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This Session. Programming took place on Friday, November 1st, 2024 at Raleigh Parks’ Durant Nature Preserve. The Traditional Knowledge & Indigenous Engagement in Environmental Programming session explored the role of Indigenous knowledge in environmental education and programming. The session was led by David Rahahę́·tih Webb, Executive Director of Muddy Sneakers and a member of the Tuscarora Nation. We welcomed 50 members of the DEEP community and others to participate in a land acknowledgment and grounding moment, followed by an indoor lecture with outdoor activities.

Goals:

1. To understand the role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Native Science in environmental programming
2. To understand the legacy of colonization on environmental programming
3. To learn about ways that TEK and Native Science can be incorporated in current programming in a variety of contexts

This Session. Programming took place on Friday, May 3rd, 2024 at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Exploring Intersectionality: Birding & Identity session explored the intersection between birding and historically-excluded identities, specifically race. The session was an opportunity to delve deeper and explore how various identities intersect with the activity of birding and discuss its implications for conservation efforts and environmental justice. There were opportunities for DEEP Collaborative folks, Duke staff and faculty, and community members to interact with museum-guided interpretations of the Audubon Gallery and a guided bird-walk of the grounds from two North Carolina State Ph.D. students. 

Goals:

1. Enhance Understanding of Intersectionality: Attendees can aim to deepen their understanding of intersectionality by actively participating in discussions about how historically-excluded identities, particularly race, intersect with activities like birding. This goal involves actively engaging with diverse perspectives and experiences shared during the session to broaden one’s understanding of how various identities intersect and influence experiences within environmental activities.
2. Promote Environmental Justice in Conservation: Attendees might set a goal to explore the implications of intersectionality on conservation efforts and environmental justice. This could involve critically examining how different identities influence access to and participation in environmental activities like birding, and brainstorming ways to promote inclusivity and equity within conservation initiatives.
3. Engage with Diverse Perspectives: Attendees could strive to actively engage with museum-guided interpretations of the Audubon Gallery and participate in the guided bird-walk led by North Carolina State Ph.D. students. This goal involves actively listening to and learning from diverse voices, including museum staff, academics, and community members, to gain a multifaceted understanding of the intersection between birding and identity.

A special thank you to Jill Taylor from the North Carolina Museum of Art and Deja Perkins and Jin Bai from North Carolina State University for facilitating!

Photo Credit: Jin Bai

This Session. Programming took place on October 10th, 2023 at the Forest History Society. The Environmental Justice: Know Your Local Soils session explored a brief overview of What is Environmental Justice? In this session, participants discussed the science behind diagnosing soil for chemical contaminants, the sources and health impacts of common contaminants, and how to reduce possible exposures for vulnerable populations. Participants worked in groups learning to use an online diagnostic tool, Check Your Dirt NC! developed by the Duke Superfund Research Center in collaboration with NC State Cooperative Extension. There were opportunities for partner organizations to engage in cross-dialogue with other local organizations to learn more about the ways in which EJ work is currently done in the Triangle.

Goals:

1. Review the basic principles of environmental justice
2. Learn what chemical contaminants in soil are, where they come from, how they impact human health, and how to reduce exposure
3. Identify instances of soil contamination as an environmental justice issue and how to apply this awareness to education and advocacy work

Thanks to Chiara Klein and Liz Shapiro-Garza from the Community Engagement Core Duke University Superfund Research Center for facilitating!

The DEC/DEEP Fall workshop series application is now live! The workshops are focused on race, power, and partnership. See below to find out more about each of the 3 sessions.

On October 12, forty DEEP/DEC Community members met to set intentions, explore key EJ issues in our local community, learn about the work of Delphine Sellars and Urban Community Agrinomics (UCAN), and practice discussion protocols.

A key theme that emerged was the need for ways to collaborate around common themes, while building trust and being inclusive of all community members.

How you can participate. To assist with this, a Google document was created where community members can add their name and organization around organizing themes.

Other desired actions that emerged from this theme included:

(1)    Creating a map of organizations and where they work (e.g., in Tableau, see example here),

(2)    Developing a resource guide to help organization communicate in inclusive ways and decrease barriers to community member collaboration,

(3)    Hosting in person events for DEEP Community members to gather and talk,

(4)    Building a social network analysis based on common goals,

(5)    Making a match-making list of organizations’ resources and needs.

We also invite our DEEP community to share Action Items to the DEEP listserv regularly. This listserv can serve as a place where DEEP Community members can share actions (e.g., plantings, work days, city council/petition support needs, volunteers) that align with our work. This is a means for us to support each other.

Other themes and topics were also foregrounded by small group discussion, including:

How to…

• Develop new thinking, procedures, goals, and modes of behavior to address the issues below.
• Involve, regularly engage with, and listen to community members and organizations from a variety of backgrounds.
• Honor and acknowledge past wrongs or complicities of organizations in racialized prejudice or other forms of prejudice and injustice.
• Develop pathways for K-12 students into environmental, environmental justice, social justice, and/or STEM spaces (e.g., teacher training, outdoor learning, equity of opportunity, etc.).
• Provide access to land for a variety of community members that honors recreational, cultural, spiritual, culinary, and personal practices and beliefs (esp. honoring POC).
• Communicate in an inclusive way in meetings, outreach, and signs.
• Inclusive connection and communication among organizations, western-trained scientists and academics, and communities.
• Improve the built environment to meet a variety of environmental, social, and economic needs.
• Create workplaces that are inclusive, equity-focused, diverse, and build community for all people (esp. POC).

List of Local EJ/DEI Issues.

• Flooding in low-lying neighborhoods
• Lack of equitable access to green space
• Tree canopy loss and inequity (e.g., redlining correlations)
• Tracking in local K-12 school system (e.g., honors track, regular track)
• Habitat loss and landscape fragmentation from development
• Food and farm access
• Lack of natural playgrounds and playspaces
• Addressing impacts of C on people in lower socioeconomic status situations
• Afghanistan refugee project
• Bringing young POC into environmental/STEM jobs
• Voting rights
• Urban heat island effects
• Recovering from divisiveness of COVID

Resources. During the meeting people generously shared resources; those are pasted below:

• Durham Environmental Coalition: www.durhamenvironmentalcoalition.org
• Master’s Project that included a Network and Landscape Analysis of the DEEP Community at the time: https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/18444/MP%20Final.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
• Connect Community: https://connect.community.duke.edu/
• Article on re-imagining pathways into environmental fields/STEM disciplines as braided rivers: https://eos.org/opinions/reimagining-stem-workforce-development-as-a-braided-river
• Slice 325 Healthy Food and Social Justice organization: https://slice325.org/
• Sankofa Farms: https://www.sankofafarmsllc.com/
• Building Local Infrastructure in Black Communities: https://www.wral.com/research-hub-focused-on-equity-development-proposed-for-durham-s-hayti-neighborhood/19912835/

On Tuesday, September 15,  the DEEP Collaborative and DEC hosted the first follow-up Environmental Justice (EJ) workshop, led by Dr. Nicki Cagle. In this workshop, we reviewed two methods for considering difficult topics: visual thinking strategies to analyze images of the cemetery and the Pauli Murray Hoomesite and the Wise Ones dialogic approach developed by Tema Okun and Krista Robinson. We applied these methods to an EJ Case Study on Maplewood Cemetery that incorporated multiple historic and community-member perspectives, including Aseelah Ameen, a descendent of the Henderson family.

We were also fortunate to hear from special guest speakers, including Carlos Gonzalez, Heidi Hannapel, Aseelah Ameen, and Jackie MacLeod. The shared important perspectives and experiences on the topics of green burials and Maplewood Cemetery. Moving forward, we will be updating the case study to reflect Jackie and Aseelah’s work. Check out Heidi’s work on the Bluestem Conservation Cemetery here and Jackie’s other work here.

Finally, DEEP Community members have also provided some resources to share with the group:

• “Black cemetery headstones were used as scrap. Now area leaders are ‘righting a wrong’.”
• Pauli Murray Center & Hayti Heritage Film Festival Present Online Premiere of “My Name Is Pauli Murray” Documentary