“We’ve actually got to deal with the foundational belief system, which is white supremacy and racism. Because if we don’t deal with those two things, we won’t be able to deal with this disposability that then is projected on to ecological spaces and to whole peoples.” Hop Hopkins
E116 – Hop Hopkins on HUMILITY, CLIMATE JUSTICE AND LIBERATORY IMAGINATION
ECOLOGY OF LISTENING
Listen to the conversation:
If you love the show, you can subscribe through iTunes, Stitcher or Spotify and listen offline on your favourite device. Podcasts are great for long drives and commuting.
About this interview:
“We’ve actually got to deal with the foundational belief system, which is white supremacy and racism. Because if we don’t deal with those two things, we won’t be able to deal with this disposability that then is projected on to ecological spaces and to whole peoples.” Hop Hopkins
In this episode Amisha speaks with Hop Hopkins, the Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Sierra Club working to promote economic justice and protection to those most affected by climate change and environmental degradation. He has worked in the labor, the climate justice and the housing justice movement. Hop is an Arborist and a Master Gardener living in community and creating a network of residential food forests supporting the development of stable, human-scale solar self-reliant neighborhood communities.
Amisha and Hop explore listening to Earth as a practice of acknowledging our surroundings and our inner voices; an expansive opportunity for becoming conscious, compassionate and empathetic. They reveal how the pandemic, climate change and economy are interrelated and how the overarching system we live in impacts us all in its interconnectedness. They share how the global changes activated during the past year are an invitation to use our liberatory imagination in order to craft new governance and economic models, and new models of community support.
Hop shares his personal experiences of living in a self-reliant community and the advantages of such a support system and sharing economy, especially in times of crisis and times of unlearning. He believes that fostering a culture of failing, learning and humility will help us form pathways into collective leadership rooted in sharing and self-governing communities where we may flourish into living our full humanity.
We learn that ‘sacrifice zones’ were designed to exploit land and people systemically instating racism, disposability and destruction that sit at the very core of environmental and human exploitation. In order to dismantle these foundations of our system, we must recognise its magnitude, develop anti-racist analysis and overcome scarcity mindsets.
“Listening does require a certain level of humility.” ~Hop Hopkins
Hop Hopkins is the Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Sierra Club, where he works to ensure that Sierra Club campaigns and programs protect those most affected by climate change and environmental degradation and promote economic justice.
Born in Dallas, Texas to working class parents, Hop sharpened his intersectional analysis organising as an HIV/AIDS organiser and anti-globalisation activist during the WTO uprising. In the years since, he has worked in the labor movement, the climate justice movement and the housing justice movement. Hop is also a certified Arborist, a Master Gardener, has his Permaculture Design Certificate and is a certified Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) instructor.
Hop works in his community outside of Los Angeles to create a network of residential food forests in order to support the development of stable, human-scale solar self-reliant neighborhood communities integrated with cooperative local economies. Alongside his wife of seventeen years, Hop homeschools their two daughters and maintains a food forest inhabited by their pet Australian shepherds, chickens, honey bees, fruit trees and multiple compost piles.
To find out more about Hop’s work, visit sierraclub.org
To connect or work with Amisha, visit amisha.co.uk
To find out more about St Ethelburga’s, visit stethelburgas.org
Listening To Each Other, Listening to Earth, is a collaboration with St Ethelburgas, and is funded by the Kalliopeia Foundation. For this collaboration — will be hosting 8 podcasts, and some live events. We give deep gratitude to both for making this possible.
Listening to each other : Listening to Earth reaches for the place where spiritual ecology and climate justice meet. It explores the integration of spirituality with grounded action through the lives and leadership of people of colour.
Kalliopeia was founded as an independent foundation to help support people and organisations who are working to bring spiritual values into institutions and systems of everyday life and work. St Ethelburga’s builds community resilience for times of ecological and social emergency. Their work is organised around 4 principles which are:
- Put values into action
- Seek opportunity in crisis
- Build community across differences, and
- Protect what is sacred
Resources and links from this episode:
- Hop Hopkins article – ‘Racism is Killing Your Planet’
- Sierra Club National Magazine
- Hop Hopkins Instagram account
- Sierra Club Instagram account
- Sierra Club Facebook
- St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation & Peace
- Kalliopeia Foundation
Connect more with us:
- Beautiful Leadership mentoring
- Amisha’s One-to-One sessions
- Amisha’s book – INTUITION
- all that we are membership
←Previous Podcast Episode Next Podcast Episode →
You must be logged in to post a comment.