I am personally surrounded by inspirational Black female change makers every day. I am often and continuously inspired by Black women who are frequently the voices for the community and spearheads for change. Take Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Professor Dame Elizabeth Anionwu and Olive Morris as just a few examples. It is important to recognise these women did not have a choice to create change, for them it was a must in the face of injustice being experienced.  

Throughout the month so far, I have seen different organisations and sectors release a list of history makers within their industry and I wanted to do the same. I want to salute Black Women making an impact in the past and future for the climate, nature and for us.  

The sister I salute for my today: 

The sister I salute for my tomorrow: 

I cannot write much further without making it very clear that writing this article was and is difficult. It is evident that female Black British voices are starkly missing within environmentalism history. It has rarely been platformed let alone celebrated. In writing this, I kept thinking where the articles, blogs and posts are highlighting Black British Female environmentalists. I see plenty from around the globe. I want to see Black females working in advocacy in the UK, those working in functional business roles, to the scientists and the politicians of which I strongly believe are there in the climate and environmental movement but seldomly recognised.

Should I really be surprised, we are often wiped out and silenced from the movement unless it is time to relive our trauma and experience of being in the sector. Vanessa Nakate story is one such recent example. 

It should surely go without saying, it is important to recognise and amplify Black female voices in the sector. If anything, to do what Leah Thomas talks of as intersectional environmentalist, the need to highlight the interconnectedness of people and the environment and the injustices within the intrinsic connection. It is abundantly clear that we need more Black female British voices if we ever seek to commit to intersectional environmentalism. In that, we must commit to ensuring we do just that, if not, we are further perpetuating injustices, we are compliant. There are multi-faceted and complex reasons why it feels like there are a few Black women in environmentalism, but it is mostly because we are a few.

As a Black woman writing this, currently working within the sector, it is often that I am the only Black woman in a room, with doubts of belonging weaving in. This article for me and hopefully for others reading it was a cathartic reminder that you and I are not the only ones, we belong in the world of environmentalism, in fact, we are needed in the world of environmentalism.

There have been many Black women who have come before and even more are coming, shaping the future for nature and people. We must make sure these voices are amplified and noted in history, if only for the next generations of female Black leaders, advocates and trailblazers who will change the world as we know. We are living through history.