Homebound: Eco-Justice in the Age of Disasters with JACQUI PATTERSON /175

Flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; US National Archives- Public Domain

For The Wild presents Homebound as an offering of curated episodes from the archives intended to offer perspective and guidance in the midst of a time of tremendous uncertainty and possibility. We invite you to join us on Fridays to hear seeds of wisdom from the weavers of transformation and mobilizers of personal and cultural shift. We hope that this may serve as a North Star as we all traverse through our grief and fear that accompany this perplexing time fraught with shattering of systemic injustices alongside opportunities to co-create the world anew.

Today we are re-listening to our conversation with Jacqui Patterson on Eco-Justice in the Age of the Anthropocene, originally aired in 2017. 

We’re bringing this episode back from the archives because over the past couple of weeks, we have seen far too many narratives of disposability when it comes to the communities who are already impacted the most when it comes to environmental, social, and economic injustice (rural, disabled, BIPOC, undocumented, incarcerated, LGBTQIA2S+, etc.). Jacqui reminds us that we must strategically address the needs of our communities; when we work to uplift those at the bottom - we all rise. In light of this conversation with Jacqui we are asking ourselves:

• Why is it that so many of us are so willing to sacrifice others?

• Where did we first learn disposability?

• How can people of all positionalities take back power in times of emergency?

Jacqui Patterson

Jacqueline Patterson is the Director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program. Since 2007 Patterson has served as coordinator & co-founder of Women of Color United. Jacqui Patterson has worked as a researcher, program manager, coordinator, advocate and activist working on women‘s rights, violence against women, HIV&AIDS, racial justice, economic justice, and environmental and climate justice. Patterson served as a Senior Women’s Rights Policy Analyst for ActionAid where she integrated a women’s rights lens for the issues of food rights, macroeconomics, and climate change as well as the intersection of violence against women and HIV&AIDS. Previously, she served as Assistant Vice-President of HIV/AIDS Programs for IMA World Health providing management and technical assistance to medical facilities and programs in 23 countries in Africa and the Caribbean. Patterson served as the Outreach Project Associate for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and Research Coordinator for Johns Hopkins University. She also served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Jamaica, West Indies.

Patterson holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University. She currently serves on the International Committee of the US Social Forum, the Steering Committee for Interfaith Moral Action on Climate, Advisory Board for Center for Earth Ethics as well as on the Boards of Directors for the Institute of the Black World, Center for Story Based Strategy and the US Climate Action Network.

♫ Music by Eliza Edens

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