Season 2, Episode 7: Deeohn Ferris

Oct. 7, 2021

Cities are where the majority of the world’s population lives, where most of our energy is consumed, and where most of our products are made. Cities are also places where many people experience the impacts of the climate crisis and where frontline communities deal with the daily impacts of air and water pollution. These trends will only continue: according to the United Nations, by 2050 89% of the U.S. population and 68% of the world population will live in urban areas, substantial increases from today’s levels. Community-level work is thus vital to solving the climate crisis and related problems of air and water pollution. And one of the world’s leaders in community-level environmental work is Deeohn Ferris, president of the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC).

In this episode of the Mother Earth Podcast, we sit down with Deeohn for a conversation about the indispensable role of community-based environmental change. Deeohn and her team work in cities in China, India, Bangladesh and the United States, where they bring together key stakeholders--factory owners, workers, government leaders, NGOs, and folks at the grassroots level--to tackle the critical issues of making the transition to renewable energy, enhancing resiliency, reducing pollution, and making sure that equity is at the center of the process. Deeohn and her colleagues share international best practices and experience, provide technical expertise and training, and build the capacity of local organizations in order to spark creative environmental solutions and lasting change. This is a true bottom-up, inclusive approach; it entails listening to people in the community and ensuring that solutions emerge from within each community rather than being imposed from the outside.

Deeohn and her team focus on communities that are hit hardest by climate change to ensure that no one is left behind when it comes to solutions. For example, she discusses with us the Southeast Florida Compact, a recent ISC project building coastal resiliency solutions in order to deal with sea level rise. Deeohn and her team drew from the programs and solutions implemented in the cities they work with in Asia to implement projects like this one in the U.S.

Deeohn also brings a unique perspective to her work as a Black environmental lawyer who’s been deeply involved in environmental justice issues for many years. Her first job out of law school was working at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, where she saw firsthand the impacts of pollution on Black and brown communities. She was involved in the early years of the environmental justice movement and has remained committed to racial equity in the environmental movement ever since. This commitment is instilled in ISC’s work around the world today.

Deeohn leaves us with a hopeful reminder that she says gets her up and out of bed every day: “people are the ones that make change.” Join us this week for this conversation at the cutting edge of community-based solutions to the climate crisis.

““I think the power of the Institute for Sustainable Communities is our work facilitating and ensuring that equity and justice and the outcomes that benefit people are embedded in climate change solutions.”
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— Deeohn Ferris