Environmental movement has room for improvement on diversity

People of color from the Greatest Generation tell stories about reusing products, reducing waste and recycling materials to help make ends meet. In fact, communities of color, indigenous leaders and the socioeconomically disadvantaged have been “green” since well before the term became mainstream.  That tradition continues, as recent polls show people of color support environmental protection even more than whites. 

Smart political strategists know this is incredibly important information. It is also a clear indication that working within communities of color is absolutely key to building winning pro-environment coalitions, especially with President Obama rolling out EPA’s Clean Power Plan and highlighting benefits to communities of color. However, the groundbreaking report released by Green 2.0 shows that this lesson is not yet being fully embraced by all – though we are starting to see signs of change. The report reveals a shocking lack of diversity at professional green NGOs and foundations, especially among their senior staff, executives, and foundation grant officers. Less than 16 percent of staff at these NGOs and foundations are people of color. Some foundations and NGOs, as a start, are heeding the call to be transparent about their diversity data, as a signal of commitment to change. The presidents of the Bullitt, Ford, Hewlett, Kresge, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Wilburforce should be praised for asking their peers to join them in openness about where the field is right now. Will the nation’s largest funders, who give out hundreds of millions of dollars each year to environmental NGOs, join them? It’s the minimum that needs to happen. 

{mosads}Not taking diversity seriously is not only a failure of inclusion; it is a failure of organizing. Omitting the experiences and perspectives of people of color, intentionally or not, is hurting efforts to achieve meaningful environmental policy change, just as it will hurt efforts to achieve any meaningful change to progressive policy.  As an example of how this works, we only need to look back to the marriage equality movement. 

On election night in 2008, as President Obama was headed to a historic victory, LGBT Californians watched in horror as voters passed Proposition 8, stripping them of the right to marry the person they loved. This was a major policy failure, but it was an avoidable one. In the lead up to November LGBT leaders had actively decided to focus on white communities, at the expense of engaging communities of color. That night the LGBT community learned an important lesson: if you want political impact in today’s America, go to communities of color and work with them as an important constituency. 

LGBT leaders internalized that lesson, and it paid off. Between 2008 and 2012 groups like Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force organized in communities of color and engaged the NAACP and other groups on the ground.  As a result, voters of color played a crucial role in the major ballot victories for marriage equality in November 2012. The Human Rights Campaign is also committed to doing the  internal work needed to ensure the organization improves its own diversity and inclusion.

It is time for leaders in the environmental movement to learn this same lesson. Communities of color are disproportionately impactedby poor water and air quality, and the negative health outcomes that go along with environmental degradation are often concentrated in our poorest, least politically active communities. As head of the NAACP, I oversaw the launch of a national environmental program, which sought to harness the energy and networks of disparate groups to address a range of environmental concerns. We found that there was a large appetite for these discussions in communities of color across the nation. 

Why, then, are people of color not working at the highest reaches of the mainstream environmental movement, contributing experiences and perspectives that could prove so valuable in this fight? 

It’s time to put inclusion into action. I know the leadership of these organizations is not necessarily out to exclude people of color on purpose, but they need to hear that diversity takes planning, follow-through and institutional support. The report released by Green 2.0 demonstrates that environmental organizations and agencies are attracting people of color to internships, but that their talent is not being cultivated so that they may attain leadership positions. Diverse perspectives can be most impactful at the board and executive level, where strategy and resource allocation decisions are made. When environmental leaders and grant makers reflect the nation’s diversity, the country is more likely to develop holistic, culturally relevant and sustainable solutions.  

The solutions that the Green 2.0 working group calls to be transparency about diversity data are on target – as a start. It remains to be seen how many funders will lead by example and join the peers that have asked them to participate to set a baseline for the sector.  We need proactive, sustained efforts, including: tracking of diversity numbers; transparency about strategic approaches being tried; accountability by and from funders to improving on diversity; and resources to support leaders of color at these organizations. Only then will the green movement really begin to look like America and reflect the amazing diversity of those people with the talent, perspective and drive to protect the planet.

Jealous is a partner at the Kapor Center for Social Impact and a former president of the NAACP.