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July 2020 - Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, DC

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July 2020 - Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, DC

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At the same protest I referenced above, Senator Warren came out from the Capitol to talk to protestors. She meandered onto the lawn where we were resting in the shade from the DC heat and humidity and asked us why it was important for us to be there that day. Before she was swarmed by well-wishers after her unsuccessful Presidential bid, she chatted with our group about the importance of action during challenging times. Once again, the ability to run into those in power while you are working to make social change is quite the experience in DC.

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I am always walking around the corner with my compost bucket in hand. I used this picture for an activity with my students to discuss our personal efforts to mitigate climate change. What are the small actions that you take every day to make our world greener? This photo is from June 2020 as well.

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I love spending time at my community garden! Located at 13th and Upshur Street, it is around the corner from my house. I walk my compost here weekly and take part in monthly workdays to maintain the space. It is a great way to create an urban green space (decreasing our carbon output!) and meet people who enjoy spending their time similarly. This photo is from June 2020.

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They light up the fall in neighborhoods across the city, drop stinky fruit, and brighten up fall days. These trees are especially common in the Georgetown neighborhood in DC, where a coalition of neighbors band together to pick up the ripe fruits twice a day. They started this coalition after their neighbors asked city officials to remove the trees based on the fruit smell. The community is at work to protect these beauties!

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Barry, M. (2016). DC Students and DC TAG Lack Meaningful College Options. Education Reform Now. https://edreformnow.org/accountability/dc-students-and-dc-tag-lack-meaningful-college-options/

Denchak, M. (2018, December 12). Paris Climate Agreement: Everything You Need to Know.

NRDC. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/paris-climate-agreement-everything-you-need-know#sec-important

“District of Columbia - State Energy Profile Overview”. (2020). U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Retrieved October 28, 2020, from https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=DC

‌Fogel, J.M. Washington, D.C. - Government. (2020). Encyclopedia Britannica.  https://www.britannica.com/place/Washington-DC/Government

Harball, E. (2014). Washington, D.C. Water Utility Adapts to Global Warming. Scientific American. Retrieved October 28, 2020, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/washington-dc-water-utility-adapts-to-global-warming/

Jennings, Rebecca. (2020, June 3). Who are the black squares and cutesy illustrations really for? Instagram can be an organizing tool. On #BlackOutTuesday it became the opposite. https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/6/3/21279336/blackout-tuesday-blacklives-matter-instagram-performative-allyship

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, State of the Climate: Global Climate Report for October 2020, published online November 2020, retrieved on December 3, 2020 from https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/202010

O'Gorek, E. (2020, July 23). Elizabeth O'Gorek. HillRag. https://www.hillrag.com/2020/07/22/dc-has-second-highest-racial-gap-in-student-connectivity-study/.

Wals, A. E. J., & Benavot, A. (2017). Can we meet the sustainability challenges? The role of education and lifelong learning. European Journal of Education, 52(4), 404–413. https://doi-org.reference.sit.edu/10.1111/ejed.12250

Washington DC Facts. (2016). Washington.Org. https://washington.org/dc-information/washington-dc-facts

‌Wildlife in the DC Metro Area. (n.d.). City Wildlife. Retrieved October 28, 2020, from https://citywildlife.org/urban-wildlife/area-wildlife/‌‌

Wimberley, E. T. (2009). Nested Ecology : The Place of Humans in the Ecological Hierarchy. Johns Hopkins University Press.

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9. Specific Examples of Intersectionality of Racial Inequality in DC - Income Inequality

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9. Specific Examples of Intersectionality of Racial Inequality in DC - Income Inequality

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The District has a higher level of income inequality than any state in the country, with households in the top 20 percent of income having 29 times more income than the bottom 20 percent. The bottom fifth of DC households had just two percent of total DC income in 2016, while the top fifth had a staggering 56 percent. DC also has one of the highest poverty rates in the country. At 18.6 percent, it is significantly higher than the national average of 12.7 percent.

Today, nearly one in five District residents live in poverty. This is particularly true for Black DC residents, who are the only racial group to experience an increase in poverty rates since before the recession. In fact, both poverty and income inequality in the District differ greatly along racial lines. The poverty rate for White District residents is 7.9 percent. At 27.9 percent, the poverty rate is nearly four times higher for Black residents. Moreover, Black families earn less than a third of their white counterparts as displayed below (Fogel, 2020).

These statistics are really devastating. It is almost unconscionable that there is this much inequality along racial lines. But that is naive - even if DC is at the higher end of these statistics, it is not uncommon in the United States or around the world at all. Working in international exchange, my students constantly reference the American Dream that is propagated to them on tv, social media, and beyond. Then comes the critical conversations and examination of the so-called American Dream in actuality, as described above. It is incredibly shocking and eye-opening for them, and as devastating as I referenced. I took this photo during the protests in May 2020. The sign sums up how we should all feel about the systemic racism that creates this economic inequality - the fury is justified. The White House looks out behind the sign, a glaring absurdity of the American Dream.

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4. Specific Examples of Intersectionality of Climate Change in DC - Water

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4. Specific Examples of Intersectionality of Climate Change in DC - Water

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One of the most fascinating aspects of climate change to me in Washington is water. I have never lived close to an ocean or in an area that is so close to below sea level. I grew up in Cleveland by Lake Erie, so I am used to large bodies of water determining the weather and bringing lots of snow. While DC does not get snow as Cleveland does, the weather is a huge factor in determining how water and climate change play out in Washington, DC.

During the summer and fall months, I receive a flash flood warning on my phone almost every week. The DC Water system is very forward-thinking among U.S. water utilities, especially with its work toward emissions reduction and energy independence. However, the natural sustainability of the system is at risk, due to the topography of the city. DC Water is noticing shifts in weather patterns that stress its ability to provide water to the city. An increase in intense summer storms resulted in frequent flash flooding in recent years, forcing the city to ramp up its flood response strategy and increase the number of rain gauges it relies on for data to predict the floods (Harball, 2014). The low lying neighborhoods of DC flood frequently throughout the summer. Thankfully my neighborhood is on a higher plateau, but if you are driving on the highway, you can be underwater in mere minutes in your car. Record rainfall in September 2020 left basements flooded and many drivers injured.

Some of the neighborhoods most affected by flooding are neighborhoods that are closest to the waterfront, which can be affluent like Georgetown or the SW Waterfront. The neighborhoods in the SE quadrant of the city, close to the Anacostia River, are low-income neighborhoods with a high concentration of Black residents. When their streets and basements flood, there is no relief from the city and or support to clean up the mess.

My friend sent me this photo from her front porch in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of DC on September 20, 2020 during the rainstorm referenced above. Her caption was "2020 is coming for me" which I think is pretty accurate for how I would feel if floodwaters crept towards my home this year.

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With information, comes power and responsibility to act. We cannot know what we know about the power of harnessing local connections to create change in a community and the world from this course and not do anything! It is so inspiring to learn about the places you all call home, especially during a pandemic when home means more than ever before.

If you are interested in learning more about FFDC and TLC, check out their sites below which also have information on how to donate to support our cause:
Freedom Fighters DC
Total Liberation Collective

There is a great opportunity to tutor young scholars with TLC right now and support them in bridging the gap to digital school in DC.

For more environmentally based volunteering, I have worked with the following organizations several times to support their clean up efforts around the city:
Casey Trees DC
Anacostia Riverkeeper Clean-Up Days

I hope you consider volunteering with or donating to these incredible organizations! Together we can make a huge impact. This picture below is also from the protests in May 2020, where my roommates, a couple of friends, and I spent the day protesting amongst thousands of people in downtown DC. We protest together, volunteer together, and are working to make our house a no-waste home by making conscious choices. Together, we can make the changes we want to see!

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12. What do the SDGs look like on a Global and Local level? 

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12. What do the SDGs look like on a Global and Local level? 

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For my Multi-media Place Journal, I examined the following Sustainable Development Goals in Washington, DC:
(1) No Poverty, (2) Zero Hunger, (3) Good Health and Well-being, (4) Quality Education, (5) Gender Equality (6) Clean Water and Sanitation, (7) Affordable and Clean Energy, (8) Decent Work and Economic Growth, (9) Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, (10) Reducing Inequality, (11) Sustainable Cities and Infrastructure, (12) Responsible Consumption and Production, (13) Climate Action, (15) Life On Land, (16) Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, (17) Partnerships for the Goals

I have thought a lot about the requirement of citizens to act locally and think globally this semester. I studied the importance of creating a local connection with nature and community in Learning in Place and how crucial is it in protecting nature and creating a strong personal ecology. In Theory, Practice and Policy, I learned about environmental education and its role in inculcating students with societal norms that favor environmental sustainability and critical thinking. The Sustainable Development Goals were created with this in mind - to guide the world towards a shared, safe, and equitable future. They are also designed to be applied across nations and locally as well. How do we translate these goals into action on the ground? What does it mean to make sure that they are applied well in unique local contexts? I strived to bridge that gap in each of my posts and contextualize global goals into local meaning.

I took this picture the day after the election in November 2020. I biked down to the Mall and laid in the grass in the sunshine and contemplated what would be next for our country. The blades of grass look taller than the Washington Monument in the background - spurring me to believe that maybe local can be bigger than global and that the two can offer the best of both worlds to the other.

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8. Specific Examples of Intersectionality of Racial Inequality in DC - Education

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8. Specific Examples of Intersectionality of Racial Inequality in DC - Education

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Washington has one of the best-educated workforces in the country. 55% of Washington, DC residents hold a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 30% of the U.S. population (Fogel, 2020). But unlike most students who successfully navigate the system to high school graduation, students in Washington, DC face a challenge unique to the nation’s capital: they have essentially zero “in-state” public college options. All four-year college options are effectively private (Barry, 2016). This results in the students attending colleges or universities outside of DC and paying out of state tuition, which can prohibit them from seeking higher education.

A new study shows that DC has the second-highest gap nationally for high-speed internet access between white students and students. 27 percent of Black students and 25 percent of Latino students in the District are cut off from home internet, compared to just 5 percent of White students (O'Gorek, 2020). This lack of connectivity is reflected in real engagement. In April 2020, the Washington Teacher’s Union surveyed DCPS teachers, asking what percentage of their students were regularly logging in. The results stated that 57.7 percent of teachers said that there were regular log-ins by less than half of the class; 27.7 percent said they saw less than a quarter of their students online.

There are many complex issues facing the education sector today, like overall access and equity for students of color. The lack of statehood and income inequality are unique issues to Washington, DC. The photo below is from November 7, 2020, after Joe Biden was elected as the next President of the United States. Biden ran on a platform of staunch support for public education and our next First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, works at Northern Virginia Community College as an English professor. Biden's platform demonstrates a hopeful transition back to investing in public schooling as a human right, rather than commodifying education. Hopefully, these national policies would extend to DC and support better access to quality education during an international crisis for all students of color.

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5. Specific Examples of Intersectionality of Climate Change in DC - Energy 

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5. Specific Examples of Intersectionality of Climate Change in DC - Energy 

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During the pandemic, my neighborhood has become closer and closer as we spend more time together in our homes, located right next to each other in a neat row. Through this proximity and time together, we have discussed the possibility of sharing solar panels or switching to the renewable energy sources offered by Pepco, the energy service provider in Washington, DC.

The District of Columbia consumes almost 100 times more energy than it produces, but the District consumes less energy than any state except Vermont. In 2019, DC increased its Renewable Portfolio Standard to require that 100% of the city's electricity come from renewable sources by 2032. In 2019, almost half of the electricity generated in DC came from small-scale solar panels located on homes and commercial buildings (District of Columbia - State Energy Profile Overview, 2020).

My neighbors on one side, three men from Kansas who own the home they purchased last year, are planning to switch to renewable energy from Pepco, even though it is more expensive each month. My neighbor on the other side of my house, an elderly Black woman who has lived in the neighborhood for the past 20 years overheard our conversation and stated that with the rising costs of owning a home in DC, she didn't feel that she could financially afford to switch to the renewable energy source, even as much as she wanted to. Stuck in the middle, my roommates and I wondered - where do we fall along this continuum? We are not homeowners, we are middle-class renters who are not from DC. This illustrates not only gentrification on a micro-scale in DC, but also how lack of access to renewable energy sources and green choices disproportionately affects people of color as costs rise.

This is a picture of my roommates and I in front of our house in our DC neighborhood, called Petworth on Halloween. We decorated our porch, built a fire, and watched trick or treaters pick up our candy from a safe social distance on Halloween 2020.

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10. Intersectionality of Climate Change and Racial Inequality 

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10. Intersectionality of Climate Change and Racial Inequality 

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Environmental Justice is defined 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 (Wals & Benavot, 2017). This concept inspired me to further examine climate change from an intersectional perspective in my place of Washington, DC.

My brother said something to me this year that has gone through my head all year. "When you live in a city, you live the headlines day in and day out." I felt that so much this year and it is exactly why I chose environmental sustainability and racial inequality for this assignment. We are living the headlines every day in Washington, DC. The local, national, and international blend as easily as it is to escape the feel of the city in Rock Creek Park - effortlessly. Maybe for that reason, I feel that these two issues take precedence in their unparalleled importance to not only my place in Washington but to our world. People are dying on our streets due to racism and soon, simply put, our children and grandchildren will lose their lives due to climate change.

Yes - we get sucked into the social issues of our time here in DC - but I wouldn't have it any other way. Living sustainably means taking care of your neighbors. It means fighting systemic racism and unlearning so many things I have internalized as a White person. It means protecting nature and talking to other people about the small actions they can take. It means caring about what is going to happen to our planet in 50 years and radically changing our actions today.

The video below is from a protest on July 4th in DC. While many celebrated the independence of the US, we saw it as an opportunity to recognize that so many people are not free in the US, including our environment.

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7. My personal stake in Racial Inequality in DC

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7. My personal stake in Racial Inequality in DC

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“Not knowing where you are, you can lose your soul or your soil, your life or your way home” (Wimberly, 2009, p. 17). Anomie is the condition of losing oneself in society, which I felt very deeply during the past three years in Washington, DC. DC is a city of transplants and I feel that acutely at times. We are all working in national or international fields, always looking, helping, and examining other areas of the globe before our own neighborhoods.

However, during the pandemic and uncovered racial unrest in the city, I have taken a step back and reflected critically on how I can maintain a sense of place, even when I feel far away from the place where I grew up, in Ohio. Becoming deeply involved with two mutual aid collectives, Freedom Fighters DC (FFDC) and The Liberation Collective (TLC) have entirely shifted how I interact and invest with my community in DC.

I became deeply involved in working with Mutual Aid for FFDC and then TLC. I started to volunteer at drop off sites, organizing donations, and dispersing them throughout the communities at our drop off sites and around the neighborhoods. I crowdsourced funding to buy the most needed products that we weren't seeing in donations, like diapers, formula, and PPE. We organized visits to encampments throughout the city to support them when police tried to shut them down to talk to them more about products they need.

Mutual aid is seen as a key tenant of Liberation Theory, which challenges Black people and Allies to dream beyond our current oppressive systems. Mutual aid is not charity, it is parity. It is the community coming together to support each other in ways that the system cannot.

This photo is from Thanksgiving 2020 when a few members of the mutual aid arm of TLC and myself were handing out meals at encampments throughout the city. How can we keep this energy going throughout the year, not just when it is a holiday that makes us ponder what we have and others do not?

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Wimberley’s Nested Ecology expanded my view on ecology in general and how my actions in various layers, realms, and communities affect others and the environment. I consider myself a conscious consumer and try to make all purchases at the local level and in a sustainable way. From my nested position in this ecological matrix, I am purchasing products created or sold by small businesses and try not to order many things from the internet. I rode my bike to work every day and continue to ride it around the city to commute. I buy seasonal produce from farmers' markets and purchase books from my friendly book store around the corner. That being said, there are challenges to living in a big city that does not support a sustainable lifestyle. You are dependent on cars to get out of the city and into nature and locally sourced items need to be brought into the city and therefore cost more money. These products are therefore less accessible to folks who cannot afford them, or who have a high level of socioeconomic need.

Wimberley (2009) summarizes two communitarian principles that call for balance. First, he states that we cannot get rid of economics, but that we can act responsibly. Wendell Berry calls for people to discriminate between economic “wants” and “needs” and to distinguish between “making a living” and “making a profit.” This has always been an important mantra for me – “you can either require more money or you can require fewer things.” I do my best to live a life where I am making a positive impact socially and require few items.

I spend a lot of time in nature in DC and in the surrounding area. I run almost daily in Rock Creek Park, hike in Shenandoah, and camp in Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia.  Due to its proximity to Rock Creek Park, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers, Washington DC is home to a diverse population of animal and plant life. Many of these animals, such as Eastern Gray Squirrels, Blue Jays, and Robins, live here year-round. Others, such as Great Blue Herons, Wood Thrush, and many species of Warblers, are seasonal and migrate during the spring and fall (“Wildlife in the DC Metro Area”, 2020). I love to see the Great Blue Herons in Rock Creek Park during my morning runs and be reminded about the incredible access to nature that we have right here inside of the city.

Below is my favorite spot to run in Rock Creek Park - the horse corral at the top of a big hill. You don't even feel like you are in the city! I took this video during a light sprinkling of rain in July 2020.

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6. Overview of Racial Inequality in Washington, D.C. 

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6. Overview of Racial Inequality in Washington, D.C. 

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The racial context in Washington, DC came to a head this summer. On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year old Black man was killed by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota during an arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill. A police officer crushed George Floyd’s neck with his knee for 8 minutes and 46 seconds until he was asphyxiated (Jennings, 2020). George Floyd’s murder ignited protests across the United States and the world, thrusting the Black Lives Matter (BLM) organization and movement back into the international spotlight. Washington, DC was like many other major cities across the US - encompassed in protests and marches and the corresponding police violence in response to these demonstrations. The national guard was dispersed to keep the peace in the Nation's Capital, firing tear gas at peaceful protestors as Trump walked to take a photo in front of St. John's church.

DC’s population is 48% Black (compared to 13% of the U.S. population) and 11% Hispanic/Latinx (compared to 18% of U.S. population) (Washington DC Facts, 2016). Once known as the Chocolate City, Washington DC’s black population has decreased over the past few decades due to gentrification and income disparity.  At the beginning of the 21st century, Washington remains a somewhat racially and economically divided city. Most white people live in Northwest DC, while Southeast DC mainly consists of the Black population (Fogel, 2020).

Washington, D.C. is often the center for international and national politics, but the murder of George Floyd ignited a local response. There were the more "photo op worthy" responses, like DC Mayor Muriel Bowser's designation of Black Lives Matter Plaza - directly behind the White House. Protests emerged on every street corner. Art decorated every boarded up window across the city. But the community efforts are what absorbed me this summer. Protests are necessary shows of solidarity to demand widespread change, but how do we work every day to create that change while we wait on the bureaucrats?  An outpouring of mutual aid started or received newfound support. The city came alive in a pandemic and broke the hard-working, career-focused transplants out of their bubbles and brought them back into the local community in Washington, DC, and what life actually looks like in Chocolate City.

This is a photo I took at the Capitol on May 27, 2020, during a protest lead by a local organizing group, Freedom Fighters DC. The juxtaposition of local, national, and international in DC never ceases to amaze me.

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2. Overview of Climate Change in Washington, D.C. 

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2. Overview of Climate Change in Washington, D.C. 

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When I think of climate change,  I don't immediately think about Washington, DC. We are not as threatened by the ravages of climate change as other coastal cities in the United States, but that could change very quickly over the next few years of global warming.

The climate change crisis is reaching a devastatingly dire point where human activities are undermining the planet’s capacity to regulate itself. Until the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s, global environmental challenges were not linked to human actions, but rather slow-occurring natural causes, like variations in the sun’s energy or volcanic eruptions. But with the spread of industrial manufacturing, many countries have benefitted from increased trade, economic growth, bigger populations with longer lifespans - and the environment has deteriorated as a result (Wals & Benavot, 2017).

The entire world is feeling the impacts of inching closer and closer to the ecological limits set by Earth's finite natural resources and support systems. In 2019, we experienced the second-warmest year on record. Global warming produces dangerous droughts, heatwaves, floods, wildfires, storms, and hurricanes. The melting of ice caps leads to rising sea levels and coastal erosion. Warmer temperatures impact entire ecosystems, including animal migration patterns and pollination. These changes create water scarcity in drier regions and the potential for failed crops, leading to food insecurity, poverty, and hunger (Denchak, 2018).

The United States plays a unique role as a high-income country and world leader, but one that is not immune to climate change. Climate change has brought on a continued drought and prolonged heatwaves in the western United States, leading to the worst fire season on record in 2020 (NOAA, 2020). In a painfully ironic twist, precipitation rates are steadily increasing in the northern and southeastern regions of the US, causing extreme flooding. Sea levels are predicted to rise by 1-8 feet by 2100.

The city of Washington practices several large-scale environmentally sustainable practices to protect the city and surrounding areas. 70 percent of land in Washington, DC is under the purview of the National Park Service. There are 250,000 acres of parkland in the DC Metro area. In late 2006, City Council passed an initiative making the nation’s capital the first major city to require developers to adhere to guidelines established by the U.S. Green Building Council. The ballpark for the Washington Nationals is the country’s first LEED Silver certified ballpark by the U.S. Green Building Council (Washington DC Facts, 2016).

I took this photo on March 20, 2020, at the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson Memorial. This photo almost feels like it is from another time - at the start of the pandemic, before masking, before everything that would take place in 2020, and even in Washington, DC itself. My personal life shifted drastically this day, as my Grandma passed away later this evening. But in that same way, this photo reminds me of the circle and cycles of life - we never know what will come next, but change is the only constant. The waters behind me know this all too well. The Tidal Basin regularly floods with the tiniest bit of rain, let alone the torrential downpours that plague DC in the summer of fall. I remember skipping over puddles and pedestrians to see the blooms that I love so much.

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1. Overview of Issue Areas in Washington, D.C. 

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1. Overview of Issue Areas in Washington, D.C. 

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Climate Change and Racial Inequality are two prevalent, divergent, and related issues in Washington, DC. To me, Washington, DC is a city of paradoxes. We are the nation's capital, yet we are do not have federal representation in the nation. The Washington Monument towers over the city, as the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers create a low lying river bed, flooding the area by the National Mall when it rains too hard. Some of the most privileged, educated people in the world run our nation and impressive international organizations, while people of color sleep in tents outside their offices. Washington, DC could be a case study of extremes for any social issue that you would like to compare at any given moment. In selecting which issues I wanted to examine from an intersectional lens, I gravitated towards discussing climate change, as it is a passion of mine and something I am learning more about from the point of environmental education in this program. I selected racial inequality because this has been my focus of personal growth over the past few years and my main community engagement this year. I am excited to share more about my journey with these topics in Washington, DC with you all through this journal!

You can follow the arrows or numbers through my posts, or read them in any order that you like. I designed this Padlet, which is like an online bulletin board, to reflect my stream of consciousness and learning on these topics over the last few months so there is a definite order but it does not need to be adhered to strictly to understand the content.

This is a photo I took behind the White House in front of St. John's Church on November 7th, 2020, when Trump lost the presidential election. I like the fact that this person brought a flag from Puerto Rico, demonstrating so many aspects of the United States that I see reflected in Washington, DC: diversity that makes the city and country stronger, a deep history of mistreating people of color, joy and cultural pride and the potential for catastrophic climate change effects.