Taylor Wyatt, Contributing Writer
What started as a lecture from Professor Richard Tate’s classroom transformed into a community wide dialogue on environmental justice at the Greenhouse, challenging the Sewanee community to redefine its relationship with the land and people of Tennessee.
Held on March 26, the event was designed as a moderated group discussion rather than a traditional lecture. Hadlee Hale (C ’28), a natural resources major and anthropology minor, hosted the event and said the idea sparked in January during one of Tate’s classes. Over the course of the semester she has worked with other community members and co-sponsors to bring this idea to life, such as the Crafting Guild, Farm Club and Wildlife and Fisheries Club,
“I’ve always been interested in how our environment is stratified sociopolitically, and how people’s life experiences shape how they view and understand the world around them. Planning this event allowed me to combine local resources, student org involvement, community service, and class interests into one,” Hale said.
Community members who attended were gathered in intentionally mixed group discussions to create a chance to learn from each other, which offered a space for each voice and outlook on environmentalism to be heard. These groups were guided by student facilitators and framed conversational agreements around respect and reflective listening. The event provided QR codes to digital resources on how and where to get involved locally, as well as providing information on local environmental injustices. By pairing this dialogue with accessible resources, the event bridged the gap between awareness and action. Participants could act on what they had learned.
Hale also stated the importance of place based dialogue. “Place-based curiosity, learning, and involvement are critical to being an engaged citizen anywhere. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to learn about the place you’re living in and the people you’re living with,” she said. “People are lifelong learners, so I think intergenerational events that discuss topics can be really rich on all ends.”
Hale also defined environmental justice and its importance, stating that environmental justice “focuses on inequitable stratification of environmental benefits and burdens. Environmental burdens such as lack of adequate resource access, contamination exposure, barriers to sovereignty, and more are put most heavily on poorer communities of color.” In this way, environmentalism is reframed by justice, as it’s not just about protecting the land, but also protecting people and the communities most affected by environmental harm.
Environmental racism, a key concept discussed in this event, refers to the ways in which environmental policies endanger marginalized communities of color, according to an article by Campus Insider. Hale specifically used Tate’s definition to explain this concept as “manifestations of institutional or systemic racism: policies and laws that differentially and detrimentally impact communities of color.” She added, “environmental racism can look a lot of ways, but involves systemically distributing more environmental burdens on POC communities.”
Tate, whose research bridges anthropology, geography, and ethnobotany, emphasized that environmental burdens extend beyond commonly recognized issues. In his classroom, he explained how they “cover examples that probably quickly come to mind when you think of environmental issues and burdens: toxic waste dumping, air pollution, water contamination, deforestation.”
“We also look at case studies that consider broader aspects such as food insecurity, climate risk, obstacles to land access, and even limitations on religious/spiritual expression related to environmental change,” said Tate.
He explained how understanding environmental justice requires looking at interconnected systems, not just isolated sets of problems. “At the end of the day, environmental injustices are never just about exposure to hazards: they are the outcomes of deep social histories involving colonialism, land dispossession, racialized policymaking, power dynamics, and more,” Tate said.
“Geography lends an important spatial and ecological dimension to these histories. Geographic factors have a big impact on distribution of resources, extraction of those resources, where and how pollutants move through physical and biological systems, and even where communities of people live. In many contexts in the U.S. South, for example, racist policies of segregation and redlining confined urban Black communities to low-lying, flood prone areas of land that later became attractive for highly polluting industrial development.”
Tate highlighted the importance of language when addressing issues like this. “The language we choose shapes what we are able to see, name, and ultimately change. There is a tendency in broader American society to minimize the role of race in questions of environmental burden and to instead blame factors like socioeconomic class, unfortunate location, or ‘bad luck.’”
When reflecting on the event, Tate expressed a deep appreciation for the student leadership he has seen bring these ideas outside of the classroom. “The information put together for this event really highlights the fact that environmental injustice is something that impacts all of us, even here in remote Sewanee…The history of the movement shows that meaningful progress has always come from communities joining together to demand change; ultimately that is the only way positive change is going to happen.”
Students and community members shared personal stories and questions about environmental justice on the Mountain and beyond. Many reflected on how their lives and experiences have shaped their understanding of important topics like environmentalism and environmental justice. Discussions often included perspectives on climate change, gentrification, food deserts and artificial intelligence but encompassed a shared compassion and call to do something about the environmental issues our planet currently faces overall.
Kiera McClellan (C ‘29) noted how her connection to nature motivated her to attend the event. “Growing up near the Appalachian mountains and of course choosing Sewanee’s beautiful campus, I have always felt a really deep sense of ‘home’ in my natural environment and can admit I don’t know that much about the ways I can help preserve it. I am always curious about what I can be more mindful of, especially when it comes to other people’s lived experiences,” McClellan said.
She also reflected on a moment that stuck with her from her small group. “A group member pointed out how the environment always fights back and finds a way to keep existing, like flowers growing in cracks in the sidewalk or trees taking root in the most unlikely places.” These reflections show the broader theme of the event: that environmental justice is deeply personal for so many and takes on forms that are uniquely special.
Many like Hale hope for this kind of dialogue to continue beyond the Greenhouse’s backyard. “Anyone interested in getting involved in tangible, local efforts after the dialogue event can reach out to contacts listed in the digital Local Involvement Resources Pamphlet as well as connect with fellow participants,” she said.