In a nature’s system, there are obvious elements, like food, as well as hidden elements, like sewage. The latter is as much necessary but not as noticeable. However, when the system does not function smoothly, the hidden part will take unwanted salience. I learned this when I visited the farm…
Compromise
I loved our visit with Catherine Flowers. Although it wasn’t the main point of her talk, what resonated with me was that she decided to still do the talk to honor her coworkers death. Among her talk what was really powerful was the way she addressed spreading awareness about…
Alabama’s Black Belt
“What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – Shakespeare 1914 Or, in the case of the Black Belt in Alabama, injustice by any other name would still smell like raw sewage flooding people’s bathrooms, exposing them to tropical diseases often associated with the…
Desan – Mrs. Flowers response (sent by email)
on email
Hookworm
I found Catherine Flowers’ illustration on the lack of environmental justice in the U.S. both interesting and striking. She described why hookworm, a parasitic disease usually connotated with extreme poverty in other parts of the world, is now abundant in rural Alabama. The parasite enters the body through the skin,…
Response to Catherine Flowers
Of all the fascinating ideas from Catherine Flowers’ visit on Thursday, the two things which have stuck in my mind the firmest are her use of anecdotes and her response to Joe’s question about how she addresses people who do not believe in climate change. I was extremely impressed by…
Reflection on Meeting Catherine Flowers
It was an invigorating experience to meet Catherine! As someone who’s involved in policy, her actions take broad strokes in moving our local communities and our country forward towards resilience and climate change mitigation. She is part of a movement of community members, politicians, students, and public intellectuals – her…
My New Perspective on Environmental Justice
The talk by Ms. Catherine Flowers was very interesting and insightful. I really learned a lot about environmental justice (EJ) and I realized that I would like to be involved in environmental justice issues more than I thought I would. Before her talk, I was thinking that advocacy wouldn’t be…
Bypassing the “Human” Problem
The most fascinating thing about Catherine Flowers’ talk in my opinion was her attitude towards people that do not believe in climate change. We often talk about how we need science or proof to “convince” people that change is among us. However, changing these people’s minds is really not a…
Catherine Flowers, and Change Blossoms
Although I was unable to attend the talk with Catherine Flowers, reading about her work in environmental justice (EJ) opened my eyes to a brand new approach to environmentalism. Flowers’s interview with the Center for Earth Ethics highlighted the role of faith leaders in EJ, as she recommended they get…