Engage, Connect, Protect: Empowering Diverse Youth as Environmental Leaders

by Angelou Ezeilo, Nick Chiles

Overview

Building environmental strength through a diversity of youth

While concern about the state of our land, air, and water continues to grow, there is widespread belief that environmental issues are primarily of interest to wealthy white communities. Engage, Connect, Protect explodes this myth, revealing the deep and abiding interest that African American, Latino, and Native American communities – many of whom live in degraded and polluted parts of the country – have in our collective environment.

Part eye-opening critique of the cultural divide in environmentalism, part biography of a leading social entrepreneur, and part practical toolkit for engaging diverse youth, Engage, Connect, Protect covers:

• Why communities of color are largely unrecognized in the environmental movement
• Bridging the cultural divide and activate a new generation of environmental stewards
• A curriculum for engaging diverse youth and young adults through culturally appropriate methods and activities
• A resource guide for connecting mainstream America to organizations working with diverse youth within environmental projects, training, and employment.

Engage, Connect, Protect is a wake-up call for businesses, activists, educators, and policymakers to recognize the work of grassroots activists in diverse communities and create opportunities for engaging with diverse youth as the next generation of environmental stewards.

Angelou Ezeilo is founder and CEO of the Greening Youth Foundation. A 2016 Ashoka Fellow, she is a member of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights' Women in Solidarity Society. She lives in Atlanta, GA and Victoria Island, Nigeria.

Nick Chiles is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author. He lives in Atlanta, GA.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771423076
Publisher:	New Society Publishers
Publication date:	09/17/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	260
Sales rank:	797,058
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	16 Years

About the Author

Angelou Ezeilo is founder and CEO of the Greening Youth Foundation. A leading social entrepreneur, she was a 2016 Ashoka Fellow, is a member of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights’ Women in Solidarity Society and is on the boards of the Atlanta Audubon Society and the South Fork Conservancy. She is also an advisory Board Member for the Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area and Outdoor Afro, and she is on the Steering Committee for the new Children’s Wellbeing Initiative — a network of 22 changemakers working together to promote children’s wellbeing across the country. She splits her time between the city of Atlanta, GA and Victoria Island, Nigeria, with her husband and partner. www.gyfoundation.org

Nick Chiles is one of the nation’s foremost chroniclers of African American life, culture, and celebrity. He is the author or co-author of 14 books, including three New York Times bestsellers he wrote with R&B icon Bobby Brown, civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton, and gospel legend Kirk Franklin. Chiles, a graduate of Yale, served as a newspaper reporter, magazine writer, and magazine and website editor-in-chief during his years in journalism, winning nearly 20 major awards, including a 1992 Pulitzer Prize as part of a New York Newsday team. He is also a college professor of journalism. He lives in Atlanta, GA.

Angelou Ezeilo is founder and CEO of the Greening Youth Foundation. A 2016 Ashoka Fellow. she is a member of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights' Women in Solidarity Society. She lives in Atlanta, GA and Victoria Island, Nigeria.
Nick Chiles is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author. He lives in Atlanta, GA.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The New Paradigm for Environmental Consciousness
Chapter 2: Environmental Jargon Creates Exclusion
Chapter 3: Nature as Healer
Chapter 4: Activating a New Generation
Chapter 5: Careers
Chapter 6: International Pressures
Chapter 7: P3—Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 8: Culturally Relevant Curriculum
Chapter 9: Resources

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Angelou Ezeilo with Nick Chiles offers an accessible guide to respond to the inequities faced by persons of color marginalized by mainstream environmentalism. All of the chapters provide invaluable tools including 'Activating a New Generation.' Readers have practical tools for doing diverse environmental work."
— Rev. Dr. Dianne Glave, author, Rooted in the Earth: Reclaiming the African American Environmental Heritage

"Engage, Connect, Protect challenges hypocrisies and challenges all of us in positions of leadership — from the private, public, and social profit sectors — to get comfortable with looking in the mirror to open doors and create cultures where underrepresented people can be vulnerable, authentic, and can feel...safe. Part memoir, part history lesson, part manifesto, this work highlights the cultural connection to nature that black and brown people have always had, and the need, for the sake of our physical, mental, and spiritual health, for it to be reclaimed."
— Kamilah Martin, Global Youth Educator and Vice President at the Jane Goodall Institute

"As climate change and race dominate the national dialogue in the United States, Angelou Ezeilo's Engage, Connect, Protect is right on time. Ms. Ezeilo artfully articulates the obscured problem of racism in the country's environmental movement and unapologetically sets forth solutions that loom to benefit all of us and the planet."
— Elaine Brown, author, The Condemnation of Little B and A Taste of Power, slated for film production by Robbie Brenner Productions and Netflix, Fall 2019.

"Engage, Connect, Protect is a delightful critique of the pervasive myth that communities of color — namely African American, Latino, and Native American communities — are not as engaged in the fight for environmental justice as their white counterparts. Angelou Ezeilo shows us that people of color, those usually left out of the climate discussion, are working hard to ensure that we preserve this amazing planet of ours. Ezeilo's commitment to engaging and centering youths of color in the fight against climate catastrophe is pivotal to engendering passionate advocates from all walks of life."
— Kibiriti Majuto, student organizer, Virginia Student Power Network

"As one who has been with Angelou since the beginning — she called me from New Jersey to discuss the need she saw for this work in Atlanta — I have observed its perfect evolution and the breathtaking new dimensions it has charted. How proud I am to declare wherever we're speaking, 'If you're looking for young people of color who are ready to take their place in stewardship of our public lands, call Greening Youth!' Congratulations!"
— Audrey Peterman, author, Legacy on the Land: A Black Couple Discovers Our National Inheritance and Tells Why Every American Should Care

"Ezeilo's book is powerful, personal and practical. Speaking truth to power, she engages our hearts while challenging our comfort zones as it relates to race and the environment. She reminds of what's at stake with the only home we all know and what becomes possible if we take risks that challenge the status quo. What's that saying — when you know different, you can do different? Well, read this book and let's get started!'"
— Carolyn Finney, Ph.D. author, Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors