Incorporating environmental justice into everyday work isn’t simple.  During the pandemic, after my department was cut from the non-profit I had been working for, I became involved with food redistribution- picking up leftover food from grocery stores and giving it out in vacant lots in low-income areas of Columbus- to feel meaningful.  This work ended up being truly what they call mutual aid- it benefited me to help others.  I felt needed, my spirits were lifted, and I learned important life lessons. I also began to have a better understanding of people’s basic needs and how I could be part of meeting those.

One conversation in particular, with another member of Food not Bombs (the organization I redistributed food with) opened my eyes to a holistic way of thinking about peoples needs- utilizing the hierarchy of needs- both as developed by Maslow, and as conceptualized by the Blackfoot tribe Maslow visited and was inspired by.  

I spent the next 5 years cycling around these concepts and learning how to talk about them and how to use them to integrate basic needs, especially those of marginalized and less privileged people into environmental actions,and from there into daily actions and decision making beyond environmental.

While I will still be continually learning, especially from those less privileged, I have coalesced these thoughts into an academic commentary piece recently published in the Bulletin for the Ecological Society of America.  Please check it out, and if you’re interested in learning more via a presentation or workshop, contact me!

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