In early 2025 I taught an introductory course on environmental justice. As students make their way to class, normally, I set up my Powerpoint slides or prepare and divvy up materials for in class activities. On this day, I wanted to try something new. Kendrick Lamar had just performed the Superbowl Halftime Show, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to mention him in class. My first slide featured a photo from his performance.
“Who watched the Superbowl last weekend? Did anyone catch the halftime show?”
Most of these students did not watch either event.
“Have any of you listened to Kendrick Lamar?”
Heads shook.
“Well, you might be interested in checking the performance out. Kendrick Lamar is from Compton, California. He is one of the biggest rappers and songwriters of today. Many of his songs are about systemic racism against Black people in America. He’s won 22 Grammys, and he was the first rapper to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2018.”
A student chimed, “I didn’t know that he won a Pulitzer!” As expected, none of my students listened to Kendrick Lamar, but they knew how prestigious a Pulitzer is. I then pointed out how one of Kendrick’s lyrics in his performance was a reference to Gil Scott-Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” and passed out copies of this song’s lyrics as music boomed through our classroom. After the song, students shared that the song was nostalgic, bringing them back to a different era. We then segued to that day’s main topic, the non-profit industrial complex.
My students in that class were not the typical bright-eyed University of Minnesota student you might have imagined. They were adult learners ages 50 and up.
(Photo by Bob Kupbens, Icon Sportswide, Getty Images)
Environmental justice is a concept, social movement, and body of research that refers to everyone’s right to live, work, and play in a safe and healthy environment. It is also deeply intersectional with connections to racial justice and class inequity. For years I was itching for the opportunity to design an introductory environmental justice course. When that opportunity came through the University of Minnesota’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, I was excited to design the course in a way that wove together key debates in the field, major examples from environmental justice activism, and most importantly made environmental justice feel as alive in the classroom as it is out in the “real world.”
In the months before class started I began preparing my materials. In sharing my excitement for the course, one of my peers asked, “Is the course for freshmen?” As I explained how the program is specifically for adult learners aged 50+, they scoffed, “Oh, that will be interesting with those types of students.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“I’m just saying that they’re probably all baby boomers… you know?”
I could sense that she was referring to stereotypes about Baby Boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, and how they are all conservative, economically self-serving killjoys who are deeply set in their ways: cranky retirees who have cash to splash, time to spend and unsolicited opinions they will share nonetheless. In other words, my peer was really trying to say, “They can’t possibly be interested in environmental justice.”
Environmental justice is a concept, social movement, and body of research that refers to everyone’s right to live, work, and play
in a safe and healthy environment,
and it is deeply intersectional with connections to racial justice and class inequity.
I’ve worked in environmental justice activism and scholarship since 2018 across the United States and I’ve noticed a clear tension: some spheres of environmental justice work welcome intergenerational collaboration and solidarity, while others are most hostile to the idea. I’ve encountered a handful of individuals who staunchly believe, like my peer, that seniors and elders are incapable of being a part of the movement, or that they lack the capacity to care for social justice issues.
How did we forget that Baby Boomers lived through the most formative social justice movements of the 1960s to 1990s? Baby Boomers lived through movements for Civil Rights, Women’s Liberation, Anti-Vietnam War, LGBTQ+ Rights, Disability Rights, El Movimiento (Chicano / Latino Civil Rights) and Native American Rights. Casting Baby Boomers as this monolith of conservatism fails to recognize how Baby Boomers, like any generation, are diverse with a range of experiences, perspectives and view points.
How did we forget that Baby Boomers lived through the most formative social justice movements of the 1960s to 1990s?
Did we also forget that environmental justice progress has been built on the backs of elders? Dollie Burwell was one of the first environmental justice activists who took a stand at Warren County, North Carolina, in what is well regarded as the birthplace of the U.S. Environmental Justice Movement (Burwell 2022). Charles Lee organized The First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit and authored Toxic Waste and Race in the United States, one of the first reports that documented how Black and Brown communities are more likely to live near hazardous waste sites (Morrison 2009). LaDonna Brave Bull Allard of The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe co-founded resistance camps during the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests (Seelye 2021); Sharon Lavigne stopped the development of a $9.4 billion petrochemical plant in cancer alley (Surrusco 2024); Rebecca Jim of the Cherokee Nation has advocated for a clean up of the Tar Creek Superfund Site for nearly three decades (LEAD, n.d.).
The irony of this forgetfulness is that many Gen Z’ers, those born between 1997 and 2012, feel overlooked too. Gen Z is stereotyped as lazy, entitled snowflakes who are obsessed with technology rather than the “real world.” But, like all stereotypes, that is far from reality. Many do not feel taken seriously when it comes to voting or running for local and municipal offices, and instead have taken to social media to advocate for environmental and social justice. Even though we all share similar goals in addressing environmental injustice, a chasm forms between generations where Baby Boomers aren’t seen and Gen Z’ers aren’t heard.
Gen Z is stereotyped as lazy, entitled snowflakes who are obsessed with technology rather than the “real world.” But, like all stereotypes, that is far from reality.
As environmental justice progresses, we all need to remember that environmental justice is intersectional and intergenerational. One of the greatest tools of the U.S. Environmental Justice Movement has been its ability to build solidarity and camaraderie across different groups. Embracing the intergenerational layers of environmental justice work can let us realize a full future where everyone has a safe and healthy environment to live, work, play and someday, retire.
Jumping back into my classroom, the course gave us a medium to bridge a generational divide. Teaching environmental justice to retirees as a Gen Z’er wasn’t too dissimilar to teaching undergraduates. These students appreciated the course’s mixed media format and embraced seminar discussions. Over our eight weeks together, we took a deep dive into the racist origins of The National Park Service, examined how drag queens are dismantling toxic masculinity in outdoor recreation and explored how public infrastructure can create opportunities for environmental justice. After talking about Kendrick Lamar and the non-profit industrial complex, one of my students emailed after class to express, “Thanks for all your hard work to communicate with the boomers! The song was great!”
Intergenerational work not only builds allies and solidarity, it is also fun. While building our understanding of environmental justice history and theory, we also traded interests. I introduced seniors to Kendrick Lamar just as they shared their favorite PBS documentaries, and because of them I now have a PBS subscription. I’m hooked! Teaching this class of adult learners was one of the most enjoyable experiences I had as a graduate student, and I would absolutely do it again.
Julie Sze writes that storytelling “widens the circle in the story of the ‘us’, the ‘how’, and the ‘now’”(Sze 2020, p. 70). Today, environmental justice direly needs allies. If we widen the story of who is included in the environmental justice movement, we can build solidarity for future generations to inherit our legacies. While ageism is far too prevalent in environmental justice work, it doesn’t have to be that way. Everyone has something to contribute and we grow learning from each other.
References
Burwell, D. B. (2022). Remembering to remember: The birth of an Environmental Justice Movement. Retrieved April 11, 2026, from https://www.warrenrecord.com/news/article_c163420e-8431-11ec-9b02-033fce80b479.html
Local Environmental Action Demanded – LEAD (n.d.) Rebecca Jim. Retrieved April 11, 2026 from https://www.leadagency.org/team/rebecca-jim
Morrison, D. S. (2009). Rallying point: Charles Lee’s longstanding career in public health. American journal of public health, 99(S3), S508-S510.
Seelye K.Q. (2021). LaDonna Allard Dies at 64; Led Dakota Pipeline Protests. Retrieved April 11, 2026 from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/us/ladonna-allard-dead.html
Surrusco E.K. (2024). Cancer Alley Rises Up. Retrieved April 11, 2026 from https://earthjustice.org/feature/cancer-alley-rises-up
Sze, J. (2020). Environmental justice in a moment of danger. University of California Press