Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter
When talking about sustainability we often use the metaphor of a three legged stool. We take great pains to explain how each leg – economic, social, and environmental – is essential to ensure that the stool will hold the person who sits on it. The person in this metaphor is us, human beings and the world we live in.
If these three pillars are the stool’s support, justice is the glue that holds them together. Without justice the stool will not stand. If we take an honest look at the sustainability table we are all gathered around, the faces are mostly white, and there is no place to sit.
This is not new. Racism is present in every aspect of our culture. Our own movement of environmentalism has a history that is rooted in racism.
The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers has placed our failures as individuals, and as a culture, before us. We can’t deny the lack of justice in our country. We can’t claim to be working towards a more sustainable world and turn away.
As a company and as individuals we support and stand with Black Lives Matter. We acknowledge our own shortcomings, our own biases, and our own culpability in the unjust society that privileges us at the expense of others. We are committed to educating ourselves, to investigating the consequences – intentional and unintentional – of our actions and the policies we support, and to emphasize the essential role of justice and equality in working towards a more truly sustainable society.
Resources:
Environmentalism’s Racist History
How Sustainability Professionals can Uplift the Black Community