Minoritised students in Lancaster counter the male-dominated, Eurocentric, heteronormative study of the environment. And go for a walk!
This story is part of our Tales from a Slow Way series, funded by the Pilgrim Trust. Each Tales award includes a contribution to an organisation as well as a project fee to the creators. LEC Minorities’ project donation went to Black Geographers.
My name is Lillie and I am a passionate ecological storyteller. I love the environment and engaging marginalised people. During my time at university, I have given an International Women’s Day panel on climate justice, created two multimedia science communication platforms, and facilitated eco-feminist campaigns and events for the Women+ Forum and lots more.
I’ve also been part of LEC Minorities, a community of final-year students studying Geography, Ecology and Conservation at Lancaster Environment Centre. We went to uni throughout the pandemic and spent our first year mostly quarantined and isolated. We’re all people of colour (and/or LGBT), on a predominantly white and heterosexual course. Sometimes we have been made to feel as though the environment isn’t ‘for us’, or we have stood out and felt isolated on our degree. But we have banded together and called ourselves the ‘LEC Minorities’, creating a new group of nature lovers. We want to be role models for the next generation of environmental students as well as young people of colour interested in the environment. We have a unique perspective and want to celebrate this joy and community we have found in a difficult three years.
Here we are, Andrea Asare, Laiybah Ibrahim, Amrin Golam and me – Lillie Aissa.
To mark our final year we walked from Lancaster to Yorkshire and reflected on our experience of attending university during covid, and the diversity crisis within the environmental sector. During our walk we spent some time making a short film about young people in the UK exploring nature today.
If this can inspire even one young person to take more interest in Geography, I will be satisfied
What were the highlights of the walk?
It was amazing to have a space to reflect on our university experience in real time as we were finishing up our degrees. I loved the walk and filming, how we all embraced our creative side to show the beauty of nature and the power of community. It was a beautiful feeling bringing people together after intense deadlines and hard work.
What were the most surprising things you found on the walk?
We found a micropub at Hest Bank, a tiny station which trains regularly whizz past. We stopped for a drink there and met the locals, who were so lovely! It highlighted the values of slow travel and the immeasurable experiences through more local travel. We never would have known it existed! We also saw a lot of waste littering some of the path, as well as some really adorable forest paths with local ecology signposted. These variable paths showed us both the barriers and joys of conducting a Slow Ways route.
What did your friends think of the experience?
Although we all enjoyed it, the walk itself was challenging as it took place during a summer heatwave. This underlined the issues of climate change we had learned about and discussed, and it wasn’t safe to be in the direct heat for long periods. It was also difficult to time things as the end of university was very hectic.
Will the project have a legacy?
The project’s legacy will hopefully inspire young BAME people to pursue Geography and Environmental Sciences. We wanted to highlight both the lack of representation, and the importance of diversity in the field. We were very inspired by the work of Black Geographers. If this can inspire even one young person to take more interest in geography, I will be satisfied. I hope this inspires people to carve out their niche, take up space and build community. The legacy will be the energy we have created and the amazing things we will go on to do with our lives.
Last year we launched ‘Tales from a Slow Way’, a community stories initiative that enabled us to commission creatives and community groups to work together to produce original stories and content situated around Slow Ways walking routes. Each award included a donation to the organisation as well as a project fee to the creative. Together the awarded projects map the sheer diversity of walkers across the UK and highlight the importance of forging new paths. Our great thanks go to The Pilgrim Trust for funding the Tales series.
