BIPOC Sustainability Collective: Supporting BIPOC Climate Leaders

Climate change impacts everyone. Coming up with innovative solutions requires a diverse range of input, but most environmentalist spaces lack proper diversity, equity, and inclusion to reckon with the intersectionality of its effects. The BIPOC Sustainability Collective was launched in order to unite and support BIPOC folks who have experienced discrimination in the environmental sector.

We spoke with Rita Steele, Founder of the BIPOC Sustainability Collective, about how this initiative is not only growing but making a real impact both when it comes to DEI and rescuing the planet. 

Tell us about the BIPOC Sustainability Collective’s mission.

Climate change and environmental degradation disproportionately impact people of colour, yet we are underrepresented in the organizations tackling these issues. On the West Coast, many BIPOC sustainability professionals and activists find themselves as the only person of colour in their organizations.

The BIPOC Sustainability Collective is an initiative that aims to foster a capacity-building community for BIPOC professionals and activists to connect and seek peer support while navigating largely White environmentalist spaces on the West Coast. With 170 members and growing, we aim to build a support system, resources, and sense of community among BIPOC working in sustainability, climate action, and environmental conservation. We know that one of the most effective ways to move up in organizations and make meaningful change is to have strong, reciprocal, and supportive networks, especially when it’s not always possible to find allies within the organizations we work in.

What inspired you to start the BIPOC Sustainability Collective?

In 2021, I launched the BIPOC Sustainability Collective in response to my own experiences in a toxic and discriminatory work environment. I created a Facebook group to support other BIPOC sustainability and climate change professionals and activists around Metro Vancouver and invited individuals in my network. Initially, the intention of the collective was to help BIPOC folks to make meaningful and lasting connections with peers and mentors working in the sustainability sector. My hope was that those who were going through experiences of oppression and discrimination while working in climate action and environmental protection could reach out and seek help from a network of supporters.

In 2022, I started forming a relationship with the Vancouver Economic Commission (VEC) because our teams shared similar goals to diversify the sector and support the BIPOC leaders who face barriers within it. Through a budding partnership, VEC offered official support to help scale up the potential of the BIPOC Sustainability Collective in their Zero Emissions Economic Transition Action Plan (ZEETAP).

In November 2022, VEC worked with the Collective to plan our first in-person kick-off panel and dialogue event where we invited 40+ BIPOC sustainability professionals to convene about their experiences in the sector -– bringing the Collective from social media into real life. That event really kicked off the momentum of the Collective and got the network on the map. 

Overnight, the BIPOC Sustainability Collective went from a Facebook group managed by one moderator to a 15-person volunteer-led organization with strong partnerships with multiple organizations, funding opportunities oncoming, and ambitions far beyond what I had initially thought was possible. VEC is now our foremost partnership, and we are building more by the month.

What were some of the challenges you encountered?

The growth of this organization has been very organic and has largely grown through word of mouth. We’ve been fortunate that we’ve mostly been met with overwhelming support. We have had so much volunteer interest that we haven’t had to promote or formally recruit volunteers to join our cause at all.

We are experiencing organizations requesting to partner with us, potential funders asking more about us, and all of our volunteers are here with both a personal stake in and a deep passion for the work. I think this shows that there is such a dire need for a space like this one in Vancouver. I feel very fortunate that the group is able to grow so organically. 

What do you consider the BIPOC Sustainability Collective’s biggest success?

Bringing the BIPOC community together. This network gives us a community, support system, voice, and a platform to achieve our goals, move up through our careers, and forward a collective mission toward justice-centred and people-first climate action. Through our ongoing events, we are fostering opportunities for like-minded BIPOC folks to build relationships amongst each other and seek meaningful support from peers with relatable experiences to forward climate and environmental action.

Through a partnership with VEC, we ran an event in November 2022 called Towards a Just Transition: Building an Inclusive & Climate-just Workforce, which explored the experiences of BIPOC climate professionals in Vancouver and how we can envision a climate-just workforce together.

Additionally, in our first collaboration with Connecting Environmental Professionals, we held the BIPOC Sustainability Collective x CEP Networking & Learning Collaboration Event in February 2023, an event for BIPOC professionals and allies to explore justice, equity, decolonization, diversity, and inclusion (JEDDI) challenges within our sector and how we can collectively contribute to addressing them.

What makes the BIPOC Sustainability Collective unique?

We are the only BIPOC community in the sustainability space within the Metro Vancouver region and throughout British Columbia. Everything we do is about inclusivity and that may also lead to working with allies and partners outside BIPOC communities to forward diversifying the sector.

Our growth strategy is organic and, at its core, we’re really focused on our new organizers’ different capacities and interests in all ways which matter to them. We will be balancing needs we hear from our community with capacities we hear from our team. This is so that the work that goes behind our collective is also sincere and grounded in rest and resilience and accounts for the different needs of our volunteers with various commitments. Our goal will not necessarily be to grow the fastest or the largest but to grow in a strong, stable, and sustainable way.

How do you feel the BIPOC Sustainability Collective makes the world better?

There’s no denying that the link between our BIPOC communities and the climate crisis exists. Marginalized groups and communities have been hit harder, particularly those from lower economic countries, women, people of colour, LGTBQIA2S+, people with disabilities, and immigrants. This coupled with discrimination at work makes for a compelling case to create safe and empowering spaces such as the BIPOC Sustainability Collective to exist and support diversifying the sector and leading our region toward more inclusive, just, and equitable climate action.

How would the climate sector, and the world in general, be better off if it were more diverse, equitable, and inclusive?

In our conversations with BIPOC professionals working in the sustainability sector, we’ve learned about additional barriers faced in forwarding their climate action work including, but not limited to:

• High barriers to entry into the sector (including costs for higher education, internships, restrictive hiring practices, and years of work experience which often require privilege, parental and financial support, and an expectation of Western cultural and work experiences).
• Accessing inclusive networking spaces (with diverse participants, without pressure to code-switch or perform in ways that conform to accepted Western cultural norms).
• Lacking opportunities for advancement/career growth, leadership, and professional development within their organizations, or being pigeonholed/tokenized into DEI roles rather than being permitted to grow into roles they seek.
• Experiencing discrimination, microaggressions, and racism in the workplace (and outside of the workplace) while trying to focus on championing climate action

An organization called Diversity in Sustainability published findings from their survey, “The State of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Sustainability” in 2021. They found that due to many of these barriers, “of all groups [working in the sustainability sector], White or Caucasian practitioners have the longest tenure in sustainability as a profession. Worldviews of dominant groups tend to persist over time.” Meaning, for these folks who do remain in the sector, mainly White and Caucasian practitioners, their worldviews, leadership expertise, and influence also tend to dominate climate change narratives and solution pathways within the sector.

In order to effectively tackle the great challenges of the climate crisis, we must tackle solutions using different approaches, lived experiences, worldviews, and areas of expertise. If our sustainability sector is being limited by a lack of diversity and, therefore, is also lacking diversity in perspectives on climate solutions, we will additionally face the challenge of limited solutions for the future. In this way, diversifying the sustainability sector is critical to solving the climate crisis.

Tell us about the BIPOC Sustainability Collective’s goals.

The BIPOC Sustainability Collective is on its way to forming its first strategic plan. For now, it is guided by its passion to support and connect BIPOC activists and professionals in their work on sustainability, climate action, and environmental conservation.

Overall, we are passionate about diversity in the sector as a whole, safe and inclusive networking spaces, professional development support, advocacy and sector research, resources and career support for BIPOC professionals, getting BIPOC on boards and in leadership positions, mentorship/peer support, and deep collaborations with other networks.

Our short-term goal is to attract talented individuals to join our mission. Our long-term goal is to be a community BIPOC individuals go to in order to feel supported and successful in their sustainability endeavours.

Are there any upcoming initiatives or projects you’d like to share?

We are currently working on building out our email list. If you identify as BIPOC and are working in the sustainability sector in Metro Vancouver, please add yourself to our email list or join the BIPOC Sustainability Collective’s Facebook group to stay updated on future events. At this time, we only have communication/email channels available for those who identify as BIPOC. For allies, partners, and those who are interested in learning more, please contact our founder directly through LinkedIn.

What do you most want people to know about the BIPOC Sustainability Collective?

We’re here and ready to serve and support the BIPOC sustainability community. We’re also committed to diversifying the sustainability sector and making it a safer and more inclusive space for BIPOC folks to champion their climate action, sustainability, and environmental work within.

How can people help or contribute to the BIPOC Sustainability Collective’s mission?

Increase awareness of our events and initiatives in order to reach more BIPOC folks! If you are BIPOC, join our collective! If you are an ally, send our group and work to people in your network, talk about us with colleagues in your workplace, and share the BIPOC Sustainability Collective’s Facebook group link online! Additionally, join our email newsletter.

This story was featured in the Make The World Better Magazine: