Our Approach

The Lupine Collaborative’s mission is to advance environmental and climate justice by abundantly resourcing Black women, non-binary, and transgender people to dream, ideate, and build toward a liberatory future. We envision a world where these communities are able to access joy, liberation, and environmental/climate justice in their lifetimes.  

We operate with the knowledge that climate & environmental change impact every aspect of our lives so our solutions must be intersectional and bold, and challenge the mainstream paradigms of what it looks like to sustain and support the thriving of Black life on this planet. We understand that the movement for climate & environmental justice explicitly intersects with all justice movements -- including queer and trans justice, economic justice, housing justice, reproductive justice, gender justice, and abolition.

Lupine is situated in the lineage of the work of the members of the Combahee River Collective who stated, “We realize that the only people who care enough to work consistently for our liberation is us. Our politics evolve from a healthy love for ourselves, our sister, and our community which allows us to continue to struggle and work.”

Furthermore, Lupine does this knowing when we center these communities “...it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression. Always ally yourself with those on the bottom, on the margins, and at the periphery of the centers of power.” – Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. 

Narrative & Storytelling as a Theory of Change

Abolitionist Mariame Kaba encourages us to "document your work and write yourself into the record." Furthermore, the Black Feminists of the Combahee River Collective stated, "We feel that it is absolutely essential to demonstrate the reality of our politics to other Black women and believe that we can do this through writing and distributing our work. The fact that individual Black feminists are living in isolation all over the country, that our own numbers are small, and that we have some skills in writing, printing, and publishing makes us want to carry out these kinds of projects as a means of organizing Black feminists as we continue to do political work in coalition with other groups." 

Situated in the lineage of these and other Black feminists, abolitionists, and world-builders, Lupine offers writing labs and residencies, retreats, and individual funding to further the creation and distribution of Black women, non-binary, and transgender climate & environmental writers.

Black women, transgender, and non-binary people bring a critically intersectional lens to the climate movement. Writing, stories, and experiences of Black women, transgender, and non-binary people’s climate resilience and solutions serve as an invitation for others from these communities and beyond who are not often reflected and welcomed into the movement to find their place.

Through writer-in-residences, retreats, writing stipends, and our partnership with Milkweed Editions, The Lupine Collaborative catalyzes Black women, non-binary, and transgender writers to develop, create, and publish climate & environmental writing.

To achieve its mission, The Lupine Collaborative moves in the following ways: