Fifteen teenagers are in a class of their own after participating in a nature-based program that turned them into authors and gave them a chance to really unplug. The students – all from Anacostia High School – traveled to places like the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, Harriet Tubman’s ancestral home and Rock Creek Park to better understand Black people’s contributions to the environment.
Next month, they head to the Taking Nature Black conference to talk about their own contributions to a forthcoming book titled “Young Voices of the Anacostia River: Exploring Our Roots to the Eastern Shore and Back.” It’s set for a March 6 release. The event will draw attendees and speakers from the DMV and beyond.
“We’re thrilled to be part of their debut. It’s so important to center and celebrate young people in the fight for a more sustainable planet. That fight starts with everyone having a better appreciation for the natural world around us,” said Taking Nature Black Co-chair and Nature Forward Conservation Director Lydia Lawrence.
Caroline Brewer, author and literacy and environment consultant, said the program is a collaboration of the University of the District of Columbia, Nature Wise, Justice40 (a Biden initiative to commit at least 40% of federal climate investments to front-line communities most affected by poverty and pollution) and Conservation Nation.
“Over five weeks, our students traveled hundreds of miles by bus and dozens of miles on foot. During the hottest summer on record in the D.C. region, they visited farms, fields, forests, parks, waterways and neighborhoods, including their own. Yet the distance they traveled as thinkers, speakers, writers, creators and members of a collective is immeasurable,” said Brewer, a Taking Nature Black conference panelist.
For one student, the visit to the Harriet Tubman Museum in Cambridge, Maryland, was especially memorable.
“I met many kind people that day, like ‘The Aunties’ who gave me information on how protecting the environment is the best thing to do for the ecosystem’s future,” said Kaishon Champ.
He was inspired to write the poem “Where Lillies Bloom” after spending time at Kenilworth Aquatic Garden:
In a pond where lilies bloom / Fish swim gently in murky liquid rooms / Water whispers tales of old / Stories in its ripples told / Green fronds sway in gentle flow / While the moon casts its silver glow / Peaceful, quiet, calm, and free / Now imagine more of this, for you, for me.
Brewer and UDC’s Xavier Brown talked with WPFW’s Katea Stitt recently on air about how the students blossomed.
“For me, as an observer, a leader in the space, it was cool to see them take the time and disconnect from their phones and to just connect with nature, so maybe jumping from rock to rock, maybe going on a hike, maybe climbing a small mountain, going kayaking… it was cool to see them open up and to learn new things, to ask a lot of questions, smile and be kids, separated from technology,” Brown said.
Brewer read a poem for the audience by student Keon Hopkins, who was inspired by the work of Patuxent Riverkeeper Fred Tutman. Keon wrote:
Fred Tutman is a Riverkeeper who used to ride tobacco wagons down the street near the Patuxent River in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. When he got tired, he would go to the stream nearby and drink its sweet water. But now the old stream looks like an abandoned ditch.
Mr. Tutman is working hard to restore and clean the river. He wants that old sweet river water that he used to drink to come back to life again.
Both Kaishon and Keon will speak at Taking Nature Black. Other Taking Nature Black speakers with ties to the District of Columbia include the Hip Hop Caucus’ Rev. Lennox Yearwood, who can be heard every Friday on WPFW-FM, and Ward 7’s Dennis Chestnut, a speaker on the Building Flood Wise Communities panel.
“I’m excited for the contributions these dynamic speakers will make to the Taking Nature Black Conference. They have so much wisdom to share,” said Nature Forward Executive Director Alison Pearce. “With Taking Nature Black and its sister conference Naturally Latinos, Nature Forward strives to lift up the voices of people whose experiences have not been spotlighted in the environmental movement. A brighter future for our planet depends on that. Because not only do we all need nature; nature needs each and every one of us.”
