Green is not White: Giving Voice to Indigenous, Black, and Racially Marginalized Workers in the Environmental Justice Movement

Resource type
Authors/contributors
Title
Green is not White: Giving Voice to Indigenous, Black, and Racially Marginalized Workers in the Environmental Justice Movement
Abstract
Environmental racism is a structural, historical and ongoing fact of life for many Indigenous, Black and racially marginalized communities in Canada. Yet climate change discussions, lacking an anti-racism and intersectional lens, have largely ignored how Indigenous, Black and racially marginalized communities are inequitably impacted by the climate emergency. At the same time, policies to promote a just transition to a sustainable economy provide an opportunity for the creation of good green jobs. Such pathways into the green economy will only be inclusive if the voices of Indigenous, Black and racialized people and their communities are heard. Otherwise, the green economic transformation will only further reinforce the structural racial economic inequalities present in Canadian society and the genocidal impacts of the climate emergency will continue. In the end, we believe that worker power guided by a critical race, class, gender and intersectional analysis is an essential component in a strategy to win and secure a just transition to a green, sustainable and inclusive economy. The scale of the engagement must involve the entire movement working in genuine partnership with community coalition partners to ensure that the new green economy does not look like the old White economy.
Book Title
Research Handbook on Inequalities and Work
Place
Cheltenham, UK
Publisher
Edward Elgar Publishing
Date
2024
Pages
523-539
Language
English
ISBN
978-1-80088-659-9
Citation
Charles, N., Chong, P., Connolly, T., Hampden, D., Liu, A., Powell, R., Regis-Wilkins, S., & Wilson, C. (2024). Green is not White: Giving Voice to Indigenous, Black, and Racially Marginalized Workers in the Environmental Justice Movement. In C. Forston, G. Healy, M. Öztürk, & A. Tatli (Eds.), Research Handbook on Inequalities and Work (pp. 523–539). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollbook/book/9781800886605/9781800886605.xml