Engage, Connect, Protect: Empowering Diverse YOuth As Environmental Leaders

"Ezeilo's book is powerful, personal and practical. Speaking truth to power, she engages our hearts while challenging our comfort zones as it relates to race and the environment. She reminds of what's at stake with the only home we all know and what becomes possible if we take risks that challenge the status quo. What's that saying ― when you know different, you can do different? Well, read this book and let's get started!'" 

―Carolyn Finney, Ph.D. author, Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors

"As climate change and race dominate the national dialogue in the United States, Angelou Ezeilo's Engage, Connect, Protect is right on time. Ms. Ezeilo artfully articulates the obscured problem of racism in the country's environmental movement and unapologetically sets forth solutions that loom to benefit all of us and the planet."

― Elaine Brown, author, The Condemnation of Little B and A Taste of Power , slated for film production by Robbie Brenner Productions and Netflix

I thought it was the perfect mix of information, inspiration and an invitation to get real and do the hard work that's demanded of this moment. It is the message our industry needed and you delivered in a way that I can already tell has resonated with our community. In the famous words of Lin Manuel, "This is not a moment, it's the movement!"

–– Julia Rodgers, Founding DirectorEnRoute Consulting

Building environmental strength through a diversity of youth

WHILE CONCERN ABOUT the state of our land, air, and water continues to grow, there is widespread belief that environmental issues are primarily of interest to wealthy white communities. Engage, Connect, Protect explodes this myth, revealing the deep and abiding interest that African American, Latino, and Native American communities ― many of whom live in degraded and polluted parts of the country – have in our collective environment.

Part eye-opening critique of the cultural divide in environmentalism, part biography of a leading social entrepreneur, and part practical toolkit for engaging diverse youth, Engage, Connect, Protect covers:

• Why communities of color are largely unrecognized in the environmental movement
• Bridging the cultural divide and activating a new generation of environmental stewards
• A resource guide for connecting mainstream America to organizations working with diverse youth within environmental projects, training, and employment.

Engage, Connect, Protect is a wake-up call for businesses, activists, educators, and policymakers to recognize the work of grassroots activists in diverse communities and create opportunities for engaging with diverse youth as the next generation of environmental stewards.