Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Students of colour views on racial equity in environmental sustainability

Nature Sustainability volume 4, pages 975–982 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Racial and ethnic diversity in environmental sustainability advances social equity and innovation, solving social-ecological crises. Yet, Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) remain underrepresented in sustainability fields despite high environmental concern. Universities provide pathways to sustainability careers and help diversify the field by making programmes more equitable and inclusive for racially minoritized students. Toward this end, we interviewed undergraduate BIPOC students in interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability degree programmes about their experiences. Their observations reflect a legacy of systemic racism that persists today within environmentalism. Many described motivations connecting ecological and social well-being but lamented limited interdisciplinary and global perspectives in the curriculum. Experiences of discrimination, lack of relatability and limited discussions of race led to feeling isolated and excluded. Support networks, extracurricular participation and BIPOC-specific opportunities improved student inclusion and belonging. BIPOC students hold knowledge unapparent to non-marginalized groups that illuminates pathways to racial equity in environmental sustainability.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: BIPOC student experiences of exclusion and inclusion within environmental majors.
Fig. 2: Programme characteristics influence BIPOC students’ sense of isolation or belonging.

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper and Supplementary Tables.

References

  1. IPCC Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report (eds Core Writing Team, Pachauri, R. K. & Meyer L. A.) (IPCC, 2014).

  2. Rockström, J. et al. Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity. Ecol. Soc. 14, 32 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Butchart, S. H. M. et al. Global biodiversity: indicators of recent declines. Science 328, 1164–1168 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Brondizio, E. S., Settele, J. & Ngo, H. T. (eds) Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES, 2019).

  5. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis (Island Press, 2005).

  6. Díaz, S. et al. Pervasive human-driven decline of life on Earth points to the need for transformative change. Science 366, eaax3100 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Dhaliwal, S. Why are Britain’s green movements an all-white affair? The Guardian (28 September 2015).

  8. Dutt, K. Race and racism in the geosciences. Nat. Geosci. 13, 2–3 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Taylor, D. E. Gender and racial diversity in environmental organizations: uneven accomplishments and cause for concern. Environ. Justice 8, 165–180 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Kou-Giesbrecht, S. Asian Americans: the forgotten minority in ecology. Bull. Ecol. Soc. Am. 101, e01696 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Mohai, P. Dispelling old myths: African American. Environ. Sci. Policy Sustain. Dev. 45, 10–26 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Pearson, A. R., Schuldt, J. P., Romero-Canyas, R., Ballew, M. T. & Larson-Konar, D. Diverse segments of the US public underestimate the environmental concerns of minority and low-income Americans. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 115, 12429–12434 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Macias, T. Environmental risk perception among race and ethnic groups in the United States. Ethnicities 16, 111–129 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Ballew, M. T., Goldberg, M. H., Rosenthal, S. A., Cutler, M. J. & Leiserowitz, A. Climate change activism among Latino and white Americans. Front. Commun. 3, 58 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Cole, L. W. & Foster, S. R. From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and the Rise of the Environmental Movement (New York Univ. Press, 2001).

  16. Walker, B. & Salt, D. Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World (Island Press, 2006).

  17. Page, S. E. The Diversity Bonus (Princeton Univ. Press, 2018).

  18. Woolley, A. W., Aggarwal, I. & Malone, T. W. Collective intelligence and group performance. Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci. 24, 420–424 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Taylor, D. E. The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations (Green 2.0, 2014).

  20. Environmental Scientists and Specialists: Occupational Outlook Handbook (Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor, accessed 16 Dec 2020); https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/environmental-scientists-and-specialists.htm

  21. Krings, A., Kornberg, D. & Lane, E. Organizing under austerity: how residents’ concerns became the Flint water crisis. Crit. Sociol. 45, 583–597 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Whyte, K. P. The Dakota Access Pipeline, environmental injustice, and U.S. colonialism. RED INK. Int. J. Indig. Lit. Arts Humanit. 19, 154–169 (2017).

    Google Scholar 

  23. Johnson, T. N. The Dakota Access Pipeline and the breakdown of participatory processes in environmental decision-making. Environ. Commun. 13, 335–352 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Vincent, S. Trends in interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability programs. EM Magazine. 65, 22–27 (2015).

    Google Scholar 

  25. Taylor, D. E. Racial and ethnic differences in the students’ readiness, identity, perceptions of institutional diversity, and desire to join the environmental workforce. J. Environ. Stud. Sci. 8, 152–168 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Garibay, J. C. & Vincent, S. Racially inclusive climates within degree programs and increasing student of color enrollment: an examination of environmental/sustainability programs. J. Divers. High. Educ. 11, 201–220 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Volchok, R. Defining Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity to Build Better STEM Communities (Center for Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement, 2018); https://www.cscce.org/2018/04/18/defining-diversity-inclusion-and-equity-to-build-better-stem-communities/

  28. Gurin, P., Nagda, B. R. A. & Lopez, G. E. The benefits of diversity in education for democratic citizenship. J. Soc. Issues 60, 17–34 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Gurin, P. et al. (eds) in Defending Diversity 97–188 (Univ. of Michigan Press, 2004).

  30. Charmaz, K. Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide through Qualitative Analysis (Sage Publications, 2006).

  31. Greenwood, D. J. & Levin, M. Introduction to Action Research: Social Research for Social Change (Sage Publications, 1998).

  32. Strayhorn, T. L. College Students’ Sense of Belonging: A Key to Educational Success for All Students (Routledge, 2018).

  33. Rainey, K., Dancy, M., Mickelson, R., Stearns, E. & Moller, S. Race and gender differences in how sense of belonging influences decisions to major in STEM. Int. J. STEM Educ. 5, 10 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Finney, C. Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors (Univ. of North Carolina Press, 2014).

  35. Taylor, D. E. The Rise of the American Conservation Movement: Power, Privilege, and Environmental Protection (Duke Univ. Press, 2016).

  36. Stapleton, S. R. Toward critical environmental education: a standpoint analysis of race in the American environmental context. Environ. Educ. Res. 26, 155–170 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Chaudhury, A. & Colla, S. Next steps in dismantling discrimination: lessons from ecology and conservation science. Conserv. Lett. 14, e12774 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Sensoy, Ö. & DiAngelo, R. ‘We are all for diversity, but…’: how faculty hiring committees reproduce whiteness and practical suggestions for how they can change. Harv. Educ. Rev. 87, 557–580 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Hurtado, S., Clayton-Pedersen, A. R., Allen, W. R. & Milem, J. F. Enhancing campus climates for racial/ethnic diversity: educational policy and practice. Rev. High. Educ. 21, 279–302 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Hurtado, S., Alvarez, C. L., Guillermo-Wann, C., Cuellar, M. & Arellano, L. in Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research (eds Smart, J. C. & Paulsen, M. B.) 41–122 (Springer, 2012).

  41. Chaudhary, V. B. & Berhe, A. A. Ten simple rules for building an antiracist lab. PLoS Comput. Biol. 16, e1008210 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Forrester, N. Diversity in science: next steps for research group leaders. Nature 585, S65–S67 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Estrada, M. et al. Improving underrepresented minority student persistence in STEM. CBE Life Sci. Educ. 15, es5 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Barriers and Opportunities for 2-Year and 4-Year STEM Degrees: Systemic Change to Support Students’ Diverse Pathways (National Academies of Sciences, 2016).

  45. Akamine Phillips, J., Risdon, N., Lamsma, M., Hambrick, A. & Jun, A. Barriers and strategies by white faculty who incorporate anti-racist pedagogy. Race Pedag. J. 3, 1 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  46. Smith, A. in Color of Violence: The Incite! Anthology (eds INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence) 66–73 (Duke Univ. Press, 2016).

  47. Harper, S. R. & Quayer, S. J. Student Engagement in Higher Education: Theoretical Perspectives and Practical Approaches for Diverse Populations (Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2009).

  48. Ireland, D. T. et al. (Un)hidden figures: a synthesis of research examining the intersectional experiences of Black women and girls in STEM education. Rev. Res. Educ. 42, 226–254 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Deshler, D. & Grudens-Schuck, N. in Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education (eds Wilson, Arthur L. & Hayes, E. R.) 592–611 (Jossey-Bass, 2000).

  50. Patton, M. Q. Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods (Sage Publications, 2002).

  51. Russell, D. & Harshbarger, C. Groundwork for Community-based Conservation: Strategies for Social Research (AltaMira Press, 2003).

  52. Maxwell, J. A. Qualitative Research Design: An Iterative Approach (Sage Publications, 2005).

  53. Lincoln, Y. S. & Guba, E. G. Naturalistic Inquiry (Sage Publications, 1985).

  54. Crenshaw, K. Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: a Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. Univ. Chicago Legal Forum 1989, 139–168 (1989).

    Google Scholar 

  55. Harry, B., Sturges, K. M. & Klingner, J. K. Mapping the process: an exemplar of process and challenge in grounded theory analysis. Educ. Res. 34, 3–13 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to P. Metzler for assisting in the creation of Fig. 1. This work is supported financially by a National Science Foundation Grant (DEB-1844531) to V.B.C.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Sustainability, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Tania M. Schusler, Charlie B. Espedido, Brittany K. Rivera, Melissa Hernández, Amelia M. Howerton & Kailin Sepp

  2. Department of Environmental Science and Studies, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Malcolm D. Engel & Jazlyn Marcos

  3. Department of Environmental Studies, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

    V. Bala Chaudhary

Authors
  1. Tania M. Schusler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Charlie B. Espedido
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Brittany K. Rivera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Melissa Hernández
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Amelia M. Howerton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Kailin Sepp
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Malcolm D. Engel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Jazlyn Marcos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. V. Bala Chaudhary
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

C.E., B.R., T.S. and V.B.C. conceived the study. C.E., B.R., M.E. and J.M. conducted focus group interviews and provided editorial comments. J.M., M.H., A.H. and K.S. conducted analyses. T.S. wrote the paper with contributions from M.H. and K.S. All authors provided editorial comments on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tania M. Schusler.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Peer review information Nature Sustainability thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Guide for semistructured interviews.

Reporting Summary

Supplementary Tables

Illustrative quotes organized by thematic category (Tables 1–4).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Schusler, T.M., Espedido, C.B., Rivera, B.K. et al. Students of colour views on racial equity in environmental sustainability. Nat Sustain 4, 975–982 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00759-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00759-7

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing