Climate Leadership in LA: Interview with Nourbese Flint
Nourbese Flint is the Policy Director and Manager of Reproductive Justice Programming for Black Women for Wellness and a Climate Day LA speaker.
Tell us about your work on climate change.
On the surface, our work around fracking and our community food desert work, as well as some of our policy work, is our climate change work. However, I think our real work and contribution is bringing an intersectional lens to traditional environmental health and rights organizations about climate change. We link the lived experiences of our community to how we can reimagine what climate change work looks like in a way that is holistic. I know that sounds hippyish and like a true California born-and-raised answer, but it’s true.
What inspired you on your career path? And what or who inspires you now?
I work in reproductive justice, and what keeps me waking up in the morning is that I know I’m on the right side of history… and one day, hopefully not too far in the future, when the first enterprise is hitting “warp speed” (which is more likely hyperdrive), black women and girls will be able to be seen and heard and afforded all the rights and dignity that every other person on that ship has. Who inspires me, I would have to say my mother and my grandmother who worked and continue to work to make my life a little bit easier. Outside of those two, I would say, Eartha Kitt, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Baker, and Mae Jemison.
What are the barriers you face in work — and what could make your job easier?
So, this could be a dissertation in itself. But just to keep it simple: racism, patriarchy, sexism, and classism. What would my job easier…. solving those issues!
A genie grants you two wishes that will help fight climate change. What do you ask for? The third wish is for anything you want (sky’s the limit!).
One wish, the invention of Starfleet. I know sounds crazy, but I do think that it could solve a lot of issues, including climate change. 2: Transporter, because that would so cut down on travel-related carbon in the atmosphere. 3: A way to bend space for human travel throughout the galaxies.
Stef McDonald is the Communications Director for Climate Resolve. This post first appeared on the Path to Positive: Los Angeles blog.