About
Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) have long led movements to protect our communities and the planet. However, BIPOC voices are often excluded and silenced in mainstream environmentalism. The Social Sustainability Coalition, which is part of the UW-Madison Office of Sustainability, acknowledges the damage caused by this lack of representation. BIPOC communities are not only integral to the sustainability movement’s progress, but also experience disproportionate environmental harm. As a part of our ongoing efforts to recenter these critical voices, we invite you to join the Social Sustainability Coalition in our Amplifying BIPOC Voices in Sustainability series.
Each month, the series will highlight the work of one or more UW-Madison BIPOC community members engaging with sustainability. Leading up to the event, we will use our social media platforms to share resources with the Badger community, inviting our audience to learn with us about the current topic. On the last Wednesday of the month, we will host a virtual event where attendees have the opportunity to learn firsthand from the featured community member(s).
We want to emphasize that we are not experts, but will be learning alongside our audience! We hope this series will help UW-Madison’s sustainability community to engage in critical conversations, cultivate active learning, and celebrate the incredible initiatives led by BIPOC members of our community. If you have any questions or identify as BIPOC and are interested in highlighting your work in this series, send us an email at socialsustainabilitycoalition@g-groups.wisc.edu.
Follow us on social media for event information!
Office of Sustainability Facebook page | Social Sustainability Coalition Facebook page | Instagram | Twitter
To listen
- District 6 Alder, Brian Benford, On a Truth and Reconciliation Process in Madison Radio Interview with WORT 89.9 FM
- The Year of Building Optimism Project and Equitable Development with Cody Lefkowitz podcast episode
To Browse
- Definition of Equitable Community Development
- United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
- Urban League of Greater Madison Black Business Hub website
- University of Wisconsin-Madison Odyssey Project website
To Read
- Reimagining Sustainable Cities: Strategies for Designing Greener, Healthier, More Equitable Communities by Stephen M. Wheeler and Christina D. Rosan
- Noxious New York: The Racial Politics of Urban Health and Environmental Justice by Julie Sze
- Environmental Justice in Postwar America: A Documentary Reader by Christopher W. Wells
- Reclaiming Your Community: You Don’t Have to Move Out of Your Neighborhood to Live in a Better One by Majora Carter
To Watch
Classes at UW–Madison
- URB R PL 512: Gentrification and Urban Restructuring
- PUB AFFR 520: Inequality, Race and Public Policy
Resources
- Food Justice (4/20/22)
- Storytelling in Sustainability (3/23/22)
- Black Entrepreneurship (2/2/22)
- Indigenous Activism (10/27/21)
- Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy (9/29/21)
Recording
To Browse
- Jumping Spider Farm website: http://jumpingspiderfarm.com
- Bread and Justice website: https://breadandjustice.org/
- Soulfire Farm: https://www.soulfirefarm.org/
- Rocksteady Farm: https://www.rocksteadyfarm.com/
- Radical Family Farms: https://www.radicalfamilyfarms.com/
- Fairshare CSA: https://www.csacoalition.org/about-us
- The Young Farmers Coalition: https://www.youngfarmers.org/
- Rooted: https://www.rootedwi.org/
To Watch
- Food Chains Documentary (focus on Farmworker Justice)
To Listen
To Read
Also available at the Madison Public Library
Recording
To read
- Aaron Bird Bear recommends reading this press release regarding the Ho-Chunk’s work “to include Rights of Nature in their constitutional framework after the Ho-Chunk citizenry voted for this in 2018 (note the Ho-Chunk General Council is composed of all Ho-Chunk people eligible to vote in tribal elections)”
- Dumping in Dixie by Robert Bullard
- Shades of Sustainability Digital Stories
To watch
- Aaron Bird Bear recommends watching the former Menominee Tribal Chair, Gary Besaw’s speech in the 2018 State of the Tribes Address: see 43:30-55:30 in the 2018 annual State of the Tribes address
- There’s Something in the Water
- Making Connections: The Power of Oral Storytelling
- Vox on Radioactivity & Navajo Nation
To listen
- Brown Green Girl Podcast
- The SustainUW Podcast episode on American Indian Activism
- WPR on environmental justice and indigenous people
Recording
To read:
- Madison Black-owned business directory
- Martinez White’s Think Like a DJ Workbook
- Nearly 70% of Minority Business Owners Fear Omicron Will Hurt Their Business
- Nehemiah website
To watch:
- Center for Black Entrepreneurship Virtual Event
- Why Black-Owned Businesses Don’t Survive
- Madison nonprofit benefits from partnership with American Family Insurance
To listen:
Recording
Recording
To Read
- BIPOC community of Madison less likely to get mental health support despite higher COVID-19 rates (The Badger Herald)
- Texas A&M University’s Antiracism Resources
- BIPOC Mental Health Tip Sheets (Magellan Health Care)
- Self-care Ideas for Stress: Caring for Yourself During Challenging Times (Atlanta Innovative Counseling Center)
- Self-Care for BIPOC & Tips for Allies (Therapy Changes)
To Watch
- NAMI’s Ask the Expert Webinar: Impact of Racism and Trauma on Black Mental Health
- Black Mental Health Matters | Phillip J. Roundtree | TEDxWilmington
- The difficulties of communication in an Asian-American family | Alan Phan | TEDxYouth@YostPark
- EP4: ‘Unmuted’ Breaking the Stigma Around Latinx Mental Health | Yahoo Life
To Listen
- Savvy Psychologist Podcast: How Does Racism Affect Black Mental Health?
- Woke Mental Wellness Podcast: Relaunch, Pandemic and Racial Trauma
- Changing the Conversation Podcast: Substance Use, Mental Health, Racism, & COVID-19: A Youth’s Perspective
- Real Talk Radio with Nicole Antoinette: How Kirby manages her mental health
- What Does "Amplifying" Look Like? (9/30/20)
- Sustainability and the Upcoming Election (10/28/20)
- Food Systems (12/2/20)
- Climate Change Activism (2/25/21)
- Reinvestment After Divestment (4/28/21)
Recording
To Read
- As We Amplify Melanated Voices On Instagram, Let’s Make Sure We Do So In A Power-Sharing Way by Brenda Barros Rivera
- Little Free Library Project by Margret Aldrich
- On Being the (Only) Black Feminist Environmental Ethnographer in Gulf Coast Louisiana by Frances Roberts-Gregory
To Listen
- Melanated Conversations hosted by Terrian Jones and Yana Reynolds
Recording
To Read
- Hard White by Richard Fording and Sanford Schram (*Note, not a BIPOC author, but it is relevant)
- No, You Shut Up: Speaking Truth to Power and Reclaiming America by Symone Sanders
To Listen
- Pod-Cast Your Vote by Badgers Vote
- The YIKES Podcast by Mikaela Loach and Jo Becker
To Watch
- Knock Down the House (Netflix)
- The Patriot Act (Vol 6 – “We’re Doing Elections Wrong”) with Hasan Minhaj (Netflix)
- Becoming (Netflix)
To Follow on Instagram
Recording
To Read
- A Social Currency Approach to Improving Health-Related Quality of Life For Migrant Workers by Alfonso Morales
- Healthy Food Stores, Greenlining and Food Gentrification: Contesting New Forms of Privilege, Displacement and Locally Unwanted Land Uses in Racially Mixed Neighborhoods by Isabelle Anguelovsk (requires NetID)
- Farming While Black by Leah Penniman
- Food apartheid: the root of the problem with America’s groceries
- Fostering Multiple Goals in Farm to School by Alfonso Morales (requires NetID)
- Freedom Farmers by Monica White
- Fugitive Seeds by Christian Brooks Keeves
- One Tomato at a Time: Local efforts work to reconnect Black growers with the land
- Productive and economic characterization of dual‑purpose cattle in three tropical regions of Mexico Contributing author: Alfonso Morales (versión en español)
- Public Markets as CommunityDevelopment Tools by Alfonso Morales (requires NetID)
- Regulatory Practices of Urban Agriculture: A Connection to Planning and Policy by Alfonso Morales (requires NetID)
- The Plantationocene Series
To Listen
- Farmer’s Markets and Food Justice with Alfonso Morales
- Food is just the Beginning: A Conversation with Monica White
- UW Madison Professor Helps Farmers’ Market Organizers Leverage Their Impacts with Alfonso Morales
- What’s Behind The “Locavore” Trend In Wisconsin with Alfonso Morales
To Watch
- Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street featuring Alfonso Morales ($2 Rental)
- Keynote address on uprooting racism in agriculture by Leah Penniman
- Social Justice & The Rise, Root, Revolution by Rise and Root Farm
- TED Talk: A Guerrilla Gardener In South Central LA with Ron Finley
To Follow on Instagram
Recording
To Read
- All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & Katharine K Wilkinson
- The Green New Deal
- Youth to Power: Your Voice and How to Use It by Jamie Margolin
- Climate Change from the Streets: How Conflict and Collaboration Strengthen the Environmental Justice Movement by Michael Méndez
To Listen
- How to Save a Planet
- The Tribe that’s Moving Earth (and Water) to Solve the Climate Crisis
- Black Lives Matter and Climate
- The Green Wave
- Generation Green New Deal
- Why Join a Movement?
- Where Have the Adults Been?
To Watch
To Follow
Recording
To Read
- The Reinvest Report
- The Student Divestment Movement’s Next Frontier: Community Investment
- Just Transition Zin by Movement Generation (available in Spanish and English
- Corporate Responsibility: Promoting Climate Justice Through Divestment from Fossil Fuels and Socially Responsible Investment By: Josephine M. Balzac
To Listen
- The Reconstruction Podcast
- DITCHED Podcast