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Our staff recommends books and articles that explore racial justice and equity, diversity, and inclusion in the environmental movement and outdoor recreation.

    Environmental Justice Books by Black Authors:
    • Reclaiming the African American Environmental Heritage by Dianne D. Glave. This book “traces the history of African Americans’ relationship with the environment emphasizing the unique preservation-conservation aspect of Black environmentalism.”
    • The Rise of the Conservation Movement: Power, Privilege, and Environmental Protection by Dorceta Taylor. This book “[e]xplains how race, class, and gender influenced every aspect of the U.S. conservation movement and how the movement benefitted from contributions of the poor working class, people of color, women, and Native Americans despite early efforts by white urban elites being tied up with slavery and the appropriation of Native lands.”
    • Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors by Carolyn Finney. “Finney argues that the legacies of slavery, Jim Crow, and racial violence have shaped cultrual understandings of the “great outdoors” and determined who should and can have access to natural spaces.”
    • Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution, and Residential Mobility by Dorceta Taylor. Taylor “[e]xamines the connections among residential segregation, zoning, and exposure to environmental hazards.”
     
    EDI in the Environmental Movement:
     
    Resources:

    Check out a selection of articles, videos, and podcasts from Riverkeeper staff and board EDI enrichment discussions. 

    Read Environmentalists for Black Lives Matter