An Ecowomanist Analysis of Politicized Environmental Identity Formation and Environmental Activism Among Black Women in the United States

Understanding Environmental Activist Identity and Politicized Environmental Identity

Conceptualizing environmental activism as a collective orientation suggests that the more an individual is connected to others within the environmental movement, the greater their participation in actions that propel the movement forward (i.e., social movement approach; Tindall et al., 2003). In essence, when environmental activism becomes a part of how one sees themself, or their social identity, they are motivated to continue their engagement in environmental efforts. This notion is empirically supported by studies examining the role of environmental activist identity in increased pro-environmental behavior and environmental activism (e.g., Dono et al., 2010). Indeed, across the aforementioned factors that predict pro-environmental behavior or environmental activism, environmental activist identity stands out as strongly associated with both constructs.

However, despite an obvious link between environmental activism and motivations to transform systems to affect environmental change at the collective level, scholarship within environmental psychology has largely depoliticized environmental activism. For example, the current models of environmental activist identity discuss this construct as simply the process of becoming, and the state of identifying as, someone who engages in and supports environmental causes through action. Environmental activist identity development is theorized to include the public declaration of a collective environmental identity, participation in groups that heighten awareness of environmental threats (e.g., joining an environmental organization; MacKay et al., 2021), greater inclination toward collective participation in environment-related activities, and collective identification to nature (Clayton, 2003; Schmitt et al., 2019). However, these definitions can exclude some individuals who develop an environmental activist identity when they gain awareness of the ways that multiple intersecting systems of oppression contribute to environmental injustice. For example, racially and economically marginalized communities often have lived experience of environmental racism, which is defined as the disproportionate exposure of communities of color to environmental hazards and the systematic exclusion of those communities from environmental decision-making processes (Bullard, 1996). Their lived experience readily demonstrates the ways in which racial capitalism lends itself to the oppression of both people and the planet (Morales, 2019). Indeed, the construct of politicized environmental identity may be most appropriate in naming the processes of environmental identity development through which individuals from historically marginalized communities undergo.

Politicized environmental identity is disparate from general environmental activist identity in that it encompasses a deeper connection, involving seeing oneself as part of a collective struggle against systemic or structural environmental harm (e.g., environmental racism), and then becoming a person that acts against that harm through activism or association with a specific environmental organization (Horwitz, 1996; Schmitt et al., 2019). In psychological terms, politicized environmental identity can be understood as an extension of social identity processes (Tajfel & Turner, 1986) and critical consciousness development (Freire, 2000), wherein marginalized individuals reinterpret environmental degradation not as neutral, but as embedded in systems of oppression that also shape their lived experiences of race, gender, and class. Though the development of an environmental activist identity may prompt an individual to take action in favor of environmental causes (e.g., recycling), the development of politicized environmental identity occurs when individuals and communities acknowledge and resist structures of power that create or facilitate environmental harm (e.g., boycotting capitalist institutions that prioritize profit over planetary care).

Given the power analysis inherent to a politicized environmental identity, it is unsurprising that politicized environmental identity is more strongly associated with environmental activism than environmental activist identity. Specifically, compared to environmental activist identity, politicized environmental identity more strongly predicted environmental activist intentions and behavior, especially activist efforts aimed at collective resistance against oppressive forces (Dono et al., 2010; Fielding et al., 2008; MacKay et al., 2021). These findings suggest that individuals’ politicized and systemic understanding of environmental issues is a critical motivator for environmental activist behavior. For individuals with historically marginalized identities, the development of politicized environmental identity is likely a natural process of resisting the forms of structural oppression (e.g., environmental racism) that lead to the overburdening of environmental harm in vulnerable communities and/or the lack of legislative policies that protect such communities against environmental harm.

For Black women specifically, the development of a politicized environmental identity may mirror identity development models that conceptualize Black women's process of understanding, experiencing, and naming themselves as gendered and racialized beings in societies where Black women are subjugated. Specifically, Williams and Lewi’s (2021) framework explicitly captured the process by which Black women become hyperaware of their subjugated social position, engage in critical consciousness to both explore and create meaning from socialization messages they receive, develop their own sense of Black womanhood by rejecting stereotypes, and then navigate various environments by using strategies that allow them to protect and uphold their self-defined identity. Within this framework, the catalyst to naming oneself as a Black woman (i.e., identifying as such) is an awareness of their social position as inherently politicized through the lens of intersecting systems of oppression (e.g., racism, sexism) and the impact of such oppression on the ways in which they relate to themselves and their social environment. This model may also apply to the process of politicized environmental identity development. Namely, Black women's environmental experiences may reveal the ways in which their relationship with nature and the built environment is politicized, as well as how Black women define their engagement with the environment outside of stereotyped narratives and navigate environmental spaces after defining themselves as activists.

Politicized Environmental Identity Through an Ecowomanist Lens

Despite environmental scholars’ understanding of the critical role of politicized environmental identity in facilitating environmental activism intentions and behavior, a dearth of research has explored how politicized environmental identity may develop and unfold differently for individuals and communities whose identities are systemically marginalized and politicized in the sociopolitical landscape. Ecowomanism, an epistemological framework, is conceptualized as critical reflection and action taken to affect environmental justice from the lens of Black womanhood (Harris, 2016). It is also a framework to understand the psychological and spiritual connections between earth and people (Harris, 2016). Accordingly, ecowomanism provides a critical lens by which to understand the development of a politicized environmental identity, particularly among Black women.

Through an ecowomanist lens, Black women's understandings of themselves as engaged in a collective struggle to protect the environment is inextricably linked to the struggle to resist domination by all oppressive structures (i.e., patriarchy, racism, capitalism, heterosexism, ableism, etc.). In other words, Black women recognize that the systems of domination that underlie their own subjugation parallel the systems of domination that lead to degradation and destruction of the earth. Ecowomanist theory posits that the development of an activist identity, and subsequent resistance to the individual and collective consequences of inequitable environmental harm (e.g., environmental racism), is part of Black women's resistance to oppression and engagement in activism to ensure their dignity and survival (Harris, 2016).

Black women hold a robust legacy of leading and sustaining environmental movements across the globe, alongside other women and nonbinary people of color (Thomas, 2022). And yet, their labor and love for people and planet are often concealed and diluted by mainstream environmental organizations (Harris, 2016; Kohl, 2021). For example, despite their critical leadership within grassroots environmental organizations, and the fact that their resistance efforts have led to significant environmental protections across the globe (Shodiya-Zeumault et al., 2025), Black women are systematically silenced from global conversations about climate change and environmentalism and routinely depicted as apathetic and unconcerned with environmental issues (Thomas, 2022).

In parallel, Black women are also excluded from theoretical and empirical examinations of factors that contribute to and promote engagement in environmental activism within academic studies of environmentalism (i.e., engagement in collective action to support and protect the environment; Lubell, 2002; Stern et al., 1995). For example, some studies have demonstrated the roles of spiritual and psychological connections to nature, participation in environment-related activities, and activist identity in predicting environmental activism (e.g., MacKay et al., 2021; Schmitt et al., 2019). However, Black women have either been excluded from study samples or their nuanced experiences with environmental issues are subsumed alongside those with dominant or privileged identities, reflecting systemic exclusion in environmental research (Shodiya-Zeumault, 2025). For example, a seminal multi-study article examining the predictive roles of identification with nature and politicized environmental identity in environmental activism included only 26 Black/African Americans (4.6%) and one Indigenous (.18%) individual out of the 565 participants across three studies (Schmitt et al., 2019). Given that Black and Indigenous people are most likely to experience the detrimental health consequences of environmental degradation and climate change, and have historically upheld environmental movements through their activism, their exclusion from environmental activist theory is unacceptable (Bravo et al., 2016; Mikati et al., 2018). Most importantly, their exclusion leads to an incomplete and hegemonic understanding of the ways in which various factors promote and sustain pro-environmental behavior and environmental activism, both of which are necessary to mitigate environmental harm. From a psychological standpoint, the exclusion of Black women from environmental identity research may reproduce invisibility (Franklin & Boyd-Franklin, 2000) and limit the field's ability to generate interventions grounded in the lived experiences of those most affected. This gap reflects not only a methodological oversight, but also a form of epistemic exclusion with consequences for psychological theory-building.

Current Study

Psychology frameworks highlight that identity construction under conditions of marginalization involves both the internalization of systemic oppression and the active rejection of dominant stereotypes, processes that in turn motivate collective action (French et al., 2020; Williams & Lewis, 2021). By extending these psychological theories to the context of environmental activism, the present study examined how identity development operates as both an intrapersonal process of self-definition and an interpersonal process that sustains collective resistance. Centered in ecowomanist theory, the present study explored the development of politicized environmental identity among Black women. Specifically, this work centered the lived experiences and resistance efforts of Black women engaged in environmental activism to understand the nuanced ways that politicized environmental identification influences environmental action. We sought to make an important contribution by including the histories and experiences of a key social group in the fight for climate and environmental justice, and expand current scholarship in both environmental and feminist psychology. Our inquiry was guided by the following research questions:

How is environmental activist identity constructed and understood by Black women environmental activists?

Theoretical and Methodological Frameworks

Given the invisibility of Black women's politicized environmental identity development and engagement in environmental activism within current psychological literature, the authors selected a phenomenological study design to capture the nuanced lived experiences of Black women in these contexts (Moustakas, 1994). Regarding our approach to ethical and liberation-focused research, we assert that centering the experiences of Black women in the conceptualization and choice of theoretical framework is critical. Further, because the theoretical and epistemological assumptions that underlie research questions play a central role in the analysis and interpretation of participant narratives, we grounded this work in ecowomanist and Black feminist theories that assume Black women's lived experiences and inherent wisdom are valid sources of knowledge (Collins, 2000). Namely, ecowomanism is complementary to Black feminism in its theoretical approach because both theories validate Black women's production of knowledge as stemming from their lived experience and that of their ancestors, and assumes Black women's position as the experts of their own narratives, experiences, and constructions of meaning from those experiences (Collins, 2000; Harris, 2016). Further, elements of nature are seen as bearers of ancestral and spiritual wisdom among Black women in both ecowomanism and Black feminism, which supports their theoretical alliance.

As such, ecowomanism and Black feminism serve not only as the theoretical guideposts of the research questions, but also inform the methodologies chosen for coding, analyzing, and interpreting the data. Compatible with this choice, we selected interpretative phenomenological analysis as the analytic strategy because of its shared assumptions regarding the construction of knowledge through lived experience. Interpretative phenomenological analysis is commonly used in phenomenological research because it allows researchers to understand how individuals both perceive and make meaning out of their personal and social experiences. Consistent with ecowomanism and Black feminism, it also presupposes that individuals are active agents in the construction of their inner and social worlds (Smith & Osborn, 2003).

Recruitment

The central goal of interpretative phenomenological analysis is to elicit a deep and thorough analysis and interpretation of participants’ individual experiences by identifying patterns within narratives (Tindall et al., 2009). With the use of interpretative phenomenological analysis, rich and meaningful data can be achieved by keeping sample sizes small and homogenous (Smith et al., 2009). For this study, participants needed to be 18 years of age or older; self-identify as a woman of African descent, inclusive of trans women, ciswoman, and femmes; and possess fluency in English. Given the complex gendered racial dynamics that lead to Black women's fluidity with regard to how they discuss their gender identity (for example, identifying as a “woman” or “femme” due to lived experience in concordance with Black women's political and social realities, while identifying as nonbinary or gender expansive in other contexts), we made the decision to use the language of “Black women” while being explicit about our inclusion of transwomen and nonbinary individuals perceived as women.

Participants were also required to be engaged in paid (e.g., employed at an environmental agency or other organization doing environment-related work) or unpaid (e.g., volunteer work) service addressing an environmental issue. Participants’ environmental action had to occur within an identified environmental justice community with at least one predominantly Black neighborhood affected by its proximity to environmental hazards (e.g., Oakland, California). Environmental justice communities are neighborhoods or zones that have been identified as “overburdened communities” with regard to the number or degree of environmental hazards and subsequent health risks compared to the residential areas inhabited by the overall population (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2017). This requirement was verified by requesting the zip code of participants’ home address and comparing it to current maps of environmental justice communities in the participants’ respective states of residence. Finally, we determined that participants needed to live within 15 miles of their activist work, to recruit women whose current lived experiences are impacted by their activism and community engagement, and to facilitate homogeneity in the sample regarding the sense of felt responsibility to the community.

To reach a purposeful sample of participants (Morrow, 2005), we sent emails to professional and personal networks and environmental organizations, posted recruitment flyers on Twitter and Instagram, and utilized snowball sampling methods. Of note, environmental justice organizations from which we recruited were located primarily in Georgia and California because of the first author's connection to community organizers in these states. Where snowball sampling was used, we provided potential respondents with the research team's contact information to indicate interest in participation. Ultimately, the first author connected with eight potential participants, but only six participants responded to requests to complete the informed consent process. Of the six final participants, four responded directly to advertisements sent to environmental justice organizations and personal/professional networks, and two were identified through snowball sampling.

Interviews and Participants

This study received IRB approval at Georgia State University under the title, “Black Women's Resistance to Environmental Racism.” The first author conducted six 90-min interviews via Zoom with the identified environmental activists, using a semi-structured interview protocol (see Appendix A in Supplementary Materials). We consulted two Black women environmental activists to develop the interview protocol to ensure that the questions were grounded in the unique experiences of Black women environmentalists and to prioritize community engagement in the research process. These two women were not engaged in the research process and thus their responses were not included in the data analysis (Mosley et al., 2021). Participants, identified here using aliases, ranged in age from 26 to 32 years and reported varying ethnic identities (e.g., African American, Nigerian). Each participant was asked to self-identify by answering the following prompt, “How would you describe your identity?” and their responses to this demographic question are listed in Table 1. Of note, the third research question and its corresponding interview questions (see Supplemental Materials) were not pertinent to this present study, and thus the findings and conclusions are not discussed here.

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Table 1.

Participant Demographics.

Alias and Location	Age	Ethnic Identification; Self-Identification	Communities Served	Resistance Efforts
Temi; Salem, OR	26	“British-Nigerian, Female, Queer, Activist, Land use planner, artist”	Salem, OR and Metro Atlanta, GA	Works as a land use planner. Volunteers as a community organizer, tackling environmental and racial justice issues in both Oregon and in Georgia.
Aja; Oakland, CA	27	African American “woman”	East Oakland and Richmond, CA	Works at a local environmental agency doing community organizing around environmental racism, as well as city planning, land use planning, and policy work
Ayo; Atlanta, GA	27	Nigerian	Metro Atlanta, GA	Community organizing around environmental issues through a local grassroots organization founded by four Black women, including herself
Carolyn; Atlanta, GA	29	African American	Metro Atlanta, All of GA	Community organizing and policy. Works for a larger organization committed to environmental activism through policy and community organizing (racial disparities in environmental exposure and health burdens).
Leah; Oakland, CA	32	African American	East Palo Alto and San Francisco, CA; Honolulu, HI	Climate equity and policy. Serves the communities of East Oakland and Richmond through her work at a local environmental agency (community organizing, city and land use planning, and environmental policy).
Toya; Long Beach, CA	31	African American “Black cisgender queer woman”	Long Beach through East Los Angeles (along 710 corridor), CA	Works in the areas of community organizing and policy, serving communities along the 710-freeway corridor that span from Long Beach to East Los Angeles.

Researcher Reflexivity

With regard to social position, at the time of interviewing, the first author identified as a cisgender Black American and Nigerian woman in a psychology doctoral program. She was also engaged in community organizing around environmental racism in her city of residence and the surrounding areas. Given that her identities and engagement in community work are characteristics shared with the activists engaged in the study, it is likely that her experiences and values influenced the research process. Specifically, her influence was likely most prominent on the interview schedule and the analytic strategy, as well as the derivation of meaning and connections both within and between the participants’ narratives. During both the interview and coding processes, the first author filtered the participants’ experiences and stories through the subjectivity created by her own experiences as a person with multiple marginalized identities, a Black woman whose family has experienced the consequences of environmental racism, and a Black woman with previous and current engagement in spaces of environmental activism.

As such, because the first author conducted all interviews, in addition to coding and analyzing subsequent data, the first author used critical self-reflexivity throughout the research process to maintain awareness of the ways that her social positions could result in distorted interpretations of the data (Probst & Berenson, 2013). Critical self-reflexivity creates the space for researchers to acknowledge their positionality and motivations as having propensity to influence all stages of the research process, and as such, facilitates both reflection and measurement of subjectivity regarding interactions with participants (Primeau, 2003). To both acknowledge and reduce undue influence, the first author attempted to buffer the ways in which her perspective could overshadow the narratives and voices of the participants through several strategies. First, she began each interview by discussing the purpose of the study with the participants, and by emphasizing the participants’ expertise in their own experiences as Black women, as members of their communities, and as resistors to environmental racism in their unique social and geographic contexts. She also engaged in journaling exercises throughout the research process, in which she responded to specific prompts that facilitated the explicit naming of held biases and assumptions (Ortlipp, 2008). Finally, she participated in reflexivity interviews at multiple points throughout the research process (i.e., prior to conducting interviews, after three interviews were conducted, prior to coding and interpretation of data) to elucidate biases, preconceptions, and expectations of which she was not acutely aware.

A health disparities researcher not connected to this study, who identifies as a cisgender Latina woman, facilitated each reflexivity interview. She also video-recorded each interview and took notes related to biases that emerged, as well as similarities and differences that the first author noted between herself and the participants. The external interviewer facilitated a deeper investigation of the first author's biases and investigations by asking specific questions to illuminate any areas reflective of a lack of self-awareness. Throughout the interviews, the first author reflected on both emotional stress and physical health difficulties that her family suffered as a result of living in close proximity to environmental toxins (i.e., factories built within residential communities that produce smokestacks of noxious gas), as well as preconceptions and expectations of participants’ narratives that arose as a result of her own experiences. She also reflected on her own resistance to environmental degradation in the communities in which she has lived and used these reflections to deepen her awareness of biases and subjectivities to reduce the degree to which these were layered onto the participants’ narratives during the processes of listening, coding, and analyzing. Prompts used in both journaling exercises and reflexivity interviews are listed in Appendix B in the Supplemental Material.

It is worth noting that the researchers also practiced epistemological reflexivity to understand the ways in which their lived experience and assumptions influenced the derivation of hypotheses (Olmos-Vega et al., 2022). This included questioning each other about how we obtain knowledge and wisdom and what we believe with regard to who can participate in the production of knowledge. As such, we believe it is important to share the assumptions and hypotheses we discussed prior to data collection. Though this study is exploratory and phenomenological, we hypothesized the development of politicized environmental identity as part of a larger process of critical consciousness (i.e., critical reflection on one's sociopolitical position in society and subsequent action taken to resist oppression; Freire, 2000). Additionally, we anticipated that politicized environmental identity in Black women primarily develops from their understanding of their political and emotional connection to the earth and an acknowledgment of parallel oppressions rather than the product of joining a politicized environmental organization. These hypotheses are grounded in both ecowomanist and Black feminist thought that acknowledges Black women's activism as a response to their personal, familial, and community-level needs that stem from structural racism and gender oppression (Collins, 2000; Harris, 2016). These needs spark a sense of responsibility to family and community that makes critical action the next logical step in protecting their loved ones. From this lens, seeing the earth as a part of family and community compels an activist response.

Research Methodology and Data Analysis

Following interpretative phenomenological analysis guidelines by Smith and Osborn (2003), the first author transcribed and coded all interviews to gain a thorough understanding of the data. Though interpretative phenomenological analysis does not specify a minimum number of coders, the approach's emphasis on the researcher attaining a high level of intimacy with the data suggests the appropriateness of the primary researcher acting as sole coder. As such, and with regard to the coding process, the first author openly coded the first transcript, using the left margin to comment on language, similarities, and discrepancies in each participant's narrative. She then grouped initial notes into experiential statements (previously termed “emergent themes”; Smith et al., 2022). Similar statements were then clustered into broader personal experiential statements to yield a final list of personal experiential statements. Of note, the updated terminology in interpretative phenomenological analysis with regard to experiential statements more accurately reflects the analytic focus on participants’ direct lived experiences. The remaining five transcripts were then coded based on the personal experiential statements that emerged from the first transcript and were condensed into group experiential statements, integrating congruent themes while allowing for novel themes to emerge. After coding all transcripts, the first author compared the group experiential statements against specific quotes from the interviewees. She then compared them across participant narratives until the group experiential statements were distinct and completely representative of the text within all transcripts. This process ensured that any additional review of the text did not lead to new insights or understandings about the data.

Consistent with feminist research practices (Jorgenson, 2011), the first author sent the final list of group experiential statements to the interview participants alongside their individual interview transcripts and personal experiential statements to ensure their agreement with the interpretation of the data and create a final opportunity for feedback via a brief Zoom meeting (i.e., member-checking). Participants’ feedback during this process took precedence with regard to the interpretation of data. Though the member-checking process is not prescribed in the interpretative phenomenological analysis process (Smith & Osborn, 2003), returning the final themes to the participants is consistent with the researchers’ values for community-engaged research as well as the Black feminist principles of honoring the embodied knowledge and lived experiences of all individuals as critical knowledge (Collins, 2009; Lindsay-Dennis, 2015). All participants agreed with the themes derived from the interviews and as such, no changes were made after the member-checking process. To honor the sharing of their stories and their time, each interviewee was compensated $50 for the initial interview and an additional $25 after completing the member-checking process.

Gendered Racial Socialization and Critical Consciousness

Discussed by all six participants, gendered racial socialization refers to the foundational experiences through which participants were socialized into understanding their racialized and gendered identities. This experiential statement also includes how these activists began developing critical awareness of systemic oppression. Here, participants encompassed the lessons, observations, and interactions in childhood and adolescence that introduced them to both pride in Black womanhood and the inequities of structural racism, particularly as they appeared in their local environments and neighborhoods. Importantly, this experiential statement captures the ongoing process of learning about one's identity as a Black woman and unlearning internalized racism, misogynoir (i.e., anti-Black racist misogyny unique to Black women's experiences; Bailey & Trudy, 2018), and other forms of oppression (Chisholm & Greene, 2008; Freire, 2000). This statement also refers to the process of critically analyzing the impact of colonization and gendered racism on one's life experiences, the experiences of their community members, and their resistance to environmental injustice (Freire, 2000; Williams & Lewis, 2021). For example, Leah shared the moments when she realized that actively acknowledging and confronting the ways that White supremacy culture forced her to shrink herself was detrimental to her existence as a Black woman and her role as an environmental activist.

And I’m a Black woman, I’m soft spoken, I can be timid, you know. I embody the impact of White supremacy culture on a Black woman I feel in a lot of ways … And so, the thing that hurts is that part of what—White supremacy works when you don’t have that awareness and when you don’t like, when you let it do those things to you. When you don’t speak up, when you see something weird and you don’t say something. These are all the things—not feeling like I can take up space. And the things that I kind of see in hindsight that I was taught to do, are the reasons why I would not be able to do my job well and like, do what I love well. So … I feel like it's my job to know myself so that the things that have happened to me, I’ve seen for myself and felt for myself, they don’t happen to other people if I have something to do with it. (Leah)

The participants’ processes of gendered racial socialization began in childhood through discussions with their parents and attendance at community events that celebrated both their Blackness and their womanhood. Participants discussed how they learned to critically analyze social structures, identify inequity, and systems of oppression as they constructed meaning around their identities as Black women (Freire, 2000). Several noted inextricable connections between their understanding of themselves, their social position, and their observations of environmental degradation in their residential communities. For example, Ayo reflected on her first moments of recognizing significant differences in the built environment of Atlanta's predominantly White neighborhoods and her own, where she was surrounded by other people of color.

I would say I’ve seen it like in my community—I never realized until I was in middle school that there was a White side of Powder Springs. And I noticed that the neighborhoods were a lot—like Powder Springs as a whole people, we think of it, they think it's like a White neighborhood, like very White like Cobb. But I noticed there's a difference in the quality of even the streets, there's a difference in walkability, just the quality of things when you go from one side that's like more people of color to another side that's more White.

Ayo connected racial segregation to environmental degradation, stating as soon as she noticed the racial segregation within her town, she also began to make distinctions between the quality of the neighborhoods and observe structural inequities fueled by racial capitalism.

Though participants remembered “noticing” as children, adolescence and young adulthood also created opportunities for them to see environmental issues through the lenses of colonization and systemic racism. These critical analyses developed as they experienced racist and sexist discrimination, as well as through knowledge about systemic oppression that they gained in both academic and organizing spaces. For example, Toya initially joined an environmental group after expressing interest in environmental issues to a friend. Their participation in that group illuminated the ways in which Black women are excluded from environmental justice work, particularly when they begin to advocate for racial and gender justice along environmental improvements.

Early on in my work just, I would oftentimes find myself being the only Black woman speaking from a policy perspective that centers environmental justice. So, it was a big challenge at the beginning. I don’t, I don’t think about it too much now, just because I’ve been doing this for so long. I’m just like, I’m going to be wherever I need to be and that's just what it is at this point, but yeah, it definitely was, was an eye opener … And we are excluded from the decisions of land use that, you know, result in these facilities being in our communities, can’t move them out of our communities, organizing around that, decisions with our legislators, our elected officials, you know, especially in regards to organizations that are larger, big greens and have a lot of influence, have a lot of political power, but not necessarily always being responsive or aligned to frontline communities that are directly impacted by, you know, some of the issues that they’re working on.

Several participants also indicated that as a result of critically analyzing their environment, they came to realize that identifying as a Black woman made their choice to take action against environmental racism feel urgent. For example, Ayo noted, “from what I’ve seen, environmentalism looks trendy for White people … but then for people of color, it's survival.”

As such, the participants experienced hyperawareness of the ways in which their experience of the built environment, as well as their participation in organizations meant to improve the environment, was shaped by others’ gendered racial expectations of them and associated attempts at subjugation. Consistent with critical consciousness, their reflection was both facilitative of and deepened by subsequent action to work toward social change.

Black Womanhood as a Political Lens

This process captures how participants came to interpret their Black womanhood as inherently political. For several participants, the experience of marginalization and health disparities—both as Black women in general and as Black girls and women with interests in environmentalism—propelled them to recognize the gaps between mainstream environmentalism and the environmental needs of marginalized communities.

I know people who have cancer because of where they grew up, asthma—people who grew up heating their homes [with the stove], because of the energy waste and like inability to afford heat. And, and, yeah, we—the people that I work with are from communities suffering from pollution all over California. Air pollution and it's really like safety issues of, you know, not being able to have a warm home, or not being able to like walk down the sidewalk because the infrastructure is so poor and underinvested in. (Leah)

Where others in their work and academic spaces struggled to identify racist practices within environmental policy, city planning, and other environmental spaces, the participants’ experiences as individuals with multiple marginalized identities primed them to see subjugation and exploitation clearly and to carve out unique and inclusive solutions to environmental problems.

… There's a disparate impact between how laws are enforced in certain communities, and I'm thinking about when there was a gas plant that had a leak here, and it is in a predominantly wealthier, Whiter community. There was a major response from the regional and state government. But at the same time, communities in our poor area experienced being exposed to lead emissions, and this has been going on for decades, and the impacts of it had just recently been exposed, but the response has not been the same from the government. We’ve had to fight a lot just to get recognition that there is an issue, to get the site cleaned up, to hold the company accountable. So that there's, yeah there's just different examples of, you know, when working class communities of color are experiencing a really heavy pollution burden then, you know, decision makers and the regulators that are kind of responsible move a lot slower to respond and address the issues and the impacts that we're experiencing. And yeah, we know concretely that these toxic facilities, these polluting sources are concentrated in our communities, right? There's no railyards in Beverly Hills or Ranchos Palos Verdes, or you know, other wealthy communities that use a lot of resources they consume a lot of things, but the infrastructure that services our broader society, whether that's refineries and pipelines and trucks and you know our ports here—you know, wealthier communities are not in those areas, right. Our poor communities have to bear all of that infrastructure that serve society. And there's health impacts that come with that. (Toya)

Black womanhood functions here as a lens through which systemic oppression (e.g., racism, capitalism) and environmental injustice are understood. Thus, their politicized identities as Black women lend to politicized environmental work because of their connection to overlapping systems of oppression and the ways in which they are perceived in environmental spaces.

Building on early socialization, participants described coming to understand Black womanhood itself as inherently political. Their marginalized identities primed them to see gaps in mainstream environmentalism and to resist exclusion in academic, professional, and activist spaces. This stage reflects the interpretive lens through which participants connected personal identity to systemic environmental harm, resonating with frameworks of gendered racial identity development (Williams & Lewis, 2021). For example, when discussing her experience looking for work in the environmental sector, Leah shared how despite her overqualification, stereotypes related to Black women's disinterest and incompetency in environmental spaces left her without work for months.

And I moved from DC to the Bay as a full-ass lawyer and had to—like I took internships, I had to constantly prove myself. And I was very undervalued. And I struggled, I lived in so many different places, I didn’t have stability because I wanted to be a part of and do environmental work.

Being “taken seriously” or conforming to dominant White culture in environmental spaces was noted numerous times by several other participants as they discussed ways in which their knowledge and commitment to environmental activism is often challenged by White peers and colleagues. Others noted that the seeming invisibility of people of color in prominent environmental activist spaces initially made it difficult for them to see themselves in environmental careers. Exposure to mainstream environmentalist spaces during childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood (e.g., National Geographic, Greenpeace, National Audubon Society, etc.) caused these participants to question the possibility of existing and defining themselves as Black women environmental activists, as these spaces are most often dominated by White cisgender men and women.

Politicized Environmental Activist Identity Formation

Finally, the participants’ described an ongoing process of naming themselves as Black women environmental activists, weaving together early socialization and political lenses, and sustaining this identity through reflection, healing, and boundary setting. As children, participants reflected on being drawn to both nature and stewardship of people and the earth in ways that their peers did not. Several participants shared a sense of feeling as though others did not expect this curiosity and care for the natural world from them, particularly as Black girl children. Because they were made to feel “different,” these moments helped them to dream beyond prescribed roles for Black girls and women and served as catalysts to their future identification as environmentalists.

So, when I was a kid, I was very interested in like recycling, and I would always like cut the, you know, the soda can things. Yeah. And I just thought it was very important, and make sure you don't harm the fish, and when I would go to the beach, I would be like looking for it, or outside I would be looking for trash. Laughs. So, there's just something there, which is so random. They would talk about me and be asking, like, “Why is she out there? Like what is she doing?” (Leah)

These experiences reflect how early connections to nature and stewardship shaped participants’ evolving identities as Black women environmental activists.

Each of the participants also asserted that the formation of their activist identities was inextricably connected to their understandings of themselves as Black women, as individuals on the margins of society and outside of the bounds of societal expectations of them as Black girls and women (e.g., involvement and preoccupation with environmentalist concerns). This connection between being both a Black woman and being a Black steward of land and environment facilitated both politicalization and radicalization of their identities and their choices to engage in environmental activism. For example, Aja shared a sense of understanding that her identity as a Black woman meant advocating for justice in any arena. She shared, “we do the work, regardless of what hats we’re wearing.” Reflecting on whether racial, gender, and economic privilege would shield her from the consequences of environmental degradation, she shared,

Because, like, I don't like I feel like people that live in nice areas they know what's going on but because it's not impacting them right there. Like, they don't live in factory towns or they don't live near sewage plants, or they don't have issues with like food shortages, they don't live where you know water might not be the best quality. I feel like they're aware that it's happening but it's like an “over there” problem. And it's like, yeah, I'll just donate to whatever charity or I'll just switch to silicone straws for the whales. But they don't really understand that, you know, it's not just a scientific issue but it's like a social issue. I feel like if I wasn't Black, I wouldn't be thinking about it as a today issue, and as a social issue, I'll be thinking about it as like, you know, National Geographic specials coming on and I'm just going to donate to the organization and I'll feel good about myself.

Fundamental questions about suffering within marginalized communities also served as catalysts for both identification as environmental activists and deep engagement with other environmental activists pursuing environmental justice as a means of racial and social justice. For the participants, resistance to environmental degradation in their communities also initiated a new process of becoming—becoming not just an environmental activist, but a Black woman environmental activist pursuing justice for Black people in ways that were not being done by mainstream and White-led environmental groups. Connecting their love for the natural world with mainstream environmentalism's failure to tend to issues of intersectional environmental racism, Temi noted:

And like, going through undergrad, that looked like wanting to be a conservation biologist type person and like, like more of a natural scientist and like being out in the field. And then I had some experience doing that. And then I realized that one, like my social skills were suffering. Like I was just a super shy, introverted person and like, I don’t think it's going to help me develop professionally if the only person I’m talking to is these plants or these test tubes. You know, I was kind of stuck in the lab and it wasn’t, I just feel like I had the potential to do more and be impacting people and I think I realized that like maybe the issue isn’t just the lack of research, but that it's not being communicated to policymakers or like there just seems to be this gap in the research that's happening. Because we know the planet is burning, we know these communities are being disproportionately impacted, but our policies aren’t really addressing that effectively. And so that's when I was like, I’m going to have this social sciences policy element to my environmental work.

Five of the six participants shared that this process of becoming a Black woman environmental activist required, and continues to require self-reflection, self-awareness, and movement toward healing from internalized oppression. Each participant described their resistance work as deeply connected to their identities as Black women, and their identities as inseparable from the ways that they engage their resistance work, their colleagues, and their community members. For example, Toya connected her observations of the ways in which Black and Indigenous women readily advocate for justice and how their engagement of activism as a solution for social problems is their legacy. They shared,

Like organizing is not sexy, it's a lot of mundane, tedious work. It's calling folks, it's organizing meetings, it's you know doing education around a topic. And so that, that—historically and even currently like a lot of women are kind of erased from their work. Because a lot of the work is seen as in the background. And I think about—thankfully, you know, due to social media we can see people who are actively doing, you know, stuff in their communities. Definitely uplifting like a lot of Indigenous and First Nation women like they're holding it down in a lot of spaces … I think in some ways I’ve felt, not just like a shared purpose, with other like women and femme leaders but more of like a duty, and a responsibility to carry on a lot of the history and work that has come before me, and even outside of my work just to carry on, in the ways that like my mother and grandmother were never able to do. So I, I do my work in part to like, honor, a lot of the history and organizing and work and time and you know blood, sweat, and tears that that was shed before me and are still being shed by a lot of folks and so I feel like I'm doing my best to hold up my end of my responsibility and yeah, keep things going for the next generation.

The participants also asserted that without “knowing oneself,” organizing and activism can stem from a place of unhealed trauma, which can have negative consequences for the activist herself (e.g., burnout, exploitation) but also for the communities that they work alongside. As such, self-reflection becomes not only a part of resistance work and the process of becoming, but critically necessary for effective resistance. With regard to the ways in which she manages the weight and emotional costs of activism, Aja reflected,

Yeah, I want to say, it's kind of heavy, especially because I've done a lot of advocacy where, um, you kind of get compassion fatigue sometimes. And I would say I'm just someone who kind of not intentionally but who kind of wears their heart on their sleeve. And so it's heavy to see like, you know, so many unhoused folks or it's heavy to hear about someone who lost a loved one from cancer, or something similar because of you know environmental toxins when there wasn't necessarily like a better option, right, like to move out of their neighborhood or something, right? Or say they did move out of their neighborhood but they lived there long enough, or their parents lived there long enough, that, you know, it's passed down genetically right. And so, um, it's heavy. And for me, you know, like going to therapy, staying in community is how I deal with that. Because I think if I just like stayed in my own bubble, it kind of would crush me, you know.

It is through these processes of self-reflection, self-awareness, setting boundaries, and deconstructing internalized oppression that these Black women environmental activists also began to see themselves as part of the legacy of Black women's resistance to oppression more broadly, as they described resistance as a central part of what it means to be a Black woman.

We are literally standing on the shoulders of women who suffered oppression in all its forms, so that we could be here and do the work that we're doing. And so, I have a responsibility to pay that forward for women in the future. (Toya)

Key Finding One: Development of Politicized Environmental Identity

The first major finding pertains to the unique development of politicized environmental identity among Black women that holds both consistencies and diversions from current literature related to environmental activist identity and politicized environmental identity specifically. First, the process of taking on a collective identity involves the adoption of the collective's interests, values, and behavioral norms, in addition to a desire and instinct to protect the collective itself (Ellemers et al., 2002). Environmental psychology has often theorized this through affiliation with environmental organizations and pro-environmental behaviors (Schmitt et al., 2019). The present study expands this framework by showing how Black women develop politicized environmental identity through critical consciousness (Freire, 2000; Mosley et al., 2021) and gendered racial identity development (Williams & Lewis, 2021). For participants, environmental injustice is inextricably connected to other systems of oppression, namely racism and gender discrimination. In the framework presented here, environmental activism may be engaged at the individual level through pro-environmental behavior including recycling, bringing reusable bags to the grocery store, or volunteering to plant trees. Beyond behavior, the adoption of an environmental activist identity involves the integration of environmental action into how one views and understands themselves. Most indicative of a long-term commitment to environmental action, however, is politicized environmental identity—a socially radical integration of environmental activist identity that involves working collectively in the struggle for environmental protection alongside a critical awareness of the systems of power that lead to environmental injustice and oppression. Thus, politicized environmental identity development expands the individual-level understanding of self as environmental activist to a collective understanding; “I take action to care for the environment” becomes “We are engaged in a struggle to protect and care for the environment.”

Mirroring prior literature related to Black women's identity development processes (i.e., Williams & Lewis, 2021), our findings demonstrate that, for Black women, politicized environmental identity emerges not solely through organizational belonging but through recognition of interlocking oppressions (racism, sexism, misogynoir, capitalism). Thus, this study advances psychology by illustrating the ways in which structural oppression influences identity development and motivates collective resistance. The environmental narratives of the Black women in this study suggest that for Black women environmentalists, it is not only that their connection to nature works in tandem with a commitment to an environmental organization that reflects politicized environmental identity. Rather, Black women's intersecting politicized identities are developed through critical reflection on their sociopolitical status, which includes their relationship to the earth and the shared sense of subjugation. It is this recognition of interconnected oppressive forces that fuels their environmental activism. This finding is also consistent with previous literature that identified racial identity salience to strongly predict both procedural and distributive environmental justice among Black Americans, over and above environmental identity (Parris et al., 2020).

Further, the participants in the study discussed the awareness of environmental injustice as occurring simultaneously and inextricably woven together with their awareness of their sociopolitical marginalization as both Black and woman. Though they reflected on early interests in nature, they positioned these reflections alongside memories of exclusion, as they received messages that Black people should not be interested in nature/environment-related issues or that women (and specifically, Black women) were not meant to obtain careers in environmental science or environmental law. This represents a divergence from previous literature on politicized environmental identity that suggests that environmental organizations are unanimously a site for belonging and identity development. For Black women, environmental organizations are not always sites of belonging and inclusion that facilitate collective identity. Rather, Black women environmentalists carve out their own, unique sites within environmental, racial justice, and feminist movements that affirm their racial, gender, and sexual identities while validating experiences of structural oppression experienced by gender and racially marginalized communities and the earth (Thomas, 2022).

Key Finding Two: Lived Experience of Disparities as a Catalyst for Activism

Another contribution of this study is the discussion of lived experiences that influence engagement in environmental activism and development of politicized environmental identity, beyond connections to nature. In this study, the participants discussed their personal and familial experiences with the consequences of environmental degradation as facilitative of their participation in environmental movements. For them, it was not the theoretical or impending doom of climate change or environmental disasters that propelled them into activism, but rather current experiences of environmental injustice (e.g., pollution, disparities in built environment) that have had tangible health consequences for them, their family members, and their community members (e.g., asthma, cancer, stress). Thus, Black women's politicized environmental identity may be situated in one of two dimensions that Collins (2000) discussed as central to understanding the history of Black women's activism. The relevant dimension, struggles for group survival, reflects the ways in which Black women create sites of resistance within the spheres of influence to undermine oppressive structures and systems. For Black women environmental activists, their decisions to engage in environmental activism may reflect a decision to create a critical Black consciousness and political strategies that ensure group survival. The environmental sector is their chosen sphere of influence, to which they’ve arrived through their spiritual and psychological connections to nature, awareness of the health impacts of environmental hazards in their families and communities, and the situation of environmental injustice within the matrix of domination. Thus, this study lends itself to a subsequent, or future conceptual model of politicized environmental identity development among Black women that can be quantifiably measured.

Implications for Psychology and Practice

The results of this study suggest some implications for psychology and practice. First, our findings indicate a need for the inclusion of identity development and environmental justice frameworks in psychology curricula, as learning about these frameworks can prepare students to engage with environmental and global challenges through an intersectional lens. For example, graduate training can highlight how environmental injustice operates as a determinant of physical and mental health, and emphasize qualitative and community-based research methods that amplify the nuanced, lived experiences of socially marginalized individuals and communities. As a response to growing mental health distress related to climate and environmental justice, clinical training in this area may support clinicians’ ability to support climate anxiety and may diversify the pipeline of psychologists equipped to work at the nexus of identity, environment, and justice.

Organizationally, findings from this investigation highlight the ways in which Black and Indigenous women are expected to steward care for neglected communities and environments, while navigating systemic exclusion from environmental policy and grassroots movements. Thus, we urge environmental organizations to move beyond tokenism to create spaces that acknowledge the impact of structural oppression on environmental experiences, affirm community members with intersecting marginalized identities, and partner authentically with Black women in the work of environmental justice and equity. Leadership pipelines, funding priorities, and programming should be reshaped to both reflect and support the contributions of Black women and other marginalized groups. Further, intentional partnerships between psychologists and environmental justice organizations may be necessary for effective prevention and intervention, and to develop strategies that increase belonging and sustain activist engagement in organizations that have historically centered the needs and experiences of White, wealthy communities. Finally, findings from this study point to the need for psychologists to engage in policy development and advocacy around environmental racism and its mental health consequences. Psychologists have unique, niche skills to support organizations to translate research findings into interventions that address the mental health consequences of climate and environmental degradation.

Study Limitations and Future Directions

Although this study's findings contribute to our understanding of politicized environmental identity development among Black women, there are important limitations to consider in light of these findings. Specifically, variability in participants’ ages, degree of engagement, and generalizability of the findings must be considered. First, because participants in the study ranged in age from 26 to 32, the perspectives of Black women environmental activists whose ages fall outside of this narrow range may not be reflected within the findings. As a result, most of the participants have been engaged in environmental action for less than a decade. A broader age range may have highlighted differences in experiences in environmental activist spaces over time and provided greater insight into the processes of identifying as a Black woman environmental activist over the lifespan. Additionally, potential participants who were busier at the time of recruitment may not have had the time or capacity to respond to recruitment material and subsequently participate in the research. As a result, this exploration may have missed important elements of identity development processes as they pertain to this social group.

Additionally, outside of age, demographic information was only assessed through a single, qualitative question that asked, “How do you identify.” Some aspects of identity such as ability status and gender identity were also captured if participants shared them. This qualitative question enabled the researcher to assess the identities that were salient to each participant at the time of the interview and in light of the study's purpose. However, future studies may also consider asking participants to complete a demographics survey that captures a wider range of identity or directly inquiring about such identities. Finally, while Black and Indigenous women have been central to environmental justice movements, this study focused exclusively on Black women. We recommend that future research should explore the development of politicized environmental identity among Indigenous women and nonbinary individuals, specifically within the ecowomanist framework.

Though the homogeneity in the sample with regard to social identity, age, and education was conducive to a qualitative, phenomenological exploration, there are limitations with regard to the generalizability of the findings. Capturing the rich narratives of six participants facilitates a deep elucidation of the formation of environmental activist identity among this unique social group. However, future studies may want to take a quantitative approach to understand whether the pathways that emerged from this inquiry are replicated within a larger sample. Specifically, future research should examine the predictive roles of both gendered racial identity salience and critical reflection on politicized environmental identity, and the subsequent role of politicized environmental identity in predicting environmental activism among Black women. Such explorations may help us to understand whether politicized environmental identity acts as a mediating variable in the association between social identity and activist behavior.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this study is the first to consider how marginalized social identities interact with politicized environmental identity and connection to nature to motivate pro-environmental behavior and environmental activism. Overall, this study highlights the ways in which Black women situate their experiences of discrimination and oppression as connected to and derivative of the same structures that lead to the oppression and destruction of land and earth. It also contributes to Black feminist knowledge regarding the dialectical relation that links Black women's oppression and activism (Collins, 2000). In essence, Black women are often socialized to carry with them both the cognitive and embodied knowledge of resistance and the imperative to utilize their resources to bring about equity and justice, and resistance to environmental degradation is not excluded from their realm. Black women's lives are inherently political, and their identities are politicized. Their engagement in environmental activism may not be fully motivated by joining a politicized environmental group; rather, their process of understanding their sociopolitical context as Black women situates them to recognize themselves as kindred spirits with the earth.