Host Andrew Simon and co-host Yessenia Funes start off the sixth installment of Temperature Check—Grist’s new podcast on climate, race, and culture—by considering what climate justice will look like on a global level and the implications of John Kerry as the pick for climate envoy.
Later on in the episode, Simon and guest Dr. Chelsea Mikael Frazier discuss Black feminism, the work of Octavia Butler, and how Black women have always led on protecting the environment.
Host Andrew Simon is Grist’s director of leadership programming and founding editor of the Grist 50, an annual list of emerging climate and justice leaders. Previously a senior editor at Fast Company and ESPN, Andrew is also the author of Racing While Black: How an African-American Stock Car Team Made Its Mark on NASCAR.
Co-host Yessenia Funes is the climate editor for Atmos, a new climate and culture magazine. She was previously the environmental-justice reporter at Earther/Gizmodo. In her work, Funes covers the intersection of race and the environment.
Guest Dr. Chelsea Mikael Frazier is a Black feminist ecocritic—writing, researching, and teaching at the intersection of Black feminist theory and environmental thought. As founder and chief creative officer at Ask An Amazon she designs educational tools, curates community gatherings, gives lectures, and offers consulting services that serve Black Feminist Fuel for Sustainable Futures. She is also a faculty fellow in the Cornell University Department of English and in the fall of 2021 she’ll begin her tenure-track appointment as an assistant professor of African American literature.
Her scholarship, teaching, and public speaking span the fields of Black feminist literature and theory, visual culture, ecocriticism, African art and literature, political theory, science and technology studies, and Afrofuturism.
She is currently at work on her first book manuscript—an ecocritical study of contemporary Black women artists, writers, and activists.
You can listen to the sixth episode of Temperature Check on Grist, and subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes will drop weekly.
Useful links from the episode:
https://www.chelseafrazier.com
Dr. Chelsea Mikael Frazier’s Twitter: @Amazon_Scholar
Dr. Chelsea Mikael Frazier, “Black Feminist Ecological Thought: A Manifesto,” Atmos, Oct. 1, 2020
Dharna Noor, “John Kerry’s Past Embrace of Fracking Could Create a Climate Disaster Abroad,” Earther/Gizmodo, Nov. 24, 2020
