the feminist movement, feminism is not described as the work African American women often do without notoriety. Hudson-Weems identify other differences between Womanism and feminism; Womanism is “family-oriented” and focuses on race, class, and gender, while feminism is “female-oriented” and strictly focuses on biological sex-related issues women and girls face globally [9]. They do the hard work and still disproportionately, they are acted upon by the things that happen in their environment and do not get credit for doing the work.

The work of African American women most particularly at HBCUS has not been celebrated. We highlight the work at Dr. Pamela Waldron-Moore, Political Science Professor at Xavier University; Ms. Felicia Davis affiliate with Clark Atlanta University and the HBCU Green Fund; and Dr. Mildred McClain (Savannah, Georgia) a.k.a. “Mama Bahati” of The Harambee House/Citizens for Environmental Justice—(HH/CFEJ), which was born out of a tremendous need for African Americans to develop collective strategies for the effective engagement of citizens in local decision-making. As such, their work serves as exemplars of African American women on the front lines of climate research and policy initiatives that is transformative in addressing environmental (in)justice and advocating for the needs of vulnerable communities. The result of these three women will be explored in this chapter. We will explore how they have established goals and objectives for their respective work. We will ask them to share how they have prepared for the next generation of climate activities. We will explore the perspective on how their work is valued in the academy. And we will close with each of their direct examination of the term “ecofeminism,” what they have done, and their contributions to this genre.

1.1 Conceptual framework and method

Our conceptual framework is formed through the lens of intersectionality. The intersectionality of climate justice in our model attempts to address the fragmented scholarships of the role of HBCUs. The conceptual framework (Figure 1) that situates our work into three broad areas: (1) risk reduction and emergency preparedness; (2) health, education, curriculum, and policy; and (3) outreach and environmental capacity building.

Figure 1.

Conceptual framework for environmental justice at the frontline.

The HBCU Climate Change Consortium (HCCC) is comprised of 30 member institutions. Who have been identified as members of the Deep South Center and the Bullard Center. Although there are 104 reported HBCUS we have focused on members of the HBCU-HCCC because they have been identified as having active membership.

We highlighted 20 of the Centers and Programs at these schools. In 2021, USBE (US Black Engineers) identified 15 ABET accredited HBCUs, however not all these schools identified in this report are a member of the HCCC. We have also included a map (Figure 2) showing the location of all the HCCC-HBCUs. We examine the websites of all HCCC members. We searched for the terms, HBCU Climate Consortium, Environmental Justice, Environmental Science degrees and Emergency Preparedness. We identified individuals who were listed as the person of contact and have identified them as Climate Champions (Table 1). In our evaluation of the websites, we found only two of the schools have HCCC affiliation identified on their website (i.e., Spelman and Huston-Tillotson University).

Figure 2.

Geographical location of the 20 of the HCCC-HBCUs discussed in Table 1. This map was generated by using the Mapcusotmizer program created by Patrick Kaeding (https://www.mapcustomizer.com/). The numbers indicate the location of each consortium member: 1. Huston-Tillotson University, Austin, TX 78702; 2. Jackson State University, Jackson, MS 39217; 3. Fisk University, Nashville, TN 37208; 4. Bethune-Cookman College, Daytona Beach, FL 32114; 5. Coppin State University, Baltimore, MD 21216; 6. Spelman College, Atlanta, GA 30314; 7. Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN 37209; 8. Dillard University, New Orleans, LA 70122; 9. Grambling State University 403 Main St, Grambling, LA 71245; 10. Alabama A&M University Huntsville, AL 35811; 11. Xavier University of Louisiana 1 Drexel Dr., New Orleans, LA 70125; 12. Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL 36088; 13. Alcorn State University, MS 39096; 14. South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, SC 29117; 15. Mississippi Valley State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi 39,762; 16. Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD 21251; 17. North Carolina A &T University, Greensboro, NC 27411; 18. Southern A&M University Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge, LA 70807; 19. Hampton University, 100 E Queen St, Hampton, VA 23669; and, 20. Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA 30314. NOTE: When Colleges are in the same geographical area the markers are not seen. Examples of this are New Orleans (Dillard and Xavier), Atlanta (Morehouse and Spelman), Nashville (Tennessee State and Fisk).

The HBCU thrust for climate justice was born from 1994 when President Clinton signed Executive Order 12898, which requires that the U.S. EPA and other federal agencies implement environmental justice policies [11]. These policies were designed to specifically address the disproportionate environmental effects of federal programs and policies on minority and low-income populations. The “environmental justice strategy listed programs, policies, planning and public participation processes, enforcement, and/or rulemakings related to human health or the environment that were revised to, at a minimum to: (1) promote enforcement of all health and environmental statutes in areas with minority populations and low-income populations; (2) ensure greater public participation; (3) improve research and data collection relating to the health of and environment of minority populations and low-income populations; and (4) identify differential patterns of consumption of natural resources among minority populations and low-income populations. In addition, the environmental justice strategy included, where appropriate, a timetable for undertaking identified revisions and consideration of economic and social implications of the revisions” [11].

In the almost 30 years since the creation of EO 12898, EPA and the Interagency Working Group (IWG) have not really focused on a concerted effort to coordinate the 11 other agencies so that the idea of a more equitable and just environment could be reached through the training of students in a deliberate and focused manner. There are 11 other agencies that comprised the IWG—Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Health, and Human Services, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of the Interior, Department of Justice, Department of Labor, Department of Transportation, and Federal Emergency Management Agency. Historically HBCUs that are considered 1890 schools have found support from the Department of Agriculture. Other private HBCUs have found funding from NIH, NSF and if they have engineering programs Department of Energy and Department of Defense. The EPA small grants program has gone largely undersubscribed. In a review of the funding, only one HBCU (Shaw University in 2001) applied and received a small EPA grant to start an environmental justice education program. One of the problems with the small grants is that researchers who are generally the focus of the Centers and efforts at HBCUs to bring students into the fray of climate justice do not see these types of small grants as meaningful. The weight that they may be given for tenure and promotion is probably not worth the effort. Also, HBCUs leadership encourage its faculty to find opportunities that will maximize their indirect cost (IDC) which goes into the operation of the facilities so that faculty can support and train students. In reviewing the types of efforts that have been found at HBCUs in Table 1, we noticed that the emphasis was in policy, water quality, air quality, toxicity, resilience, renewable energy, and waste management. We noticed a trend that environmental justice has moved from an issue of social justice to one of science access. HBCUs play a vital role in this aspect of preparedness. The mission of HBCUs is to provide upward mobility and access to all races/ethnicities. The mission is rooted in the ability to educate all who desire and were denied education. HBCUs make up 3% of the nation’s college and universities, but 22% of all African American college graduates who receive a bachelor’s degree are educated via HBCUs [12]. According to a UNCF report, HBCUs are the institution of origin among almost 30% of Black graduates of science and engineering doctorate programs [13].

1.2 Climate justice and intersectionality

Intersectionality serves as the theoretical underpinning for our research on climate justice. It provides an analytic lens to explore and center the experiences of African American women’s voices as central to the work on climate justice. Historically, women’s voices have been missing in the discourse, yet they have played a critical role in advancing environmental justice in general, and for marginalized communities, in particular.

The term intersectionality was coined by legal scholar, Kimberle’ Crenshaw, who posits that gender, race, and class are an integral part of the behavioral influences, role expectations, and the life experiences that structures the lived experiences of African American women and their responses to their environments [14]. As such, an intersectional lens, posits that our lives are shaped by aspects of our identification, including race, class, gender, and heteronormativity [15]. Moreover, Black women’s lived experiences are situated in the context of economic, social, and political structures by interconnecting systems of power (e.g., patriarchy, race subordination, capitalism) and oppression (racism, sexism, classism) [15]. In essence, our social location as African American women is unique, and fosters a unique standpoint and analytical lens by which to examine the complexities of the social systems, the society and the world. It is in this context, that we bring an epistemological stance on how we make sense of what we learn (e.g. the environment) and how we know what we know (e.g. knowledge and truth). So, for climate justice, we center African American women’s voices that have often been marginalized, despite the fact that African American women scholars, practitioners, and activists bring a holistic approach to our research, practice, and agency. This stance is not new for African American women, fighting for justice. For example, Anna Julia Cooper, known as the “Mother of Black Feminism” and the founder of Saint Augustine Normal School & Collegiate Institute (now Saint Augustine University) in her work Voices from the South (1892) notes, “Only the Black Woman can determine when and where I enter … then and there the whole Negro race enters with me” [14]. As a sociologist, educator and activist, Cooper advocates from the activist/scholar tradition and advances a curriculum at Historically Black Colleges and Universities [16]. Environmental justice is part of the broader movement for civil rights and human rights. Historically and contemporarily, women have been the canaries in the coal mine, alerting everyone to the destruction of the environment. Currently, Spelman College, has the Anna Julia Cooper Endowed Professor in Woman’s Studies, established in 2014 [17]. Thus, honoring the legacy of Black women fighting for justice for all people. Again, HBCUs have a long and rich history of developing leaders to be change agents. As Spelman’s motto notes: A Choice to Change the World.

As documented, climate change has a differential impact on communities of color and other marginalized communities. According to the literature, there are two central themes of this differential impact [18]. That is: (1) climate change impacts everyone, but people of color suffer differential risks; and (2) people of color contribute less to climate change [18]. Communities of color are more vulnerable to extreme weather conditions of climate change, including sea-level rise, hurricanes, tornados, flooding, extreme heat and cold and other disasters that devastate the lives of all people, but particularly, the poor, low-income, and minority community Hurricane Katrina, in 2015, exemplifies the long lasting effects of displacement, loss of homes, jobs, health and well-being and the loss of life that impacts the African American community-lower ninth ward-in New Orleans, still to this day [18]. We, in the African American community, cannot forget the scenes from the convention center and our people standing on roof tops with signs begging for help, and children and the elders, languishing in horrible conditions, typifies the vulnerability of these communities. The displacement of students and faculty, and facilities damage to the two HBCUs-Xavier and Dillard had a differential and long-lasting consequences that Predominately White Institutions (PWIs) did not experience. HBCUs have been the safe space, physically and intellectually, for African American students and faculty. Hence, the economic, political, health, and social location of these vulnerable communities underscore the differential influence of climate change. In addition, marginalized community are least likely to contribute to climate change than major companies and corporations and the wealthy that put profits over people, particularly, black, brown and the poor [18] Environment crime, social harms, and justice has become a major concern across the global. The behaviors of the elite class such as industrial population, environmental hazards, global warming, and climate change is serious and pressing problem that is threatening the health and well-being of our planet [19]. Accordingly, there is an urgent need for research and policy that challenges the existing structures of power. The hegemonic power in theory and practice necessitates critical questions and viable solutions to affect change. As such, how do you evacuate the city when you have no money, no transportation? What do you do if you have to take care of the young and the old-a task which typically falls on women in the community? How do you recover when you have no insurance and no economic foundation to rebuild? Simply put, you do not. The challenge of transformative research and policy to protect the most vulnerable communities in a key factor of your climate champions and the HBCU legacy.

Systemic inequality—institutional racism, gender inequality, and economic inequality, health disparities, are at its core, the policies and planning or the lack thereof that disadvantage all people and communities, particularly marginalized communities. The intersectional framework, articulated here, speaks to and deconstructs systems of power, oppression, and privilege, which are taken-for-granted, in environmental discourse, policy, and practice. To this end, African American women are at the forefront of environmental justice movement—that all people have the right to live in safe communities. The climate champions, which we center in our discussion, are at the vanguard of the struggle for environmental justice.

1.3 Risk reduction and emergency preparedness

More than 80% (85 of the 104 HBCUs) are in FEMA regions 3, 4, or 6. The institutions in these regions face higher risks from the negative impacts of a changing climate. These impacts include increases in the occurrence and severity of extreme weather events, accelerating sea-level rise, more extreme heat days, poorer air quality, and higher energy demand. According to the Global Projects summary report produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it is projected by 2050, pervasive impacts on ecosystems, people, and infrastructure will result from increased frequency and intensity of climate and weather extremes, including hot extremes on land and in the ocean, heavy precipitation events, drought, and wildfires in these regions [20].

Johnson and Thompson make the salient argument that leaders at HBCUs must tailor their existing practices with tenets of a model that will help them effectively respond to new challenges [21]. One of the earlier definitions of what constitutes a crisis was provided by Pearson and Clair (1998): “An organizational crisis is a low probability, high impact event that threatens the viability of the organization and is characterized by ambiguity of cause, effects, and means of resolution, as well as by a belief that decisions must be made swiftly” Emergency planning is part of the broader disaster management cycle that all Universities, regardless of their USDA designation, must prepare.

These emergency plans identify prevention, mitigation, preparedness response, and recovery [11]. Risk assessment is one of the central tenants of the environmental justice movement. Adequate coverage and contingency planning are now part of the strategic, operational plans. The dictates of both state and local requirements affect these disaster-prone areas and the plans that each University ultimately plan. A prime example is Jackson State University and their on-going water crisis. No matter how the University leadership might strategically plan it is beholding to the dictates of the local government and state municipalities.

Universities must be proactive to ensure the safety of their stakeholders and to reduce the reduction in damage to infrastructure. HBCUs are even more vulnerable to these changes in the environment. They are no different from the population of people that they serve. In the book, “Dumping in Dixie,” Robert Bullard makes the argument that brown and black people are the ones who are disproportionally affected by adverse climate conditions [4]. In addition to the climate, they are confronting socioeconomic inequalities. Providing the necessary knowledge and skills enables the whole community to contribute to national security.

According to the 2022 FEMA Higher Education College List, three HBCUs offer majors or programs related to risk and emergency preparedness: Howard University in Washington, D.C., offers a Bachelor of Science in Emergency Management and a Master of Science in Emergency Management; Jackson State University, Jackson, Mississippi, offers a Bachelor of Science in Emergency Management Technology and a Master of Science in Hazardous Materials Management; and, North Carolina Central University, Durham, North Carolina, which offers a Bachelor of Science in Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Other schools are associated with FEMA; however, two are considered part of the HBCU Climate Change Consortium.

FEMA has recognized a misalignment, mainly as most of these Universities serving large populations of socioeconomically disadvantaged communities have yet to be engaged in emergency preparation. In 2018, working with professors and associates of Howard University, FEMA supported the establishment of an HBCU-focused consortium, the HBCU Emergency Management Consortium (HBCU-EMC). HBCU-EMC recognizes the need for better preparation, and the ability to open career opportunities for HBCU graduates was also evident with the lack of significant presence in emergency management training. HBCU-EMC has started to address emergency response training needs among students at HBCUs. HBCU-EMC has made great strides in proposing actions to address the emergency response training void in the HBCU communities. In the beginning, the HBCU-EMC had a pilot project with several universities in North Carolina. After the lessons learned from their pilot projects in 2018, two HBCUs (Elizabeth City State University, NC, and Tennessee State University, TN) fully implemented Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Training on their campus. One unintended outcome was that this CERT program was beneficial when these two Universities had to pivot and respond to COVID [12]. They had already gone through some of the best practices for emergency preparedness.

1.4 Health, education, curriculum and policy

Rooted in a civil rights tradition, environmental education and policy are the pillars and undergirding to the environmental justice movement started by Robert Bullard and Beverly Wright. As sociologist they took the initial approach to making the environment a human rights issue. Although it probably was not an orchestrated effort approximate 75% of undergraduate students at HBCUs do not major in STEM. Therefore, if we do not approach this topic of climate justice from multiple entry points, we will miss a cadre of students. The curriculum development in higher education has also not been targeted for job creation but for knowledge creation. Therefore, the approach to curriculum development is left to the individual instructor. Academic freedom has been a hallmark of higher education and having a certain autonomy is not foreign to the HBCU faculty community. HBCUs still have faculty lead efforts and curriculum that reflect their individual interest. Exploring gaps in environmental knowledge and behavior experts suggest integrating environmental issues into courses with human behavior and the social environment to assist students in analyzing and understanding the complex connections between environmental problems and human health and wellness. Other authors more broadly call for the incorporation of environmental sustainability strategies into humanities and social/behavioral sciences [22].

From its inception, EJ (environmental justice) is based on the understanding that all people deserve a healthy environment—clean air, clean water, healthy food, and a toxic free ecosystem. The goal of EJ is to ensure that environmental benefits and burdens are equitably distributed. The lack of a unifying theme to create a theoretical framework to study and use a systems approach to solving complex environmental problems that are both socio-politically acceptable to environmental justice issues has not been implemented.

Law and medicine have been two areas of higher education that HBCUs have formed a niche. Despite the fact that there are only being six HBCU law schools and four medical schools, HBCUs have continued to lead the landscape in exploring topics and preparing its students to compete for a more just and equitable future. Each of these institutions has a motto that conveys a commitment to social justice, community service and the public good served especially for underserved communities. The faculty at these institutions have taken the lead in making sure that their students know what it means to work for social justice of which climate change is an important factor. Since 2000, Public Health programs have exploded at HBCUs. However, historically the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) did not accredit a Master of Public Health degree program at a Historically Black College or University until 1999; therefore, no accredited public health courses of study were available to Black students until institutions serving White students began to desegregate under legal challenges [23]. Howard University and Morehouse College were among the first two programs to be accredited by CEPH. Health disparities were a consequence of a legacy of Jim Crow politics. Some sociologists have termed this a form of racism. Environmental racism is a form of systemic racism characterized by the disproportionate exposure of people of color to environmental hazards, such as when communities of color are forced to live near harmful waste sources like sewage works, mines, landfills, power plants, major roadways, and sources of airborne particulate matter. In the US, significant health issues—including cancer, lung disease, and heart disease-are far more common in communities of color. When using the EJ Screening tools provided the EPA you can overlay demographic information with race, income, and environmental conditions [24]. As a result, the user can screen where there are areas of poverty and race and if it collaborates with increase incidences of exposure to pollutants and toxins.

Ethical review of prior behavior that led to dire health consequences for African Americans were later brought to the public attention. Henrietta Lacks and the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment are two world famous cases that speak to how African Americans were treated and used for experimentation. These cases still strike mistrust in the minority community. Therefore, it is imperative that HBCUs work to create the knowledge capital and help to dismantle the distrust.

1.5 Environmental capacity and outreach

By their very existence, HBCUs are in the business of providing opportunity. Besides the Black church and Panhellenic organizations, they have been the place for social and upward mobility. One of the Civils right traditions they have taught its students is how to protest a system that was neither just nor humane. Institutions like Clark Atlanta, Fisk, Hampton University, Xavier of Louisiana, North Carolina A&T, Howard University and Morehouse where the places that Black leadership developed. It was through the instruction and guidance of great intellectual thinkers that young men and women flourished. The people we have come to admire John Lewis, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Jessie Jackson, WEB Dubois were able to think about how to dismantle the Jim Crow era ideology through the capacity building that were instilled in them by their educators. George Kelsey was Martin Luther King’s religion teacher, and, in his paper, he believed King was “conducting activities in the finest Mosaic and prophetic tradition” [25].

We propose that these programs are founded in advocacy and activism. HBCUs by their very inception have played roles in shaping their graduates to go into areas to serve the underserved. The strategic mission is to create environmentalism, environmental activism, environmental activists, and better position its graduates to participate in the green economy. The ability to create sustainable change in a resource limited conditions which most HBCUs find themselves it is vital that they find a way to persist. This transfer of knowledge and helping their students transfer their knowledge into real action is a hallmark. HBCUs have realized that their business schools are a way to teach entrepreneurship and incubate ideas that can lead to wealth and additional resources for the communities they serve.

Internationalization became another opportunity for HBCUs to be more involved in environmental justice. They also realize that their students will compete in a global economy. They have also moved to internationalizing their curriculum and co-curriculum opportunities like study abroad, which will ensure that all students are exposed to international perspectives and build global competence. The need to internationalize allows the opportunity to participate in ecoterrorism.

2. Climate champions

As Table 1 illustrates there are many people at HBCUs doing the work and they stand at the frontline. We highlight the work of three women who for the last 20 years have provide training and education to generations of new climate champions. The concept of Climate Champions was coined from the 2021 Virtual Climate Conversation conference [26]. We asked them the following questions: Who are your collaborators? How or what sparked their interest in Climate Justice? What are the goals and objectives of their climate initiatives? Do they have publications of their work? How strongly do they agree that climate work is seen as white person’s work? What key lessons have they learned from their work? What recommendations do they have for others, specifically women who are interested in climate resilience work? What is their feeling on ecofeminism?

We asked these questions to provide readers with insight that can help them to champion environmental justice issue. Also having this type of historical knowledge allows for the sustainability of what has already been established. While this discussion, of their incredible body of work, knowledge, and advocacy is not exhaustive, we highlight the salient themes that emerge from more in-depth interviews and review of their work via their websites. Figure 3 shows two of the three Climate Champions that we shared their unique perspectives. Dr. Mildred McClain is not pictured here. Although we include her important contribution, we were never able to interview her and get permission to use her image. If you would like to see images of Dr. McClain, please visit http://www.theharambeehouse.net.

Figure 3.

Two climate champions interviewed for this chapter—(A) Dr. Pamela Waldron-Moore (Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, LA) and (B) Ms. Felicia Davis (HBCU Green Fund, Atlanta, GA). All pictures were used by permission.

2.1 Voices from the frontlines-unique perspectives

2.1.1 Policy, law and creating knowledge economies using the environment (Pamela Waldron-Moore)

Dr. Waldron-Moore published a book entitled “Knowledge Economy and Sustainable Development in Post-Disaster Societies of the Black Diaspora.” A native of Guyana an island nation in the Caribbean, she grew-up witnessing the effect of unfair profit margins. An essential component of aluminum manufacturing is bauxite which is mined from the soil in Guyana and other regions that are a majority Black and brown. The companies turn the mineral into more “in-demand” products, earning disparate and much higher profit margins than what is paid for the raw minerals. She has worked to expose her students in asking questions that can help inform policy. She was recently a part of a RAND proposal that is designed to generate knowledge that elucidates pathways to vulnerability and resilience in other disaster contexts. The data will permit empirical tests of interdependencies between different built and social environment factors at multiple levels. The project’s findings will help policymakers to target assistance toward individuals and neighborhoods most in need of support during complex crises. The project leverages partnership between political science students and faculty at Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA).

2.1.1.1 Collaborations—working together

“I’m working with a group called disaster research in place (DRIP). So, we call it a drip group. It was started by the social science Research Committee and Research Council, which are located in New York. We have a workshop for the group. We have folks from the Caribbean. Certainly, especially Puerto Rico, and we have, other groups within the gulf and so forth that assist, most of these are professors at colleges in Texas and Colorado and, across the country, but they all focus on disaster as it relates to putting Puerto Rico. The activities that have taken place since then are the efforts to get Puerto Rico to benefit from funds that are out there that they may need to learn about. And certainly, get them the kind of assistance to take care of the disaster.”

2.1.1.2 Caribbean nation-interest in climate justice

“I am interested in climate justice partially being from a Caribbean nation; however, Katrina sparked my interest. I identify so closely with where I was from, six feet below sea level, as is Louisiana, especially New Orleans. And so, after Katrina and all that we saw taking place in the city and the capital, we decided to go and do as much as possible. But my focus is a lot on the education that is missing when it comes to following up on what can be done, what has been done elsewhere, and how we can share this information so we can learn from each other because, as you must recognize that the Diaspora is just left behind in all these things. That’s a lot to do with what Maslow called higher-order needs. When people are struggling to find the basics of shelter, food, and health care, they don’t have time to think about, the existential questions, like climate change and what Top 10 or 15 years the pipe because they’re looking to service their needs now. That’s what comes from government or welfare programs or ambulatory promises. When those specific things, I mean the idea that the public needs to be taken care of by their local government officials and so forth that the fear of human-beings rests with government officials. And as a political scientist, I know that if you sit back waiting for the government to help you, you might be waiting for a while and missing out on many opportunities to initiate yourself. African Americans and people of the Diaspora and the resilience that come forth because that is the only way they can recapture their past and the resilience that we know what ancestors had still embedded within them. We have to find it, identify it, and work towards making that knowledge capital that is resident within our community that we work.”

2.1.1.3 Service or scholarship—the value of our work

“Well, I would say it was service, mostly, and I never had to necessarily use it. In terms of scholarship, I have presented papers at a lot of conferences, especially at NYU’s pedagogical conferences. I’ve talked about how to teach Climate. Just assaulted teach, you know, students who don’t know anything about Climate understand where the deficiencies lie. I’ve had courses in my quantitative analysis where I focused on them going into the community and our culture centers, talking to individuals advising individuals on steps to take to resolve their environmental issues. First, they must recognize what the environmental issues are. So, we must identify them and have individuals recognize the part they need to play to get action taken within a community. I taught students and community leaders to look at policy papers. We submitted things to the City of New Orleans in the early days of 2003; this was even before Katrina. We also have conferences where we invite students from different places to present. These efforts were under the race gender and class projects in Louisiana.”

Dr. Pamela Waldron-Moore went on to express her views on the overlapping themes in her work. She notes,

“I write on the political economy of development and most of my work is about development issues. So disastrous, just a branch off that topic. I'm looking at the question of where you find low Economic Development, by the very places you're likely to find disaster and inability to address the questions of disaster. So that correlation allows all my research scholarship to be seen holistically rather than just a focus on political science.”

2.1.1.4 Womanist environmentalist vs. eco-feminist

“Ecofeminist is an environmental movement. That men that have missed up this world and this environment. They have made because they have been the ones in place to make decisions. And they have made decisions purely based on their own economic interest. They have not, you know, the profit does not exist in thinking about preserving the environment. And so, while they their greed and their desire for power, has allowed them to sort of push, push, push, push, push for those things. They’ve left women to clean up. I think of Wangari Maathai. She was from Kenya, and she awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. I think it might have been 2006 or 2007 and one of the first thing she did with her team was to reach out to HBCUs. They reached out to me and as a result I invited her to Xavier. She was just one woman who planted a phenomenal number of trees—a million trees or something.

“She and her organization ensured that the climate was supported in a positive way because she saw the re-greening of areas. It’s always been women who have to go back and clean up the mess that men have made men of cutting down the trees and so forth and so on because they’re looking for building and lumber sources and so forth. They’re not thinking about replanting it, and its women who have done that. So, from the perspective of women doing the cleanup, I see that as a womanist activity, but from this sense of The Men Who made the mess and therefore, the ecosystem requires a different approach ecofeminism works to push the idea that the political activism of women is what will create the kind of climate change of ecological change that one needs to survive in a healthy world. So, you can mention that ecofeminism is what it has been traditionally seen to be really on. The lying point is that without the ecosystem, addressing males and females and having a totally holistic approach to repairing the damage that has been done. It doesn’t exist, but in the womanist feel the logical tradition, where are women who assume these roles, where justice and health care matter? You might also want to point out that is how the New Movement sees itself in the African diaspora.”

2.1.1.5 Climate work is seen as a white person’s work

“Well, you know, I say we because they are the ones who have the luxury of time the luxury of resources to go and get something done. When you think of the Sierra Club, when you think of the green parties in most countries of the world, whether it be Europe, or the US what does this mean real for me, either? And all of that, it’s always white people who have the luxury of pushing things for the environment because they are post materialist and by post-materialism mean there was a point in time in the world where materialism was most important and that people got to the stage where they have accomplished, most of the material things in life that they’re looking for. And these are only white people...It’s not us who helped. We’ve got all these things because we’re still trying to catch up and so when you think about post-materialism which is a concept proposed by … Ronald Englehart and he’s a political scientist. He argues that until people get to the stage where they can think in higher order levels-meaning not just supporting themselves in the basic ways but when they can sit back and appreciate the spiritual, the spiritual elements of their lives. We’re they’re grateful for nature so forth. And so many start seeing nature as being more important than the running and seeking after material things. Then and only then will have a system where it becomes everybody’s issue to take care of the environment and Black people can adjust. They would recognize that this is about existence, a very preservation of humanity, and once that humanity element is in place, I think that is the element that will lead us away from thinking that it is white people’s work, not ours. If we don’t get involved now, white people are going to continue, extracting from us, taking our natural resources because they have the technological and expert capacities to do so. Because they will, then pay us in pennies what they will hope to expand into millions…I talked about our aluminum at home, our bauxite which is what creates aluminum. We have about 17 countries in the world that recognize bauxite. We don’t have the capacity to do that and the people who work in the bauxite industry at the lowest level, they see them as just basic laborers. But is this the same labor that converts this bauxite in the west? They drink their colas and stuff out of into this aluminum product that makes so much money. So, until we get to the stage where we see the difference between raw materials and the production of manufactured goods, we are going to stay poor.”

2.1.1.6 The struggle is real: Having our say

“You know this is a struggle. The struggle for recognition, the struggle for respect this term for justice, this trouble for clarity is something that’s got to go on. And so, I prefer to think of everything as once we share knowledge, everybody will know. Therefore, I wrote this book, really, I could have done without another thing on my plate. But you know I wanted to make sure that once I leave people still have something to refer to and you know with a little bit of luck and good health. I can continue writing because there are all kinds of things were not in my head.

2.1.2 HBCU green funds (Felecia Davis)

Sustainability leader and cofounder of the HBCU Green Fund, Felicia Davis, was one of three metro area women named “Atlanta Power Women” by award-winning actor Mark Ruffalo’s (Incredible Hulk) ATL100 campaign. She co-authored a paper to discuss ways to increase the participation of HBCUs in the geosciences [27]. Ms. Davis started out collaborating with Drs. Beverly Wright and Robert Bullard. She and Dr. Bullard worked in Atlanta together. She was at the beginning of the discussion of environmental justice. The HBCU Green Fund partnered with the Harambee House/Citizens for Environmental Justice (HH/CFEJ) to lead a delegation of 27 persons from the United States and Africa to participate in COP27 in Egypt last November and are planning to take a delegation to COP28 in Dubai in November of this year. Below are some highlights from the conversation we had with Ms. Davis.

2.1.2.1 Voices from the frontline—continuous collaboration

I started out with Bob and Beverly. Together we’ve been on the climate Road since 2000. The others go back to doing toxics and environmental justice. Of course, before that, I entered the climate, global warming space coming out of Civil Rights, voting rights. And that’s because I had some visibility for that kind of organizing. I was recruited to work on global warming. I didn’t even know what it was. I didn’t trust what it was because they said, okay, this is true. I said, okay, the first thing it was to me was to see if it was happening in Africa. I’m going to see if it’s real. The people there will tell me, and I did make that. I learned more than I could have imagined from people who are experiencing climate change already. And that was now 23 years ago. So, we collectively adjusted the theme in the US, mainly looking at air quality, like asthma and power plant. But work was driven by the extremely large environmental groups not what in my opinion of using because generally when an extra push was needed or their strategy was failing, tons of black people in the international spaces.”

2.1.2.2 The politics of it All: HBCUs

“How best to make a quantum leap? And I have always been attached to a supportive belief in Black colleges as they anchor to the black community. Not to dismiss churches and other organizations within our community. But thinking black colleges attract, bright young Black people and it is, it could be a quantum leap come from there. So I set my sights or working to engage young Black people in the climate movement, seeing it as not only kind of the quintessential problem or talent of our lifetime. But knowing that the solution would necessarily be the next transformation and I’ve always regarded energy as one of the best determinants of development.”

2.1.2.3 Perspective matters: Follow the money

“It was a lot of money to bring people together and to promote sustainability. But once again, it was from when I would say very credible good but still a very Anglo prospective, and that is always something a Black colleges modeling what others had done some of which is good for example Oberlin and Yale both provide certain exposure to what state of the art is and what ideas are important. In 2010, there was a project with the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). I targeted people at minority-serving institutions. And I brought HBCU people together with Hispanic-serving institutions, as well as Tribal Colleges, who do a lot of innovation, together. I expected to see the federal investment and the potential to upgrade HBCU infrastructure to add renewable energy to both research and development, as well as innovation.”

2.1.2.4 Creating my own space: maintaining relationships

“I attended the sixth Conference of the Parties (COP-6). I said I must bring young people from Africa to this conference. And I brought 10 students from Senegal to the Hague (Netherlands) for the climate conference, which at that point, it was a kind of Greenpeace and Ozone activism. And they brought the young people, and I’ve maintained the relationship over all these years. They have maintained a commitment to working on climate change. So that piece to connect all the dots that have always been there in the backdrop, but even for Black America, our odd and interesting relationship with the continent-it’s weird. You have the people doing the USAID development work, and then you have the [US Afro-centric] approach, which is not necessarily beneficial, especially to Africans. There is a need to connect young people of African descent wherever they might be.”

2.1.2.5 Back to the beginning: the international and global space

“Beverly, Bob, and I were first to take HBCU students to COP. But Beverly and Bob elevated it to a new level by the time they arrived in Paris. I started somewhere along the line started working on centering justice and equity. Gender popped up for me in the international space. I was like a focal point with Gender Climate Conference Women for Climate Justice, which I found a very potent and powerful network within the UN.

Still concerned about Black people making the connection, fast forward to COP-26, which was in Scotland. I worked with Action for Climate Empowerment, and you know some of the networks I was a part of I felt the need to go to Scotland; however, we were coming out of COVID. I was explicitly struck by the absence of Black people. It is what I expected. The global South would be represented differently. I was on record. So, the little sessions that were on the first thing I say in the past, I have brought black African American women to COP. I never went alone. My crew tends to be Black women that are politically engaged. I was just determined that Egypt is in Africa, and there would not be a COP in Africa without African American people. We did a Pre-COP virtual summit in September on sustainability opportunities to feature the work of young people in Africa.

Now I have a network of young people in 20 sub-Saharan countries doing climate work and little micro-projects in 15 countries; it was not something by design. It was not a response to some proposal. It was organic and probably some of the most impactful work I’ve done, and I still had this commitment to HBCUs. What about these HBCU students? I have a little fellowship program; there’s an Atlanta University Center with a couple of fellows at Howard. And so I decided to have a relationship with something called the Eco Villages. This is 100 villages along the Sahel and Northern Senegal, and Mauritania”.

2.1.2.6 The role of HBCUs

“At Clark Atlanta they are having an environmental justice summit and I’m going to power up at the end of the day. It’s just how I am open and very progressive. A Jewish scholar was at the summit and described his work at a solar farm in Burundi. He asked if anyone would be in Burundi and made the offer that they would be welcomed to join his project. I decided I was going to Burundi because I had already make an initial investment… Again, the most important thing that I know about the quintessential here, right now, in this moment, in the geosciences”.

2.1.2.7 Eco-feminism vs. Womanism

“There was a point I would have considered myself an ecofeminism. I am concerned by new framing and power dynamics. So theoretically, I came with a feminist, almost high court, feminist. I would say that my base as a young professional, I own a constant reawakening to gender as the thing right. From a woman’s perspective and how we don’t get there without that. So, you know, I say [ecofeminism] is a challenge because I’m thinking who’s driving the narrative. Who are the shero’s. Look at what women do. Therefore, I have problems with how we set the narrative. There is the hardship at people at the bottom, which is generally women. However, we can acknowledge what the breakthrough comes there. The discipline comes there and so, and I look at how African women approach things. No, we don’t have the luxury of leisure. And yet, we plant millions of trees, and we demand treaties to decarbonize you need to do what plants have. So, I come through early on as a feminist and then emerging with deep black woman’s thought while hope for the whole. If there is going to be ecofeminism. We need to define it. I just take it all in and place us in a proper perspective because and I would say indigenous women everywhere who have existed throughout time, and they have done this work without the title of ecofeminism.”

2.1.2.8 Climate work is everybody’s work

The only way we are going to really make an in road is that we have more professional people who study the science. Basic science approaches to the world’s problems. We have to have more students going into the sciences to understand the use of the technology. I’ve always regarded the energy sector as one of the best determinants of development. If you are burning dung, you probably doing worse than if you got solar panels. Knowing the role energy has played in the development of whole societies. We have this moment and let us work to push HBCUs forward.

2.1.3 Engaging local communities for emergency preparedness and capacity building (Mildred McClain)

2.1.3.1 The body of work-bring it all together

The academic and professional pedigree of Dr. Mildred McClain is impressive. More importantly, her commitment to Environmental Justice has a long and diverse history of planning and social policy, ensuring a seat at the table for those who have been excluded. Dr. McClain (aka) Mama Bahati’s body of work is grounded in a cultural lens and framework of African traditions- the healing power of plants and herbs, and the protection of the children- that reflects nature. Thus, advocating for healthy lifestyles. As an educator for 40 years, Mildred McClain, Ed.D. is an activist/teacher, who has devoted her life and career to fighting environmental injustice, particularly, focusing initially on emergency preparedness.

In this regard, Dr. McClain is the Executive Director of the Harambee House in Savannah, GA., founded in 1990. Harambee House is a nationally recognized Environmental Justice community-based organization that is committed to capacity building of communities to problem solve and promote development. This organization serves, the local, state, regional and national and international communities. Working closely with diverse agencies, she has partnered with the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and for the Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, always keeping her eyes on the prize by advancing public health and environmental justice.

Dr. McClain has served as a delegate with the Conference against Racism and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa. Bringing together an impressive array of researchers, scholars, activists, governmental officials, and policy makers, to address the global impact of climate change, sustainability, and global racism and exploitation to the forefront of environmental justice. Always the teacher, Dr. McClain, shares her knowledge with the youth. Her commitment to youth is evidenced by her training programs for youth leaders and others, in capacity building that promotes health and wellness for marginalized communities. Indeed, she is a climate champion who has worked tiredly on behalf of the interest of such communities.

As Dr. McClain notes, regarding her interest and start in advocacy in environmental justice, “I came to the environmental justice movement through nuclear weapons. The federal government’s Savannah River site, which produced radioactive materials used in nuclear weapons, contaminated the river, and environment near my hometown of Savannah, Georgia. Witnessing its impact on my community growing up ultimately cause me to expand my work beyond voting and civil rights.” (Quote from The Progressive Magazine, October 18, 2021). Beyond the founding of the Harambee House, Dr. McClain, is the founder and executive director of the Citizens for Environmental Justice and Senior Fellow with Partnerships for Southern Equity. She has traveled extensively in Africa, Europe, North America, South American, the Caribbean and Japan, reflecting the international scope of her work.

Dr. McClain’s body of work, activism, and policy advocacy, reflects African American women’s commitment to empowerment and justice that often goes without notice, but is changing the discourse in environmental justice.

3. Conclusions

This chapter highlights the contribution that three African American women are playing in the global conversation on climate change. We outline their contributions in environmental justice as it relates to risk reduction and emergency preparedness, health, education, curriculum, and policy and in building environmental capacity. Many who have taken on the challenge of climate; however, their contribution has largely been overlooked. They have stepped up to prepare the next generation of climate champions to address questions associated with a rising sea, changing weather, and health inequities. These women give voice to the experiences of marginalized communities in particular. Their positionality as African American women provides a unique angle of vision which reflects their social location in the race, gender, and class hierarchy that enables a more expansive and inclusive discussion of environmental inequality and inequity. An intersectional lens allows for understanding the complexities and nuances of the lives of oppressed and marginalized that is intentional and unapologetic in challenging systems of power and privilege.

As womanist scholar, Alice Walker notes, “womanism is to feminism, as purple is to lavender.” Simply put, a womanist perspective is grounded in the cultural understanding and lived experiences of African American women. It is this uniqueness that articulates an intersectional lens that makes womanist environmental approaches inclusive of multiple system of oppression (race, gender, class, heterosexism, etc.) that challenges power and inequality. It is in this intellectual tradition that we approach our work and advocacy in environmental justice, as the women we have highlighted here have demonstrated. Healing, collective action and empowerment are central tenants of HBCUs have been critical in providing a “safe space” to challenge hegemonic ideas that dominate the discourse on environmental concerns of vulnerable and marginalized communities.

From this research we make the following observations: (1) although the EPA has implemented a framework to address environmental justice concerns seems disconnected from the realities of how vulnerable and marginalized communities live. The Whitehouse Initiative on HBCUs could be a place to better orchestrate the efforts of EJ. The Whitehouse Initiative was created by the Carter Administration, to increase the capacity of HBCUs to provide the highest-quality education to its students and continue serving as engines of opportunity. (2) We noticed that 30 schools have been identified as members of the HBCU Climate Change Consortium. We would like to see that each school would add a badge to their respective homepages. Identifying them as members of the consortium. Besides participating in the Annual HBCU Climate Change Conference, which brings together noted scholars, climate experts, community leaders and HBCU students and faculty for a three-day program of intensive workshops, lectures, exhibits, and demonstration projects on climate change impacts and solutions, we would like to see this be more visible.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge Ms. Danika Salmans and Dr. Samelia Okpodu-Pyuzza for their help with the creation of the Table. We also like to thank Ms. Bailey Holmes Spencer, MPH, Drs. Arlene Maclin, Myron Williams, and Sasha Coleman-Johnson for reading this manuscript. We also wish to acknowledge the NSF GeoPaths program. This concept of Climate Champions resulted from NSF award number 2211914 from the Directorate for Geosciences.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Notes/thanks/other declarations

We would like to thank the climate champions-Dr. Pamela Waldron-Moore, Ms. Felicia Davis, Dr. Mildred McClain (aka) Mama Bahati for their tireless work in research and advocacy. We acknowledge their unweaving dedication to the cause of Environmental Justice. We also thank them for sharing their knowledge and wisdom through their interviews and body of works that inform and inspire the next generation of environmental leaders-our students.