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.

There has been an influx in climate aware media -- like in “Don’t Look Up” -- and it’s been really exciting to see climate ascent into popular discourse and entertainment, especially because it represents the labor of love of those who fought for so long to make it happen at this level. However, it has also revealed an important truth: I do not believe it is enough to simply tell climate stories. Representation for representation's sake is never the answer. While integrating climate into the media framework is necessary, so too is ensuring that the presented narratives are whole and truthful. And the truth is: “giving up” is not in the fabric of who we are as humans, and it has never been. To grapple with the saga that is climate, we must understand that while the wounds of existential threat/grief are omnipresent, so too is the human desire to fight to live another day. While we have never known a perfect world, we have never needed a guarantee of success to strive for it.

The environmental justice movement (and every other social justice movement) is a breathing example of this. I believe that we, as climate storytellers, can find ways to tell the heartbreaking truth of our planetary circumstance (to reveal the wound), while also appreciating the human “nobility of a soul that has suffered to the point almost of erasure, that still struggles to be whole, present, giving” (present the medicine). This is the essence of the Hurston-Walker Test and, to me, the foundation of ethical climate storytelling.

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.

At EMA, we believe rooftop solar energy should be affordable and accessible for everyone. That's why EMA Board Members joined other impactful voices such as Arnold Schwarzenegger in calling out the California Public Utilities Commission for its most recent proposal. The proposal would cut incentives for homeowners with rooftop solar panels while implementing a new monthly fee for solar customers to connect to the power grid.

Now is not the time to reduce solar incentives. From wildfires to drought, California feels the effects of climate change, which is why we must go all-in on renewable energy. Going renewable is good for our planet and our health. A big thanks to The Hollywood Reporter for including EMA Board Members in this critical article. Read their comments below:

"In a statement to THR, Lance Bass, who sits on the Environmental Media Association’s board of directors, says that the commission 'should rethink its plan to add a monthly grid participation charge for solar owners. Low-income communities are often hit the hardest by pollution, which is why it’s unfair to add more financial barriers to clean energy.'

'California has always led the way on solar energy, but sadly the California Public Utilities Commission is considering a new plan that includes a grid participation charge,' adds Nikki Reed, who is also on the EMA board. 'Unfortunately, this decision would make solar power financially out of reach for many Californians.'

Says Property Brothers star Drew Scott, another member of EMA’s board, 'We should be adding more incentives for people to adopt solar power, not removing them and adding grid participation charges that act as a solar tax. At the end of the day if we are all truly honest with ourselves, we would admit that ‘taxing’ people to do something that is better for us and our planet is not the solution. Giving greater access to renewable energy helps all of us, especially lower income neighborhoods. And if we truly want to make change for a healthier future, we have to do it together.'"

February Newsletter

Contact Us

EMA Newsletter

Get Social With Us