Shifting the approach: greening abolitionist teaching for inclusive sustainability

In recent years, there has been growing criticism within environmental studies and sciences (ESS) regarding the environmental racism embedded in the institutions that train future environmental professionals and leaders. The environmental canon centers and perpetuates Eurocentric epistemologies in the voices, perspectives, lived realities, and values of environmentalism. We suggest an approach to ESS that begins with students. Our applied approach goes beyond “diversifying” ESS and strives to co-create a discipline that centers the histories and lived realities of minoritized students. This article highlights the work of students, faculty, and staff who are transforming traditional approaches in ESS so that it may realize its emancipatory potential. We suggest that inclusive sustainability can transform student outcomes, sense of belonging, and encourage the identity formation and self-exploration of students, opening pathways for environmental engagement. This approach has the potential to transform the discipline, diversify the field, and produce new kinds of environmental leaders to fill future environmental careers that have yet to be imagined.