KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – When Sadie Beaton, Community Conservation Research Coordinator at the Ecology Action Centre, was asked to look at the concepts of environmental justice and environmental racism, she thought she would do her research, write a discussion paper, maybe issue some recommendations, and be done with it.
She soon found out there was nothing neat and tidy about the subject, and now, much later, she is still exploring the subject. Shades of Green, a five part podcast series is merely her latest stab at this complex topic. That podcast series will launch tomorrow.
“I noticed everybody I talked with while I was exploring things had a slightly different take, so I was wondering how to get that complexity across and lift those voices I was hearing,” says Sadie. A podcast seemed the obvious answer.
In the summer of 2016 Sadie recorded an interview series for CKDU. There are some really fascinating conversations here, with people like Michelle Paul, Kevin Christmas, Jim Maloney, James Desmond, poets El Jones and Rebecca Thomas, and many more.
The new podcast series about to be launched will take a more thematic approach, using both the earlier interviews and brand new conversations. But even at this stage the notion of a neat and tidy synthesis remains elusive, says Sadie.
Some of the people featured in the earlier interviews will be back, and there will be some new voices as well. New voices such as dr Carolyn Phinney, author of Black Faces, White Spaces, and environmental thinkers such as Dr. Cheryl Teelucksingh, Dr. Carolyn Finney, and Dr. Julian Ageyman. Other people, likely more familiar and definitely much closer to home, like dr Ingrid Waldron, Barbara Low, Madonna Bernard, Catherine Martin, Jaden Dixon will also be featured..
“I am really excited about all the different people that I got to talk to, and about stirring their ideas together a bit,” says Sadie. “And I like that there are so many voices coming from different part of the environmental justice landscape.I am really hoping that it will make people curious to find out more.”
A new podcast will be issued each Thursday, starting tomorrow. Sadie will write a brief intro, and offer some further reading suggestions for each one, and we are very happy she allowed us to share these write-ups on the Nova Scotia Advocate website. Stay tuned.
Check out the short trailer for the new series, as well as older interviews on Soundcloud, iTunes or other podcast providers.
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