did you know that 20% of wastewater pollution originates from the fashion industry? according to the world bank, fashion industries use about 93 billion cubic meters of water, and that 20% of wastewater comes from fabric dye and treatment. chemicals raise a lot of environmental and health concerns for industry workers, forcing us to rethink fast fashion by advocating for more sustainable practices. 

mikki taylor, professor at howard university, instructs in the fashion design program at the chadwick a. boseman college of fine arts. she uses her love of design to emphasize environmental responsibility through eco-fashion.

taylor has developed numerous projects that have increased student engagement such as the washington wizards project, in which she taught students about designing digital pieces and upcycling by creating garments using old wizards jerseys. although she understands that everyone wants to have the designer look for less, taylor encourages thrift shopping instead. “with fast fashion, the cost outweighs the benefits. you aren’t looking at the massive water consumption, toxic dyes being used that are deposited in our soil, or the workforce and the electricity being used,” taylor said.

not only has she created digital fashion shows during the covid-19 pandemic, but she has also created fashionable designs that have been displayed on red carpets at big events such as the bet awards, and black girls rock, an award show that honors and promotes black women’s achievements.

listen to my full conversation with mikki taylor above!

agroadapt is an interactive board and virtual game where participants are split into three groups: policymakers, community leaders, and farmers. for three rounds, the groups play to win the most points by collaborating with other groups in dealing with the effects of climate change. beau damen, the developer of agroadapt, said the goal of the game is for participants to learn the importance of group collaboration in the face of climate change. 

“if you’re working in different directions, the overall outcome may be worse for the system,” damen said. 

damen said he developed the game last year and delivered the final product at the beginning of 2024. he said the world food forum is his first event sharing the game with the public rather than with internal groups.  

although the game is not yet available for purchase, damen said they are sharing the game at other events throughout the year.

“i think slowly we’ll get it out to our network,” damen said.

understanding real-world problems through gaming

in the game, participants get more points if they work collaboratively with groups rather than working by themselves. the points are added up using a computer algorithm.

to begin the game, participants are split into three groups and given a specific amount of coins. policymakers are given 50 coins, community leaders are given 30 and farmers are given 20. 

next, the groups vote on which fictional country in which they want to grow their crops, floralandia, rainlushia or sereniplains. damen said the countries are based on the environments of real countries based on gathered data. using this data, damen created a biophysical simulation, creating these countries using mathematical formulations. 

“we’ve made them fictitious for the purpose of the game, but the data underneath is actually from real countries,” damen said. 

once a country is chosen, groups choose what crops they grow. the goal is to pick a crop that secures maximum production through a climate disaster.  

policymakers give a recommendation of what crop to grow to the community leaders and the community leaders recommend to the farmers, but the farmers have the final decision on what crop is grown. if the farmers go along with recommendations from the other groups, they get coins because they collaborated. 

how to play

the first round begins in 1980 where players pick five strategies against climate change cards. the point of these cards is to protect crops against the impending natural disaster caused by climate change. each card has an environmental, economic and social score which can either be positive, neutral or negative. the cards are paid for with the group’s coins. 

players then receive points based on how well their strategies worked when a natural disaster such as a drought, flood, or wildfire occurs. they do not know what natural disaster they are preparing for but are given the likelihood of each one affecting their country. crops and strategies previously picked determine how many crops are lost. the players either win or lose coins depending on how well or poorly the teams’ strategies performed.

the same process repeats for the second and third rounds, which take place in 2010 and 2040, respectively. but the amount of time farmers, community leaders, and policymakers get to interact with each other increases each round. the team with the most points at the end of the game is the winner. 

each round of the game is led by a game master. for one round of agroadapt played at the world food forum, the game master was rutendo mukaratirwa, 28, who is a geospatial scientist in the land and water division of the fao. mukaratirwa said she was a member of the game development team, like damen. 

mukaratirwa has held the role of game master over 10 times and has seen players’ perspectives change on how to combat natural disasters through playing this game. mukaratirwa said towards the end of the game, players are more willing to spend their money on a solution. 

“they are more open and willing to collaborate and lose money,” mukaratirwa said. “but in the end, they win and can actually get more points.”

playing agroadapt at the world food forum

one participant of agroadapt was dante bertocci, 23. bertocci is the ceo of his own startup company and in the game, was on the policymaker team. he said during the first round, his team did not collaborate with other teams because they were focused on making use of their money but ran out of time to make a decision on how to spend their coins.

“policymakers have a tendency to take their sweet time,” bertocci said.

bertocci’s start-up involves gathering agricultural byproducts, grinding them up, sterilizing them and using them as substrate for mushroom cultivation. although he mainly works with farmers, bertocci said agroadapt allowed him to step into the shoes of a policymaker. 

during one game of agroadapt, the farmers won, which included team member adam gerrand, 63, who is a forester working for the fao. he said farmers are “at the bottom of the heap” because they do not get paid as much as other groups. 

gerrand said “thankfully” the farmers’ strategies worked, even though they prepared for a drought, but were hit with a wildfire. 

“we were kind of lucky, but we ended up doing well,” gerrand said.

although he did not work on the agroadapt development team, gerrand said he’s worked on other games and finds them engaging for people. he said the game has “really good” concepts as it makes policymakers, community leaders, and farmers interact with each other to receive better scores. 

“if you have fun, you learn better,” gerrand said.

the environmental film festival in the nation’s capital (dceff) is a film event held annually in march that features over 100 films reaching over 30,000 people every year. the festival was launched in 1993 by flo stone, designed the programming to cover topics such as activism, conservation, discovery, and exploration. 

according to their website, dceff’s mission is to “inform and inspire our community through the power of film to incite change and take action so that we can preserve our planet for generations to come.”

on march 24, 2024, i attended the festival and met reverend lennox yearwood, jr., a community activist, who serves as a minister, and president and ceo of the hip hop caucus, a nonprofit organization founded on september 11, 2004, that enables young u.s. voters to participate and get involved in political activism through hip-hop music and culture. through the nonprofit organization, the hip hop caucus has influenced policies, held political officials responsible and accountable, and developed diverse, powerful movements to shape positive changes for the future of the united states.

during the event, rev. yearwood earned the environmental champion award from the dceff for his long-standing contribution and advocacy for racial and environmental justice, which included a showing of the hip hop caucus’ short film, underwater projects, narrated by famous comedian wanda sykes. as i sat with rev. yearwood, he taught me about his inspiration for becoming a reverend and hip-hop influencer, which was to address words of wisdom to the public, including his collaborations with artists and the community, and how we use our art to become intersectional environmentalists. 

can you imagine the lush rain forests of haiti sprouting up across the buildings of new york city? madjeen isaac, a brooklyn-based artist, is a painter and sculptor who incorporates her haitian roots in her depictions of her city. isaac’s style employs magical realism to warp landscapes and reimagine plant pots with human faces. her focus is on centering black people and immigrants in moments of leisure and liberation to challenge the constraints of reality. she says she wants her work to, “…capture the essence of what i see on a day-to-day basis and reimagine it in worlds that can emulate what abundance looks like to me.”

isaac is currently an artist at brooklyn’s non-profit arts organization smack mellon, which is located near the manhattan bridge. this organization supports under recognized women artists by providing them with exhibition opportunities, studio workspaces, and equipment access for projects. she has also worked with grown in haiti, an environmental program that fosters sustainable communities and ecological stewardship through education and agroforestry and strives to educate future generations to transform landscapes to create a self-sufficient haiti.

having grown up in a caribbean neighborhood, isaac has advocated for environmental justice, food equity, and land sustainability. her artwork supports those endeavors as the topics she visualizes often include scenes of urban gardens and lush plant life sprouting out of concrete structures. although her work speaks for itself, you can learn more about her process and inspiration by listening to my conversation with her above.

transcript below:

oscar nzekwu: representing gw, planet forward, my name is oscar nzekwu and welcome to the next episode of art-vironment, where we honor black artists who contribute in spreading environmental awareness through their artistic disciplines. today, i met with an artist who uses her painting and sculptures to challenge the constraints of reality. now introducing, madjeen isaac!

so for people who might not know about you, can you please introduce yourself and tell everybody about the art that you do?

madjeen isaac: my name is madjeen isaac and i was born and raised in brooklyn, new york. i grew up in flatbush and it’s a neighborhood that is predominantly caribbean immigrants and christians. and i grew up in a haitian household.

a lot of my work is about me reimagining and recreating worlds where i merge both urban and tropical landscapes. i love highlighting my upbringing and cultural identity.

on: i’m also aware you do sculpture. so do you also capture that through your sculptures too?

mi: yeah, my sculptures are interesting to me. right now for sculpture, i do work in clay and they’re like these planters that kind of resemble heads. i call them ancestors. and i’ve been, you know, playing around with the idea of like, creating my own space. creating altars – just a space that feels really good to me and thinking a lot about spirituality and how i grew up with my caribbean-catholic household. finding my own definition of what that means for me.

on: do you consider yourself as an environmental activist?

mi: funny that you asked, because i recently have been thinking about this, like whether i’m an environmentalist or not. i don’t know if it’s appropriate to claim the title, but i think about it very, very often. in my works i highlight, or i like to think about disparities within my communities, where it could either be housing disparities or displacement, little to no access to green spaces, or just safe spaces for leisure or rest. yeah, just thinking how a lot of our relationships to the environment- like how many alternatives we have, how much say do we have, how we can exist.

yeah, i just get kind of sad when i see developments taking over in my community or even vacant lots just existing for quite some time and nothing is being done with it. i feel like there’s a sense of pride but also defeat that exists within my community and i would love for there to be more conversation about how we can get involved. there are a lot of community gardens that exist and i do volunteer at community gardens, which feels really rewarding for me. and i think one of my goals is to find out ways in which i can galvanize more people to be in those places, especially immigrants who have a background in either farming or growing their own herbs.

on: in your artwork, how do images appear in your work, like images of nature?

mi: so i usually have greenery overgrowing and just existing on top of buildings in a way that is very obnoxious, but also very beautiful. i’m looking at my works now as i share. there’s just so much green happening and i think there’s also people tending to the farm and existing. right now i’ve actually been exploring ancestors. i give ancestors existing in spaces no matter how far we migrate or where we are in the world. and so i’ve been playing a lot around with celestial beings and greenery or celestial beings carrying around herbs and foods that haven’t always been present in generations. yeah, i’m just thinking about our relationship to medicinal foods and concoctions of herbs for healing.

on: how does magical realism play a role in your art?

mi: magical realism is something that i’m often that folks are drawn to within my works. and i’m often reimagining as a tool, creating hybrids. and a lot of my process involves deconstructing and reconstructing images. and so i think i’m often putting things together that don’t necessarily make sense. but it makes sense to me because it’s kind of like a conceptual idea of what i’ve always been around growing up and what i wish to see.

and i think that, you know, it gives folks the opportunity to also dream. so i feel like dreaming can be a luxury. we don’t always have the time to be able to dream. but i would hope that my works can hold space for that. yeah like just- what are ways in which we find remedy through trusting our imagination for better realities and futures.

on: going back to new york city, what do you think is the biggest environmental issue that new york city faces?

mi: i feel like there’s two. which is displacement due to housing insecurities. there’s a lot of new development here because old structures have been either broken down to then build new ones, but they’re also high in cost and no one can afford it. so a lot of development that’s out there, especially in the downtown area, is literally- they’re up but they’re empty, which is unfortunate. i guess our relationship to green spaces- i know there’s prospect park, there’s also other parks that exist throughout, but i think that there could be more green spaces that we can tend to and just insist on having access to. and that can also just be lawns that are in front of fewer buildings. i feel like those can be put to better use – or even rooftops.

on: what’s the environmental message that you want people to take away form your art?

mi: yeah, i want people to lean into what feels right to them, to claim their right to a better reality. and that could either mean more rest, leisure, maybe leaning into your ancestral practices of agriculture. and i think just, i want people to really understand what their roles can be within their environments or communities. i feel like we’re all experts in something and we can all learn from each other.

on: when people have seen your work, have (they) become more active in trying to speak up?

mi: that’s a really good question. i think that- i feel like my works exist as beautiful archives of what could be. they can also be blueprints for these types of conservations and actions. i don’t think that my painting is just enough to create change. i think that i can utilize them to do that, whether that be through ongoing workshops or to galvanize people to join me in- whether it’s volunteering at community gardens and just in those spaces or creating your own garden. i think that there’s so much more that i can do. painting is definitely a first step, but then actualizing it and putting into practice is also another.

on: for future artists, what advice would you give them if they want to attack or address environmental issue or get active in environmental activism?

mi: starting where you are and seeing what’s available to you. maybe thinking about what you’re struggling with or what your community is struggling with. you have to start as well. but it’s always just like- start where from where you are. and normally you have to look far, but i’m pretty sure that there’s always just something within your vicinity that is happening that you can like, shed some light on just tend to.

on: excellent, excellent. thank you for letting me interview you! you are amazing, my god!

mi: cool! this was great! thank you for holding space.

on: from the wise words of madjeen, make sure you understand what your roles can be within the environment to claim your right for a better reality. i would like to thank madjeen for letting me interview her to explore how her magical realism plays a role in the environment. and if you want to learn more about madjeen and her work, follow her on instagram at madjeenisaac.

thank you for tunning in to my episode of artvironment. remember, stay green on the scene. this is planet forward. oscar nzekwu signing off. peace!

in february 2024, i travelled to the ford rouge electric vehicle center in dearborn, michigan with a group of student storytellers. as an artist, my initial inquiry wasn’t solely focused on transforming the subject of ford motor company’s electric vehicles and the company’s commitment to sustainability into art; rather, it centered on my personal connection with it.

as i toured ford’s large complex, my brain was filled with information about electric batteries and carbon emissions, as well as multiple new terminologies i had learned when discussing ford’s relations to sustainability.

yet, within all those conversations about ford’s history of technological innovation, something was still missing for me: an inspiration, a personal connection to ford’s sustainability efforts, a familiar name. later in the day, i had recognized this name as we later walked down the halls of the henry ford museum and saw a single poster on the wall that read:

“george washington carver and henry ford both believed agriculture and industry could work together to shape a better future. in 1939, carver visited the soybean laboratory in greenfield village to see henry ford’s innovative soy fibers designed for use in cars. see modern sustainable manufacturing ideas in action today at the ford rouge factory tour.”

as a current student of tuskegee university, carver’s name struck me like lightning. carver taught agriculture at tuskegee for 47 years and made transformative contributions to agricultural science during that time.

henry ford visited the tuskegee institute multiple times, where he helped dedicate the carver museum, learned from, and developed a friendship with carver himself.

carver’s impact on the ford motor company was primarily through his research and innovations in agriculture, particularly regarding soybeans and peanuts. carver’s work led to the development of new uses for these crops, including the creation of alternative materials such as plastics, lubricants, and fuels. 

henry ford recognized the potential of carver’s research and collaborated with him to explore the possibilities of using agricultural products in the automotive industry. ford was particularly interested in finding alternatives to traditional materials like metal and rubber, which were in short supply and expensive. 

carver’s work indirectly influenced the ford motor company by providing innovative solutions to material shortages and promoting the use of agricultural products in the industry.

this art piece was created to pay homage to the significant impact of george washington carver on environmental sustainability as well as to highlight the friendship between him and henry ford. the images in this multimedia piece are from the tuskegee university archive that documented the relationship between carver and ford.

dr. robert baker, director of performance studies at gw, and erin freeman, conductor and director of choral activities, handpicked sacred place from a myriad of compositions to mark this historic occasion. their choice reflects not only the beauty of music but also its capacity to foster dialogue and connection amidst the most pressing environmental and climate issues of our time. in a world often marred by discord, music stands as a beacon of unity and civil discourse, baker explained.

for more, see the story here:

hip hop artist ietef vita, known as dj cavem, expresses his love for environmental justice through his unique approach to music, which he calls, “eco hip-hop.”

originally from denver, colorado, vita has expressed concerns about the tendency for hip-hop culture to shy away from issues that relate to health and the environment. in response, vita heavily incorporates advocacy for environmental sustainability in his lyrics.

this eco hip-hop-loving rapper has also been a part of several community initiatives including growhaus, a nonprofit education center for improving the community’s access to nutrition, a youth workshop that oversees 190 community gardens, and has worked with organizations that host health and wellness camps during the summer.

vita, who holds a ph.d. in urban ecology from the denver institute of urban studies, has performed his music on stage with nationally recognized artists such as public enemy, wyclef jean, 2 chainz, and questlove, not to mention that he was invited by first lady michelle obama to perform at the white house to publicize her let’s move plan. 

through his eco hip-hop, vita has been spreading awareness within his community to promote and support urban gardening. according to vita, the denver community is experiencing a lack of fresh food choices as processed foods dominate grocery store shelves in communities of color. vita is inspired by urban gardening and he believes that it can promote better eating habits, as well as erase trauma in the black community.

what stories might be told in a climate-changed future? how might the lives of future generations be shaped by decisions we make now and in our lifetimes? these are questions my collaborator, jacqueline arias, and i began to ask when creating the multimodal piece rays of resilience: a vision of the future, thinking about how our different strengths as artists might help us to imagine the future of the place we call home. 

tucson, arizona is a city located in the sonoran desert in the american southwest that to this day faces a number of environmental challenges including threats of extreme heat and aridity, water scarcity, wildfire, landscape degradation, and loss of biodiversity. with the climate science showing humanity’s steady approach towards several dangerous tipping points in the coming decades, how might the lives of people living in the old pueblo be transformed? how might we be resilient in the face of inevitable change?

the images created by jacqueline arias use lumenography, an alternative photographic practice in which organic materials are placed on photographic paper and transfer the image through passive exposure to solar light. still landscape photographs provided by zack lischter-katz, featuring tucson’s iconic giant saguaros.

a description of the piece

rays of resilience is an audio-visual artwork featuring narration and visuals designed and arranged by jacqueline arias, an mfa student at the university of arizona school of art, as well as text, music, and sound design by myself. through the piece the audience is introduced to three characters living in a not-so-distant (but undefined) future.

the first character is a mother living in the heart of tucson with her child, illustrating aspects of community resilience, ancestral knowledge, food sovereignty, and hope for the future. the second story features an individual experiencing loss, expressed through stories and memories from a different landscape, personifying the loss of the world we know and love. the final story follows an energy industry worker reflecting on an immense tragedy that, having been completely avoidable, serves as a wake up call that catalyzes critical change. 

the piece is not, of course, a prediction of the future. it is an exercise — a meditation in imagining futures that allows us to search for and experience common values, visions, dreams, and fears. 

the visual elements of the piece consist of lumens and still photographs. lumens are prints produced by layering organic and transparent materials on expired photographic paper and placing them in sunlight. the somewhat abstract but familiar and emotive qualities of lumen prints, as well as the ability to incorporate both materials from our own environment, and the use of passive solar energy spoke to us as the best artist jacqueline arias working on troubleshooting video before exhibition visual medium to use in this piece. still film photographs provided by zach lischer-katz lend a visual  counterpoint primarily in the second story. 

rays of resilience was exhibited as an installation piece closing out the university of arizona center for creative photography’s studio ccp program in the fall of 2023. in february 2024 the piece was shown at the perspectives on resilience event put on by the arizona institute of resilience, having been invited to include more arts-based voices in the conversation regarding climate change resilience. 

we are immensely grateful for the opportunity to explore our senses of home as well as our imaginings of the future, and to have the opportunity to share them with you through narrative, music, art, and sound. 

what if the future of air quality justice rested in the threads of a spider web?

in this original hand-drawn comic, climate cartoonist joy reeves explores a recent initiative in north carolina to use spider webs to monitor air pollution. spearheaded by the north carolina environmental justice network and a team of volunteer “funnel web finders,” the “spidey sens-r” project aims to measure heavy metal pollution on funnel weaver spider webs in greenville and goldsboro communities. the team hopes to use the metals collected on the webs to identify air pollution hotspots near polluting industries—especially in areas that lack government air quality monitors — in order to prioritize future testing in those areas and uphold environmental justice principles through community science. 

as i embark on my journey toward sustainable fashion, my article “denim re-done: making ethical fashion choices at home” sheds light on the eye-opening reality of the fashion industry i both adore as a medium for my self expression, but which also poses challenging negative impacts on our environment.

discovering that each pair of denim jeans guzzles a staggering 3,781 liters of water, made me rethink how i could use my old jeans that i no longer wore. in the whirlwind of fast fashion, where trends come and go at lightning speed, i’ve embarked on a personal project.

it’s about more than just repurposing forgotten garments; it’s a journey of rediscovery and sustainability within my own closet. collaborating with my mom, we’ve transformed overlooked pieces into new treasures, challenging the status quo of consumption and embracing a future where every garment tells a story of renewal, not waste.

click on the presentation below to view the full story: