[Un]Phased Podcast Episode 21: Environmental Racism

[un]phased Podcast Episode 21: Environmental Racism Release date: February 2, 2021 Speakers: Dr. Shaunna Payne Gold, Dr. Lisa Ingarfield, Heather McTeer Toney Shaunna Payne Gold: So Lisa, we have an exciting guest coming on the podcast today. I am super excited about her. Lisa Ingarfield: Well, I know that we don't have guests very often, so when we do they are amazing, so tell me a little bit more about who we have today. Shaunna Payne Gold: Oh, this is a good one, this is a good one, we have Heather McTeer Toney, she is part of the fast chicks tri club, but a lot of people don't know that she's a politician, she's an attorney, a civil servant, she served in President Barack Obama's Environmental Protection Agency as a regional admin. So let's just say we're going to be overlapping diversity, endurance, and the environment today. **intro music** Dr. Shaunna Payne Gold: I’m Dr. Shaunna Payne Gold, and I go by she/her/her pronouns. Dr. Lisa Ingarfield: And I’m Dr. Lisa Ingarfield, and I go by she/her/hers. Dr. Shaunna Payne Gold: Welcome to [un]phased, a podcast to disrupt your normal and challenge your brain to go the distance. **intro music** Lisa Ingarfield: Alright, so Heather, one of the things, I mean Shaunna said we've been talking about this for a long time, that for, one of the things that came up for me. Well, I went to, I didn't compete in Kona, I’m not that good, I went to Kona two years ago and I was I just felt uncomfortable with the way in which the small Hawaiian island was like inundated with primarily white people, and the trash cans were overflowing right, and and just felt like there was this complete lack of awareness, deference, concern, respect for like the Island and for the people who live on the island right. Like Ironman like tries to brush away the folks experiencing homelessness you know, like it just felt gross and I just I had like kind of a dirty feeling about it. And that has like stayed with me. And then I have started to look at trail running and running and thinking about the connection to the environment and the ways in which you know the land, particularly the land that it belongs to indigenous communities right that white people took away and then white run it. I don't know, I don't have very, my thoughts aren't clear but I just feel like there's a lot to talk about. Shaunna Payne Gold: mm hmm yeah. Heather McTeer Toney: Yes. There is a a lot to talk about, and you know it's a you're doing what I think of as the initial connectors. And that is through all of our senses you're going to smell it, touch it, taste it, feel it, see it, and that's how you connect to not only the environment, but what are the concerns, issues around the environment. Shaunna Payne Gold: mm hmm. Heather McTeer Toney: I’m a triathlete, I'm a woman of color, and I'm an environmentalist, and so I see all these things connecting together in a way that sometimes we just ignore, so I think to start addressing what you're talking about and that's what you're seeing in those interactions in the environment. Sort of big race and then what's really going on in the spaces, we have to talk about two different things, and I think it's important for us to first sort of set the table and define what it is. There is environmentalism, environmental justice is a term we hear a lot. And there's another term, that is, I think, newer that people are starting to understand and that's climate justice. And so there's a difference between the two. Environmental justice is dealing with issues that have an environmental impact right around the places where you live. When you think of environmental justice or environmental injustices you're thinking about that landfill that may be in the in the community of color, those overflowing trash cans, the toxics, the chemicals, the plants that can be located in and around communities of color that traditionally in places where you don't have a lot of permitting. So those things that you taste and you feel and you see that are dirty or nasty when we're out running or biking, I've got a great story about Louisville Ironman that I'll tell you about, swimming, um that's dealing with environmental justice. That's one so let's put that those issues in one box. There's another box that's very important that impacts triathlon and athletes as well and racing as well and that’s climate and climate justice. Now that's one that is longer term and it deals with the actual experiences that we see with weather actions, weather interactions and impacts the communities that are not in a as good of an infrastructural position to be able to ward that off. So with respect to racing, that's how many of us have races canceled where this, right, because there was a whole lot of rain, the river flows weren't good, and they didn't allow us to swim. Or those times that folks have had to cut a bike because there was too much smoke or a race got canceled as a result of smoke or hurricanes that have come through. And if we really look at the numbers, we will see that that has increased actually substantially over the past 10 to 15 years, so much so that there's a shift in where we're doing these races, how we're doing these races, and then here's what is the infrastructure basis that that community had in place to be able to sustain it. So that part of what you're thinking about all of those people who are coming in town bringing their family, all of their stuff, how is that impacting either sustaining or harming infrastructure of that community. Because once all those folks they got the full to protect themselves from future climate and problems at the same time you've got business and government who want to see all of these people. Man that's right, you know they want this, but they also want to make sure that their streets aren't broken down after we leave, they want to make sure that races aren't canceled in the next four to five years and they they can get long contracts, but that they have sustainable infrastructure so strong and solid, to be able to maintain it. So that's the climate justice part, communities that have a strong tax base and that are typically more white than others, they can they can sustain that. So you'll notice like in 20 well, we have 2020 it was crazy because that was covid, but when we were all sort of planning our 2020 race schedules and you know you'll notice, we were all sort of going back and forth it's just gonna be a new year there's new race there, I was really, I'm in the south, so I was really excited to race the first Ironman 70.3 in Memphis and it got canceled due to covid. But just the whole idea of opening up to different places and the primary concern everybody had what was the infrastructure going to look like, is my swim going to get canceled, am I going to be able to run, what's that run route going to be like. And the people who are thinking and planning this out have to think about things. Like are we running by a toxic chemical plant, are we running in an air that we have a place where we have to monitor the air, we have athletes that are disabled cancer survivors who deal with asthma and they have to be cognizant of the spaces where they are. Shaunna Payne Gold: mm hmm. Heather McTeer Toney: All things that are taken into place, taking into account, when we're thinking about racing, we just don't realize it. So let's put out the let's put just put away the stereotype right stereotype right now, if you are a triathlete, a runner, ultra-runner, a cyclist, a swimmer, you do anything that is outside and engaging the elements, you are an environmentalist, whether you like it or not. Shaunna Payne Gold: Look Heather I said the other day that we're environmentalists and we're meteorologists trying to figure out what the weather is going to be in, because you know I'm feeling your point really clearly, because if you recall that was one of the things that we had a challenge with Ironman North Carolina 70.3 is that we were scheduled to race and then hurricane Florence came through about a month before the race. And so what was fascinating to me, I was less disappointed that the race was cancelled because I kind of felt it coming. they were waiting you know a little late to let us know that was going to be canceled, but the other piece to it was that I was thinking, as I was watching the coverage because in August of that year I'd gone to training camp on the very same course and then I'm watching on the news,the very same course that I just ridden on and so that straightaway that I was on for 20 miles is now its own river, right, or you know the swim that I just finished up for training camp now you cannot see the shore that we walked out from anymore, because it's just not there.

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