Rasheena Fountain: This Writer Started A Career Questioning The Environmental Status Quo And Now Disrupts The Mainstream Sustainability Educational Space Through A Love Of Black Diasporic Legacy
So incredibly honored to chat with Rasheena Fountain who is a Black environmental educator and writer.
Check out this interview:
Image by Eliza Mercado
How do you define sustainability?
So, sustainability is about being able to look at the next generation in the eye and them knowing that I worked to right current and past wrongs. There is no going back to a more pristine time—to this notion of untouched nature. Sustainability is about figuring out a way to make the current systems less harmful to humans and the planet. I believe it is about balance through education and policy change. It is less about shaming the consumer and more about providing education and adding pressure on big businesses.
Share a little bit about your work as a Black environmental advocate, educator and writer and why/how you entered this space!
I live in Seattle, but I am from the west side of Chicago. My family is spread across Chicago, but we are mostly from Austin and North Lawndale. I share where I am from because that has a lot to do with my lens in advocating in the environmental realm. I’ve been a writer since I was a child, and I have always known that this was my lane. Writing helped me question systems as a child. I wondered about the disparities in Austin, my predominately Black community, and how these disparities were not present in the neighboring suburb Oak Park. I entered the environmental space through a similar inquiry.
I graduated from undergrad in 2009 with a writing degree. In 2010, I took a graduate level English course centered on Eco-criticism as a non-degree student. In the course, we read work by white environmentalists: Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, Wendell Berry, Bill McKibben, and more. I remember how much the literature spoke to me—how much I could identify with the connection to nature. There was also a big part of me that wanted to know how Black people fit into these environmental narratives. I wondered what the solutions for environmental degradation were for the west side of Chicago where “pristine” nature had long vanished.
Soon after, I decided I wanted to learn more about environmental issues and to be a part of adding to the environmental narratives for Black communities. I took a job at a community college as an English instructor. But while working, I took free course on sustainability online through Coursera to learn more. I interviewed Black community members and institutions in Illinois to learn about sustainable solutions in a mini documentary I made. I also co-organized the first sustainability fair at the community college and led workshops to show how instructors could incorporate sustainability into their curriculum across subjects.
My plan was to get a graduate degree in Environmental Science from the University of Illinois, but as a single mother, making that happen took a lot of strategy. I took a full-time job at the university so that I could take advantage of the free education. I took courses in ecology, air pollution, and sustainability. In 2015, while I was working at the University, I started writing for HuffPost blog. In addition to writing about gun violence, music, #BlackLivesMatter, and other social justice issues, I started writing about environmental issues. I moved to Seattle in 2016 to pursue a master’s degree in Urban Environmental Education from Antioch University Seattle. In Seattle, I worked in Urban Food Systems for Seattle Parks and Recreation and did research and communications at work IslandWood and the National Audubon Society. I have written about environment and race for various publications. At present, I am an MFA in Creative Writing student at the University of Washington Seattle. I have no goals to work in the mainstream environmental field any longer and am working hard on an environmental essay collection.
From an environmental lens, what are your hopes for how we move as an economy/civilization post Covid?
Even with an environmental lens, I can say that the most pressing issues are systemic. One of the reasons why I am against the consumer shaming that is prevalent in the mainstream environmental movement is because it falsely puts the brunt on people to be able to single-handedly undo decades of systemic oppression. Who did a community survey or invited community to help decide the fate of Flint water before they switched it to an unhealthy water source? Black communities are the target for mass incarceration, Toxic Release Inventory facilities, and police brutality. Systemic issues are making our communities more vulnerable in this pandemic. So post COVID-19, I hope that the environmental movement sees how systemic oppression keeps communities from living in harmony with their environments. And the new normal cannot involve an environmental movement where White supremacy is status quo.
Share more about your thoughts on the myth that Black people are less interested in nature!
One of the reasons I don’t want to work in the mainstream environmental movement is so that I can answer this question unapologetically. I really think that this notion has a lot to do with money and ego. White savior mentality is prevalent throughout the environmental field, and there are grants out there that help keep this prevalent. These organizations thrive on being able to save Black and Brown children from “Nature Deficit Disorder”. I think Black and Brown children need to be saved more from the “racism disorder”. As a child on the west side of Chicago, my friends and I loved being out in nature. Even though my community had some issues, we enjoyed the lightening bugs, the dandelions, the Blue Jays, and hummingbirds. My grandmother, from the Deep South, brought her knowledge of gardening to Chicago. She gardened religiously, and she was always outside. There are spaces where Black people were not historically welcome and where our safety was threatened by hatred and racism. As Black birder Dr. Drew Lanham speaks about in his speeches, Black people have ranges—certain places we still can’t go due to racism. And I know that spaces that are seen as natural spaces are actually places of genocide and silencing. As a Black person, I am not interested in that “nature”. So, yes, the myth of Black folk not being into nature is false and dangerous. And I have seen organizations benefit from that false narrative, even though their ideals are doused in White supremacy. We’ve been outside. Black people and organizations should get the grant money for our communities instead of that money being funneled into organizations pushing that false narrative.
What are some of your favorite book recommendations?
The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham
Rooted in the Earth: Reclaiming the African American Environmental Heritage by Dianne D Glave
black nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry Edited by Camille T. DungyShare
3 pieces of knowledge/advice specifically for the Black community during this time.
Black communities have so much knowledge that can help the world live more harmoniously with our environments. So, I implore people to stop looking at our communities from a deficit lens like society tries to instill in us. We’re incredibly resilient, creative, and have long had to make do with scraps. Learn more about your history—learn about your ancestors before the Great Migration. I have been doing this, and I have such a stronger sense of self. Our ancestors are so amazing, and when I get tired, I channel that energy. Take note during this time. The pandemic has really shined a light on all of the systemic issues Black people have been trying to bring to the forefront for decades. Take note because community building is so important post pandemic. I also think this is a good time to build a body of work—turn pain and angst into passion.