EARTH EQUITY
EARTH EQUITY

Our Values

The below values were created by Earth Equity's founders (incarcerated and free) at San Quentin in 2022. They draw heavily from the 17 Principles of Environmental Justice created at the first multinational People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit (1991) as well as the 10 Principles of Disability Justice created by Sins Invalid (2015). We chose these principles because we are committed to Critical Environmental Justice and Disability Justice in our work. We recognize the relevance of each movement given the disproportionate incarceration of BIPOC and Disabled people. We hope to meaningfully contribute to these movements as we bring about decarceration and ecological restoration in our communities.

  • Self Determination

    We honor every person’s right to self determination and informed consent. We prioritize the personal, economic, political, and bodily sovereignty of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. We create resources (curriculum, nature connection experiences, tools for professional development) which system-impacted colleagues and friends can use to strengthen their own work towards restorative Environmental Justice and (inter)personal healing. We are dedicated to amplifying the voices of system-impacted people in all aspects of Earth Equity’s work and culture. We need the wisdom, adaptive capacities, resilience, and empowerment of incarcerated people in the fight for Environmental Justice and beyond. 

  • Liberation

    Thriving relationships with the Earth, each other, and our bodies are freeing! All people deserve to experience liberation and belonging. We work to create spaces in which community members can show up fully, challenge harmful systems, create new worlds, and have their needs met. We align with movements and people which go beyond binary thinking in favor of flexibility, imagination, and expression. We commit to solidarity with all movements and people remediating the effects of incarceration. We identify and strengthen relationships between Land, Sea, human communities, and decarceration. We understand that oppression is magnified and specific for people with intersecting identities, so we work towards liberation along many related axes. 

  • Access

    We commit to prioritizing accessibility at all times. The beauty and complexity of this work is that there is no “right way” of entering into or growing thriving relationships. Experiences of health, healing, learning, and communicating vary. Instead of trying to fit a standard or ideal, we honor and affirm many ways of being. We take responsibility for designing multimodal resources, accounting for community member access needs, and investing in adaptation and collaboration. 

  • Sustainability

    Environmentally sustainable practices can't be achieved unless they are also personally and culturally sustainable. We uphold work habits, organizational structures, and relationships which are responsible and tenable. We choose quality before quantity, rest before distress, and humanity before institutions. We honor inherent worth through practices of participatory management. We fight against perfectionism and extractivism by respecting boundaries and bringing our whole selves to work. 

  • Wholeness

    Each person is an ecosystem made of interdependent parts. Our wholeness reflects that of the Earth. When we work to restore living systems – whether personal or planetary – we strengthen them spiritually, culturally, physically, and emotionally. We commit to nurturing, restoring and re-storying wholeness. We validate, respect, and protect each person's autonomy, specificity, and value. We have the power to heal ourselves and the systems that harm us when we are seen and celebrated in community. We understand our interconnectedness and celebrate our interdependence. We build our strengths by responding compassionately to our needs. We enact Earth Equity's mission through kinship, coevolution, and a deep ethic of care.

  •