Intersectional Sustainability

 

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Earth’s resources are depleting due to human exploitation. The sustainable living movement is a bottom-up approach to conserving these resources, whereby each individual should adopt a lifestyle that minimises their ecological impact. Commonly promoted practices lead to a reduction in resource and energy consumption. For example, using public transport, adopting a plant-based diet and not supporting fast fashion brands, thus overall preserving the Earth.

Like most things, the sustainable living movement has gained social media attention and is now fronted by influencers on Instagram and YouTube. However, it has been noticed that the community is predominantly white, female and middle-class. Like with most movements, for it to have a substantial impact, effort is needed from people of all social groups and backgrounds, so representation is needed from people of all social groups and backgrounds.

The movement presents itself as being accessible and easy for everyone to do. However, when only a more affluent group is promoting practices, it creates an elitist, exclusionary culture. The practices may be easy for those at the forefront to do because they have the provisions to do so. An intersectional approach is needed for the movement to be accessible to all people.

 

What is Intersectionality?

Intersectionality can be defined as the interconnected nature of sub-categories within society (race, gender, class etc.) that make up a person’s identity. It is an understanding that each individual person does not belong to only one category – we are all a sum of multiple traits that help form our identity. It is the way in which these combine that shapes how we experience the world. We live in a society that favours the privileged, so for many people, multiple parts of their identity can result in discrimination and therefore disadvantage. For example, an individual may face discrimination for being female or non-white, but may not for being cisgender, able-bodied, heterosexual, etc.

The term was first coined by the American law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989 as Intersectional feminism, describing it as “a prism for seeing the way in which various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other,” in an interview. The aim of this was to separate itself from feminism at the time, which favoured white women and disregarded the discrimination non-white women faced in the struggle for equality. However, intersectionality has been adopted by other movements with the aim of being more inclusive to marginalised groups. An intersectional approach to issues demonstrates an understanding of how a person’s identity falls under a combination of categories within society, and how these can shape their experiences and the disadvantages they may face as a result. For a movement to create real change, the experiences of individuals because of their identity must be acknowledged.

"If your activism isn't intersectional, you aren't actually doing good in the world. You're just helping those who already hold privilege." - Ethical Unicorn

The Current Face of Sustainability

Currently, the sustainability movement is fronted by white, middle class, 20-something year old women with the provisions to shop exclusively at packaging free shops, buy expensive water bottles or “investment” clothing items. Obviously, it is important that people are informed on how they can change their everyday habits to live a more sustainable life. Practices such as these help to reduce waste. The problem arises when these practices are promoted as the only way of doing so. Though in the long run, buying a £70 pair of jeans to last 8+ years is a more sustainable option than buying a £10 pair every year, many people aren’t in the position to invest in these one-off items and fast fashion brands are seen as their only option. Low-income groups such as this aren’t currently included in mainstream sustainability discussions, leaving the feeling of sustainability not being for them. By maintaining this image of sustainability, a culture of elitism is created, which further perpetuates the message of sustainable living as inaccessible to many groups in a multi-faceted society.

We need the sustainability movement as without which, Earth’s resources will continue to be exploited for material gain. As well as some of these resources being non-renewable, their exploitation causes pollution and releases greenhouse gases. The sustainability movement should therefore not be led by an affluent group that promotes buying more material goods to live a “sustainable” life.

Where can I learn more?

To get you started, I recommend Teanna Empowers on Youtube:

1. Sustainability and Zero [Waste] Maybe... Shouldn’t be so Individualitistic
2. Sustainability and Zero Waste Videos are Elitist…

Through awareness and understanding of the issues surrounding the sustainable living movement, sustainability can be more accessible to excluded social groups. A greater platform should be given to lower income and non-white groups in the conversation around sustainable living as many people feel the sustainability movement is elitist and exclusive. The movement is needed to preserve earth’s resources, prevent landfill and stop pollution. For the movement to have a real impact, effort is needed from everyone, regardless of their background. A new conversation is needed surrounding sustainable practices to make it accessible to and inclusive of people of all social groups.

We hope this has stimulated some cognitive pathways around the intersectionality of your activism! As a project, we are always striving to better and improve our accessibility and intersectionality and are open to conversations with you, our online and in person community. Please comment here, email us or get in touch via Facebook or Instagram if you have any suggestions or would like to learn more about what we do behind the scenes to address intersectionality and accessibility.

Author: Lucia