• Mar 3, 2020

How Hip Hop Can Bring Green Issues to Communities of Color

March 3, 2020
Thomas Easley, Yale Environment360

The author, an assistant dean of community and inclusion at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, is also a hip hop artist who performs under the name RaShad Eas. In this essay, drawn from his book, A Better Planet: 40 Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future, the author argues:

The environmental movement has largely failed to connect with people of color and marginalized urban communities. By confronting issues from contaminated water to climate change, hip hop music can help bridge that divide and bring home the realities of environmental injustice.

The article traces the effort to bridge environmentalism of Rev. Lennox Yearwood and a project called People’s Climate Music which released an album in 2014. The article also includes lyrics from the author’s work as well as a link to a short video.

Read the article