Missouri Coalition for the Environment believes that we are all at our best when we are engaging with, and learning from, a diversity of individuals and communities, including those who have been marginalized and underrepresented in the environmental movement. MCE recognizes that people of color, low-income communities, and indigenous people are disproportionately affected by public health and environmental threats and lack equal access to many of Missouri’s natural resources.
Resources
Below are resources and recent readings related to environmental justice. Please check back periodically to find new resources listed below.
- Systematic Racism in the Environmental Movement by Missouri Coalition for the Environment
- White Supremacy Culture in Organizations by Dismantling Racism Works adapted by The Centre for Community Organizations
- An Open Letter to the Union of Concerned Scientists: On Black Death, Black Silencing, and Black Fugitivity; An Affirmation of Black Life From a Concerned Black Human
- “Environmental Racism in St. Louis,” an article written by Clark Randall And Jacqui Germain
- The Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing
- Farming While Black, a book by Leah Penniman
- “The State of Diversity in Environmental Institutions: Mainstream NGOs, Foundations, and Government Agencies,” a report by Dr. Dorceta Taylor
- Segregation in St. Louis: Dismantling the Divide
- “White Supremacy Culture in Organizations”, Dismantling Racism Works, adapted by The Centre for Community Organizations
- “Public Health Resources for Understanding Environmental Racism” by Public Health Degrees
Our Stance on Racial Equity
The Missouri Coalition for the Environment’s board of directors passed the following statement in December 2018.
Throughout the Missouri Coalition for the Environment’s (MCE) 50 year history, we have been our best when we have had a diverse staff, a diverse board and worked for environmental justice for the most marginalized, and while we celebrate those victories we know we have more work to do.
MCE recognizes that people of color are disproportionately affected by public health and environmental threats and lack equal access to many of Missouri’s natural resources.
Members of MCE’s staff and board have been actively engaged in identifying, understanding, and dismantling systemic racism and implicit bias within our organization and the environmental community. MCE is committed to becoming a more inclusive, diverse organization and building a more equitable environmental movement throughout the state of Missouri.
How MCE will accomplish this:
- Increase representation of people of color among membership, staff, organizational leadership, and board of directors
- Find ways within our work to address the intersection of race, poverty and environmental issues
- Expand our capacity to address more diverse environmental issues
- Engage with organizations that represent the communities most disproportionately impacted by environmental racism
- Collaborate with other organizations that are addressing other environmental racism issues
- Develop an accountability plan, with concrete metrics and goals, to ensure we are performing the work necessary to become a more inclusive, diverse organization and build a more equitable environmental movement throughout the state of Missouri
- Produce quarterly accountability reports and an annual summary of our results