Making Climate Work More Intentional and Creative: A Conversation with Wawa Gatheru

Wanjiku "Wawa" Gatheru is a 22-year-old environmental justice advocate motivated to uplift the voices of those most adversely impacted by climate change. She is the founder of Black Girl Environmentalist, a Rhodes Scholar, and a climate communicator. In other words, Wawa is a climate rock star. Learn more about Wawa's work in our EMA exclusive interview.

Between launching Black Girl Environmentalist, participating in the 2021 Victoria's Secret PINK with Purpose Project, and advocating for environmental justice, 2021 was a busy year for you! So, what are you working on in 2022?

In 2022, I’m deeping my commitment to self-care and being more intentional and creative with the climate work I am a part of and building alongside.

In honor of intention, this year BGE (Black Girl Environmentalist) is working on strengthening our internal structures and doing intense planning around how we would like to show up in-person (in the near future!!). As a graduate student, I'm working on my dissertation, which will hopefully serve as a call to action to why beauty justice should be included within the framework of truly relevant and inclusive environmental education. It's really exciting work because the Safer Beauty Package Act (hopefully placing beauty justice in a legislative context) was recently introduced to Congress late last year. I now get to combine my academic work with the incredible organizing to help pass this important legislative package. I'm finally getting to be the scholar-activist I've always dreamed of being!

In regards to self-care, I'm prioritizing rest! I've committed myself towards caring for my mental + physical health as an act of environmental action -- after all, being stewards of Mother Earth also means being stewards to our bodies! I'm also expanding on my mission to make the climate movement one made in the image of all of us. In the past two years, I've learned that as a connector + communicator in climate space, my role is to help facilitate climate conversations in nontraditional places. I'm really interested in helping to bring climate into the music + entertainment spaces, as these specific industries have a unique opportunity to access new audiences AND the platforms to do it right. I've been so inspired by organizations like EMA that have been doing this work for so long.

Recently, on Instagram, you shared a critical perspective on the film "Don't Look Up!" that ethical storytelling is needed when the media discusses climate change. In your opinion, what is ethical climate storytelling?

I believe that it is so important to be grounded in the practice of showing and expressing deep love in the climate space. After all, this is the movement that exists because of the deep love we have for the planet & ourselves. I’ve been doing this by committing myself to the Hurston-Walker Test, coined by Brooke C. Obie, to guide the climate content I choose to engage with and create. It is a test that emerged from the following quote: “Those who love us never leave us alone with our grief. At the moment they show us our wound, they reveal they have the medicine” by the great Alice Walker.

Why are women, particularly black women, vital leaders in solving the climate crisis?

Women experience climate change with disproportionate severity because gender inequality worldwide makes us more vulnerable to environmental stressors. Studies show that women’s bodies are more susceptible to the harmful effects of toxic pollution, with pregnant women experiencing and even passing along severe environmental health problems to their children. Black women, in particular, bear an even heavier burden from the impacts of climate change because of preexisting systematic racism and the continuing impacts of colonialism.

However, women’s proximity to climate injustice makes us the most qualified to lead because women are already leading on solutions to survive. And Black women are the pioneers of the EJ movement. When women lead, children’s health improves, local economies grow, and entire communities flourish –- the premise is just climate future.

As much as it can be rewarding, climate work can be exhausting, heartbreaking, and overwhelming. What is your advice for activists struggling with climate anxiety and fatigue?

Prioritize and practice rest! Prioritize taking care of yourself and listening to your body. When we look at the holistic definition of ‘environment’ as described by the environmental justice movement, it’s important to understand that our very bodies are a part of our environment. They are just as sacred as the lands and people we seek to protect. If we are truly willing to be stewards of Mother Earth and all that she is, we must understand that our physical and mental health are precious parts of this. Environmental action includes how we treat ourselves. And when it comes to collective action, how are we to contribute if we are not well-rested, taken care of, and most of all loved?

At EMA, we always try to stay optimistic. So what is giving you hope for our planet these days? (weight of the world isn’t ours alone to face)

When it comes to an issue with a scale and scope as massive as climate change, it’s easy to feel disoriented by the weight of the problem. All too often, it feels overwhelming and impossible to grapple with. Our very survival is at risk. However, there is hope to understand that the climate crisis isn’t our first existential threat. People have had to fight for their lives before because tomorrow has never been promised. There is so much to learn from those who came before us, those who continued to survive and fight for another day - even when success wasn’t guaranteed. I find hope in the fact that we do not have to invent the wheel when it comes to ideating and carrying out a just future. The language of change and progress exists in the very fabric of human history. We have to have the courage to seek it out.

To learn more about Wawa, please visit her website www.wawagatheru.org.