Common Ground: Insights from the V4CE Environmental Strategy Launch
- Jessica Webber
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
On the 27th of May, Voice4Change England launched our Environmental Strategy by hosting a panel of inspiring speakers for an online event.
Jennifer Wat, our Environmental Strategy Officer and organiser of this event, started by explaining the impetus and inspiration behind our new branch of work.
'Why now? Why is it important to us? It's about reflecting on how the current global model and system is one that rests on past and renewed systems of racial and colonial violence' - Jennifer
She emphasised that climate action goes beyond the restoration of nature; it is also an opportunity to expose and politicise the systems of oppression that produce inequitable outcomes for different places and people, particularly people of colour.
Different Routes Into Climate Work
Because the climate crisis is such an overarching issue, there are many routes into climate work and many different angles from which it can be approached.
Each of our speakers occupy unique spaces within the movement and shared their individual journeys.
Nazia is the founder of Sustainably Muslim, an organisation that works to inspire Muslims to protect the environment. For Nazia, her religion is both the foundation and framework for her work with the environment.
‘Beyond that page [of the Quran], we see God’s scripture, not written with ink but with trees and mountains and rivers… Islam is such a holistic religion that really provides Muslims with the framework to live a moral, ethical and sustainable life' - Nazia
For Maymana, founder of Fungi Futures, much of their community organising takes place in imagination and creative spaces. She spoke on how imagining and reimaging the current and future structures that be and creating spaces that invoke community is vital in mobilising against despair and apathy.
'We all just are so deeply reliant on each other, and I think it [climate justice] is trying to create and covet places where we can remember that and get to a place where we feel grounded enough and safe enough and healed enough to think about how we can start this all again and how we can change things from the bottom up' - Maymana
Manu’s work with the RACE report and SOS-UK is more data-driven and grounded in practical strategy. The RACE report highlights the racial diversity gap between the working UK population and those in environmental work. Manu then helps establish routes for minoritised individuals to begin working in sustainability.
There is space and need for all these different approaches as they each bring their own power, perspective and possibility.
Acknowledging Scope
However, one recurring idea that was touched on by all three speakers was the acknowledgement of scope in their work. The climate crisis is so enmeshed in all societal structures that it becomes relevant in almost every area of activism and social justice. As a result, tackling environmental concerns as an individual can feel like a hopeless and monumental endeavour. As Manu said, ‘you could end up with a list of 120 things’.
To reckon with this, our speakers recommended viewing climate justice from within your individual sphere of influence and finding realistic and achievable ways to contribute.
'A lot of my work has been trying to figure out what's actually possible for us with the resources we've got and the timeline we've got and the team we've got and what we've got access to' - Manu
Maymana explained the effectiveness of taking a more localised approach through the metaphor of an ecosystem (or a mycelium network). ‘Every part of an ecosystem depends on every other part, directly or indirectly’ and by tackling the climate crisis in a localised setting, you become a piece in a much larger puzzle and can engage in ecological work from a much more manageable perspective.
‘Each part of that map (or mycelium network, you could say) is having an influence. It doesn’t necessarily have to be tackling the whole of the picture because that is too overwhelming for any of us as individuals’ - Maymana
The Importance of an Inclusive Climate Movement
But why is it important to have an inclusive climate movement in the first place?
Not everyone is affected by climate change equally. Not only does its impact vary between countries (with the global south bearing the brunt), but as Manu reminded us, it also varies between communities on a local level: ‘not everybody in this particular space or this city or even this town is living the same environmental life’. In England, this can look like limited access to housing and green spaces and persistent barriers to green and sustainable jobs for racialised communities.
'When we look at land access and ownership it's incredibly skewed and privatised in the UK, so it's no wonder people feel alienated from land and from nature because they've not had the exposure to it and aren't able to have access to those spaces' - Jennifer
An inclusive climate movement is essential to addressing these disparities. When we include and centre diverse voices in decision making, we can ensure that everyone’s needs are met. For our panellists, inclusivity is the catalyst and core of their work with the environment.
People from different cultures bring their own unique knowledge, ecological history and understandings to environmental work, providing vital and often overlooked perspectives to the conversation. Both Nazia and Manu emphasised the importance of this. For Manu the issue of opportunity was central. Through his work, he fosters diversity in formal education and strives to increase equity in conservation and climate employment. Similarly, Nazia empowers local individuals by recognising them as experts at Sustainably Muslim events, challenging conventional ideas of expertise and whose knowledge is considered valuable in environmental spaces.
‘It’s not always about bringing someone in with a degree or someone who has official qualifications, it’s about valuing people's lived experiences and their local knowledge' - Nazia
Maymana, likewise, actively tries to engage many different intersectional groups in their workshops, including people with differing health needs, queer and trans individuals and those from all generations. She also prioritises work that includes those that may encounter barriers to accessing environmental spaces, for example, those with mobility or sensory needs.
By creating inclusive spaces and diversifying the climate movement, our speakers expand its scope and impact, making it more representative of the communities it should aim to serve. This inclusivity also allows us to broaden our local understandings into global ones as it gives individuals the means to conceptualise the climate crisis outside of their own lived experience.
Community and Connection
At the same time, our speakers acknowledged that this kind of work is not always easy, especially for marginalised communities. As climate justice cannot be extricated from racial justice, inclusive climate work may bring up a lot of challenges and emotions for many communities. It is an area that some people may struggle to connect to.
'This is quite emotional and difficult work for a lot of folks, especially people of colour. It was not an accident that we were separated from our land through colonisation, it's because the land is one of our main sources of healing. Having to relearn or unlearn some of the baggage that we've unfortunately had to inherit is quite difficult, it's not something that I make light of' - Maymana
But climate work can also be an amazing vehicle for community, connection and healing. Nazia noted that one of the biggest reasons people get involved with her work is to meet and connect to others within their community. It is then through this connection that they begin to engage with the environmental work. As Jennifer said ‘when we care for the environment, we end up caring for so many other things as well’.
'We can come together in moments of hopelessness and try and make sense of it together'- Maymana
Looking Ahead
As we move forward with our new Environmental Strategy, we hope that we can continue to explore the intersections between climate and race and bridge the gap between mainstreams environmental groups and the BME VCS sector. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this inspiring event and was a part of this important conversation. We will continue to centre the voices of Black and marginalised communities and support the work of amazing organisations and individuals like those on our panel.
Find out more about the upcoming work of our panellists:
Maymana: 'misery medicine: plant magic', @miseryparty on Instagram and newsletter here.
Nazia: Events and Workshops
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