Inclusion is a strategic imperative: a matter of relevance, responsibility, and respect. A sustainable future depends on respecting the differences among people of all backgrounds and beliefs and that we leverage population diversity to accelerate environmental literacy and civic engagement. Large-scale environmental stewardship goals are only achievable if environmental education programs are relevant to and engage the widest possible audience and that access to high-quality programs, leadership positions, professional development, and other opportunities is available to everyone.
Transcript:
I'm Darryl Ramos-Young. I'm the Education Coordinator for West Basin Municipal Water District here in Los Angeles.
Diversity to me means having a variety of experiences, backgrounds, and voices, and being able to share their perspectives on relationships within the environment. To me, equity is ensuring that people from all backgrounds no matter what their ethnic or racial background is, no matter their socioeconomic status, and no matter what their faith base may be, environmental education opportunities are accessible to all. And then inclusion is again, embracing people of all different backgrounds, ensuring that they have a voice at the table and can be included in many of the decision-making opportunities that might arise.
The Census Bureau has said 36% of the United States population are people of color currently. By the year 2043—that's like 27 years away—50% of the population is going to be reflecting people of color across the nation. Yet within our profession, as environmental educators, there's only about 11% of people of color in leadership roles. So that really needs to change. That needs to change fast.
Everybody thinks that addressing inclusion in environmental education is really hard. [That it] takes a long time to build partnerships. But it's really not.
It's a matter of just reaching out your hand. And again, shaking somebody's hand and just introducing yourself and being really open to listening to them. To hear about their experience. Maybe there may be shared experiences between individuals. But it's that being open to hearing what the needs are and seeing if there's a possibility of collaboration. I think that's the best thing that can happen for the field moving forward.
So dispel that belief that it's a hard thing to do. Moving forward, it's like it's really easy, and it can happen really simply just by breaking down the barriers.