Returning to roots with evolved understanding

Environmentalism has been one of the lesser documented aspects of African and African Diaspora life. But a lot is happening in this area and, to cover it, we founded the Ecollective.
In a narrow sense, the Ecollective is a group of six black women writers who tend to dislike the contrivances of alliteration yet describe their view of the garden as a "multiply-meaningful metaphor," because that says it all.  While working on a book inspired by this idea, we spun off this platform as a public offering. Conscientious writers give voice to what should be said. Here we bear witness to how deepening human connection with the natural world revitalizes life on every scale.
We believe that protecting ecosystems includes community engagement that promotes human potential through cooperation supporting the full spectrum of human and environmental being.
In the broadest sense, the Ecollective is everyone who realizes the fundamental oneness of being and functions from that realization. That's why our purview, while concentrated on black-identified environmentalists, includes all environmentalists and their efforts.
Editorial board: Margaret Gray Bayne; Kendra Hamilton, PhD; Juliette Harris (managing editor); Jaquelyn McClendon, PhD; Hermine Pinson, PhD; Toni Wynn
Consulting environmental scientist: Rae Wynn-Grant, PhD 

image above: OmniGeometry.com

unity⇆ multiplicities ⇆ unity (with the arrows going not in two, but all, directions)

    unity into multiplicity into unity into multiplicity into ongoing waves of being
      closing the disconnection as healing and prayer

some folks plant gardens in their minds 

                  advancing by returning to roots with evolved understanding
                               ecospirituality           sacred earth

interdependence of all life

roots of African diaspora foodways

yams

efo tete (Yoruba, Nigeria) English name: African spinach or green-leafy spinach

          healthy conscious living   walking barefoot on the grass

marula (various African languages) English name: marula fruit

  a place for butterflies   the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice

shoro (Yoruba, Nigeria) English name: amaranth 

     agroecology                          herbal lore & workin’ roots

millet (various African names) modern English name: pearl millet or finger millet

     African rice cultivation in South Carolina    sweet grass baskets

sukuma wiki (Swahili, East Africa) English name: collard greens or kale

              meditative weeding          shelling peas contemplation

teff (Amharic, Ethiopia) English Name: teff grain

          garden, landscape and waterways as sites of memory

rooibos (Afrikaans, South Africa) English name: rooibos tea

        cultural geography

uziza (Igbo, Nigeria) English name: Uziza herb/spice

                                                    African diaspora food ways
    environmental action     nature sprites	agroforestry

buchu (Khoi-San, South Africa) English name: buchu herb

               integrative medicine    wilderness as sanctuary

morogo or miroho (Setswana, Botswana) English name: wild African spinach or pigweed 

   community supported agriculture         literary ecocriticism 
environmental history   chefs with educational gardens     food justice

njerere (Kikuyu, Kenya) modern English name: spider plant or African cabbage

      upright uptight mother to daughter: “Don’t play in the dirt!”   
       roots mama to daughter playing in dirt:  “Let’s make mud pies, decorate them by sowing seeds in round and heart shapes and watch them blossom into circles and valentines!”

efo yanrin (Yoruba, Nigeria) modern English name: wild lettuce or forest lettuce

"I know the songs of the birds, I know the language of the trees, I know the secrets of the wind and the mysteries of the sea." - phillis wheatley

(various African languages) English name: grains of paradise

"i am a black tree in the forest of night,/my branches reach out to the stars" - margaret walker

“I see my soul reflected in nature” – walt whitman

ademe (Amharic, Ethiopia) modern English name: Ethiopian mustard or Abyssinian cabbage

“when will there be a harvest for the world” – isley brothers

                                 	turnip greens after the first frost     
  the greening of black america                              rainforest prayers

dika (Bamileke, Cameroon) English name: irvingia fruit or African mango

“absolute trust in the goodness of the earth” - alice walker

koko (Akan, Ghana) English name: sorrel or roselle

     wildlife conservation     healing the anthropocene with biodiversity

ibitoke (Kinyarwanda, Rwanda) modern English name: African eggplant

“twirling beneath the fig's 
seeds spinning like a newly 
discovered galaxy 
that's been there forever,” ross gay 

ntoyo cibemba (Bemba, Zambia) modern English name: cowpea leaves or black-eyed peas

                                	deeply grounded transcendence     
   finite ⇆   infinite 
                   multiplicities ⇆ the whole
seed ⇄ 
      garden ⇄ 
            universe ⇄ 
                source

undivided

into 
interconnected energies 
of the 
world


Ecollective photo

“We feel the hot winds of wildfire, the disruptions of the pandemic, and the choked breath of the victims of state violence. We know there is no going back to  ‘normal.’  The path forward demands that we take our rightful places as the younger siblings in creation, deferring to the oceans, forests, and mountains as our teachers.” — Leah Penniman

Leah Penniman's Black Earth Wisdom anthology is the bible of black, brown and indigenous environmentalism. 

This collection of essays and interviews document our deep, ancestral connection to the Earth. The book also examines the inextricable link between environmental and racial justice. It is a call to action, testimony of resilience, a joyous celebration, and an indispensable repository of knowledge.

ecollective graphic

source seed seedling garden universe

ecollective graphic