Makin' Home Sweet.
Black + Green.
We grew what we ate, and we made what we wore. Reducing waste was easy, because there was no excess to waste. We practiced renewable and sustainable living not as an opt-in luxury, but as a very real necessity. We were as green as the string beans we snapped... ’til we went and got too fancy to enjoy being outdoors, and we seem to have forgotten about our practical closeness with Earth.
A voice helps us remember that closeness.
» Our most pressing health concerns—heart disease, obesity, diabetes and asthma—are directly related to environmental and food disparities. According to Ali, “When we see our bodies as temples, we will show far greater concern for the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat.”
» The crime concentrated in black communities, which is directly related to how we perceive our surroundings. Our surroundings are an extension of our very selves. What does that say about the excessive violence, dumpsites and vacant lots common in many of our neighborhoods?
» The unemployment concentrated in black communities, which can be dramatically alleviated by the growing renewable energy and energy efficiency industries that need workers and leaders now.
The green movement is most certainly a part of the black experience. It's up to us to make sure our experience is rightly reflected in the movement.
Oh, mercy mercy me. Oh, things ain’t what they used to be. No, no.
Oil wasted on the oceans and upon our seas. Fish full of mercury.
Oh, mercy mercy me. Oh, things ain’t what they used to be. No, no.
Radiation in the ground and in the sky.
Animals and birds who live nearby are dying.
Oh, mercy mercy me. Oh, things ain’t what they used to be.
What about this overcrowded land?
How much more abuse from man can you stand?
-- From “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology),” by Marvin Gaye, written in 1971 .
Ali believes being a consistent, unwavering example is the best way to share green practices. He doesn't limit his influence to home, or his kids' schools, where he often speaks. He is currently in dialogue (emphasizing the reduction of operating costs) with the office manager at the ad agency where he works as an account director to have air dryers installed in the bathroom.
Adding vitality and beauty to our environment makes it less hospitable to violence and waste. Ali is also a community revitalizer, and he credits his biggest inspiration in that work to Elijah Muhammad. Ali says, "Muhammad brought a message to a people who had been discarded and taught they were worthless, but he refused to settle for this position, and found a reuse for them teaching their very own kinship to God."
Get Jamal Ali's book here.
Questions About Introversion + Inner Life?
Interiority and the (un)cultivated inner life has direct impact on our economic, ecological + emotional well-being. So these points will be looked at as the interconnected whole that they are, as well as the criminalized relationship between psychoactive plants (entheogens) and people, the effects of socialized superficiality, what it takes to live and work as Your True Self in a world that still loves masks + conformity, and other topics related to inwardness that are ready for mature exploration. Do you have any questions or comments you'd like addressed? Please let me know in the comments, as I'd love to include your views + voice.