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I invite you to pause for a moment and imagine a world where the environment and all people – regardless of their color and background – have their needs met and more. We want our communities to thrive and ensure no one is left behind. We can do this by coming together and collaboratively taking action to create just futures for all. While attending the One Water Summit in September, four key themes emerged. These themes represented the culmination of my last year of work hosting community convenings with the Oregon Water Futures Collaborative (OWF) and supporting community-driven well water testing as the Environmental Justice Fellow at Willamette Partnership. To collaboratively imagine and take action for a just future for all, we need to apply an environmental justice lens, operate from an abundance mindset, take creative and inclusive approaches, and center communities. Apply an Environmental Justice Lens Applying an environmental justice lens is essential when working through environmental issues. The US EPA defines environmental justice as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.”1 Understanding which communities experience disproportionate impacts from environmental health issues informs investments in communities that need it most and creates space for impacted communities to lead decision-making processes. Applying an environmental justice lens to environmental issues is critical to creating just and equitable futures for all. Operate from an Abundance Mindset Working from an abundance mindset allows us to see many possibilities of a future where people and the environment have their needs met and the opportunity to thrive. It is inclusive and strives to see the positive potential and opportunities that emerge from acknowledging and valuing our differences. When we come together with each of our unique gifts, we can find creative, community-driven solutions that celebrate diversity. An abundance mindset is based on a gift economy in which gratitude creates reciprocity. In “Braiding Sweetgrass,” Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer shares Indigenous wisdom about ‘reciprocity’ and ‘gratitude.’ Kimmerer writes, “In a culture of gratitude, everyone knows that gifts will follow the circle of reciprocity and flow back to you again. This time you give, and next time you receive.”2 For communities to thrive, we must move away from scarcity frameworks and towards reciprocity and gratitude. Economic models based on environmental scarcity as a driver for decision-making are inadequate and cannot solve environmental problems. They limit our ability to solve problems creatively and effectively distribute environmental gifts because they present false choices related to ownership and control rather than need and service. Kimmerer states, "Continued fealty to economies based on competition for manufactured scarcity, rather than cooperation around natural abundance, is now causing us to face the danger of producing real scarcity, evident in growing shortages of food and clean water, breathable air, and fertile soil.”3 Oregon Water Futures (OWF) is an example of a collaborative based on gratitude and reciprocity. It is composed of multiple organizations and people with different skills, talents, and knowledge. Each organization has its unique focus, but they work collaboratively towards a shared vision of water justice to impact how the future of water in Oregon is imagined through storytelling, capacity and relationship building, policymaking, and community-centered advocacy at the state and local levels. OWF has pooled diverse knowledge and gifts together that create and grow community-driven solutions.4 Take Creative and Inclusive Approaches for Just Futures for All Past policies like ‘redlining’ and the Homestead Act created inequities that continue to impact communities across the US. The legacy of these policies continues to cause negative impacts today in BIPOC, Tribal, rural, and low-income communities that have been historically overlooked, underinvested, and left out of conversations that have profound and lasting impacts on community members’ health and well-being. For example, communities of color in Portland, Oregon, are more likely to experience flooding and suffer from excessive heat.5 Black, Asian, Latinx, and low-income populations in the US are exposed to higher concentrations of air pollution, such as Particulate Matter 2.5, than other groups, leading to asthma and other respiratory diseases.6 Our environment shapes our health and how we experience life as much as we shape the environment. To prevent further negative health impacts, promote healing, and create just and equitable futures for all, we need to take creative and inclusive approaches to policy and processes. At the One Water Summit, I attended a session on the topic of “Anti-Displacement and Social Infrastructure Development,” where several speakers spoke about the need to center communities and ensure their voices are heard from the beginning whenever there are discussions related to their community.7 In this session, one of the issues raised was the tendency for long-standing community members and small businesses to be pushed out and displaced after infrastructure improvements to public housing and cities are made. Improvements to infrastructures lead to higher property values and rents that can make living in the community unaffordable. Communities want improvements that do not lead to their displacement. The presenters shared possible solutions such as building anti-displacement protection into project development plans, analyzing property management companies and their practices, adopting inclusionary zoning policies, and creating community land trusts.8 9 It was emphasized that community members be included every step of the way when development plans are being drafted, ensuring their voices are meaningfully heard.
Working with Oregon Water Futures Collaborative over the past year and as an Environmental Justice Fellow with Willamette Partnership has been an invaluable experience in building knowledge and skills that will be useful in working through environmental issues. These experiences have illustrated the importance of applying an environmental justice lens while working from an abundance mindset, taking creative and inclusive approaches, and centering communities to come together to collaboratively imagine and take action towards just futures for all.  Photo: Rose Poton (left) Environmental Justice Fellow, Willamette Partnership, and Cheyenne Holliday (right), Water Justice Coordinator at Verde, at One Water Summit 2022 hosted by US Water Alliance in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Both Rose and Cheyenne are members of the Oregon Water Futures Collaborative and Alumni of University of Oregon School of Law’s Conflict and Dispute Resolution Master’s Program. References:
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 “Hi,” I hear a whisper, “Come here.” It’s a sunny day and I’m standing outside between my university’s law school building and the Many Nations Longhouse with the rest of my classmates in Environmental Justice trying to get to know and listen to the more-than-human world which includes land, plants, wind, animals, water and more. It was an exercise our professor invited us to do because we are learning about environmental justice and getting to know the environment, the more-than-human, is an important part of that conversation. How can we know the significance of plants, water, land if we don’t make time to get to know them, to listen and to learn from them?
“Over here,” I walk towards the direction I’m being called to. Walking along the gray concrete path between the law school and the Many Nations Longhouse I end up under a wooden archway and pause to listen again. The path leads me between the Multicultural Museum on campus which is on the same side of and near the longhouse and also opposite the law school. There were people tabling out in front of the museum and lots of students going to and from classes, chatting with friends. A large round green grassy space sits between the law school building and the concrete path and museum. The green grassy space is surrounded on three sides by different plants accompanied by descriptions of them and their common and scientific names. “Hi, I’m here,” I look over and see a green leafy bush with small bunches of bright reddish pinkish flowers and make my way over to say hi. I leave the concrete path and onto the green grassy path, “Hello, I’m Rose. How are you?” I ask but I struggle to hear their reply in the midst of all the noise coming from people walking along the gray concrete paths and driving by on the black paved roads. “Red Currant,” their description reads; they attract birds and butterflies. I smile a little, apparently they attract humans too. “It’s hard to hear you,” I tell Red Currant. “Focus,” they reply and so I try harder to drown out the noise and focus. I fix my gaze onto Red Current, noting the tiny ridges on their green leaves and the sunlight embracing the reddish pinkish flowers making them softly glow. Everything begins to quiet down and for a moment spread across space and time, I hear them, “Peace”. I feel my body relaxing and my stresses melt away as I begin to focus on Red Currant’s message, “Peace”. Interning as a Project Manager on the Oregon Water Futures (OWF) and Healers project so far has been focused on building relationships which involves getting to know the different teams and working dynamics, communities OWF works with, attending related workshops, finding new connections, and planning for work involving community engagement activities and events. Connecting my internship work to my graduate program housed in UO’s School of Law, Conflict and Dispute Resolution (CRES), I learned early on in the program the significance of relationships through coursework focused on topics that included: conflict across cultures, negotiations, psychology of conflict, philosophy of conflict, and mediation. Relationships are important. Many CRES courses I’ve taken viewed relationships in conflict from a different lens but a common theme found in these courses is the significance of relationships and the influence it has on conflict progress and outcomes. Positive interactions that account for power dynamics to help create and ensure equality, supported by social and institutional authorities, intergroup cooperation, and group work towards common goals can create favorable conditions when approaching conflicts. Below is a brief discussion and pictures related to my first time facilitating a simulated environmental conflict for my Environmental Conflict Resolution course I am currently taking. I try to incorporate what I learned during my first year in the CRES program, the importance of prep work ahead of time and the significance of building trust and relationships. It wasn’t a perfect simulation but it was good practice and I was able to see areas I need to improve. On Friday 10/22 I volunteered to facilitate an environmental conflict simulation called Cabbage Mountain (CM) where I designed a facilitation process with input from participants which were role played by colleagues and my professor. I appreciated the space and participants for allowing me to practice my facilitation skills for complex environmental conflicts. In thinking through the facilitation process I sought to illustrate my appreciation and initiate a relationship with participants by sending an email to all participants with the same message and attachments. My hope was to open communication and begin to build trust and relationships. I also wanted to learn as much as I could so I can anticipate group needs and mitigate any potential negative interactions. The goal was to facilitate a respectful conversation to work through issues and see if the participants can develop a “shared vision” (common goal) for CM. Participants were invited to add items to the agenda ahead of time and another opportunity to add or change it before facilitation officially began. A survey was offered to all participants to express their concerns and needs in the initial email. I sent out another global email a few days before the facilitation with materials for the planned activities and a draft of a proposed agenda incorporating input from participant responses and another prompt to amend or add to the agenda and inviting questions about the facilitation process and the activities planned. To help create a more welcoming atmosphere and ease any tensions that already existed I offered light refreshments to the participants and inquired ahead of time if anyone had dietary restrictions. Mini goodie bags were assembled which included leaf shaped post-it notes for our Tree Exercise and a heart shaped rose quarts to draw in positive healing energies, express my positive intentions and dedication to the group and to help build unity.
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AuthorRose Poton (she/her) is a compassionate and creative Conflict and Dispute Resolution professional that enjoys working on issues involving the health and well-being of all people and environments while applying a community-centered and environmental justice lens. Archives
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