My Journey Toward Zero Waste: BLACKNESS & Decolonization
Marria Evbuoma
Zero waste expert and Board Member of Plastic Free Future
Happy Black History month!
My journey toward zero waste and decolonization have been one and the same. And in this journey, I’m always finding stories lost among history’s narratives and being told forgotten memories about ancestors.
Although urban farming introduced me to home composting and permaculture, it wasn’t until recently that I learned George Washington Carver wasn’t just about peanuts after reading Leah Penniman’s “Farming While Black.” Seeing peanuts along with sweet potatoes as crops that formerly enslaved folks like himself could cultivate, Carver created the first university extensions that taught black farmers organic growing methods and pioneered CSA as a means to healthy and economically thriving black communities. Black history month also offers us the opportunity to explore local Black history, which often provides context for current situations.
While attending an environmental justice summit hosted by Hip Hop for Change last year, I learned for the first time about the legacy of environmental racism in San Francisco. Despite the city’s “bold” Zero Waste goals, climate action initiatives, and car-free advocacy, these plans largely ignore Bayview-Hunters Point. The historically black community disproportionately homes 2/3 of the pollution from freeways, sewage, and power plants in San Francisco. And it’s home to the city’s only EPA Superfund site. Residents and community organizers continue the bring attention glaring issues such as higher infant mortality rates and “cancer clusters” and demand equitable compensation and environmental monitoring. And the fact that this situation continues in one of the wealthiest cities in the world, under the leadership of a black, female mayor underscores the role of decolonization in the fight against climate change and black liberation.
Although social media has made low-waste lifestyles in black communities more visible, there’s still much to learn, unlearn and relearn. As a child, I remember a family member dismissing a neighbor as “country” as he foraged dandelion greens in his yard. Growing up, I knew not to bring homemade food to school for lunch for fear of being called “ghetto” by classmates. Like many other black and African-American families working toward better lives in this country, educational and economic mobility often came at the expense of leaving the “old ways” behind. We are just now understanding that it’s not just the processed food, but the food packaging itself that is causing our people to experience higher rates of “lifestyle” related diseases like Type 2 Diabetes, liver disease, and heart conditions, which can be linked to exposure to PFAs and PFOAs. But so much of our wisdom comes from ancestral knowledge that has somehow survived despite Trans-Atlantic slavery and colonialism. And I am constantly uplifted by seeing more and more black folx on journeys toward healing our bodies, minds, and spirits. Because when we heal ourselves, we can heal others. And when we heal others, we connect with the living being who is Earth.
I’ve experienced this within my friends and family. At gatherings, I would always pick up trash and get lots of stares. Now, friends tell me about how they chose #1 plastic versus #6 plastic cups or how they collected and sorted all the recyclables at parties. When my mom saw my worm bin for the first time, she shared how she remembered how my grandmother would always put egg shells and coffee grounds outside. When I gave my dad (who’s from Nigeria) a homemade herbal tea, he told me that I reminded him of his grandmother and told me how she would tell him stories about people being stolen and taken “the ships”- a thought that still haunts me. And when I wildcraft Yerba Santa or separate the stem from the leaf preparing Collard greens or I press the last bit of tincture from some California poppies, I know these hands come from generations of hands that did just as I do. With my hands, I can undo colonization just as so many others are. My work in zero waste is informed by my blackness and my blackness is informed by decolonized practices. That’s why I proudly work with Plastic Free Future and others who see how inseparable decolonization, blackness, and zero waste are.
