DeLois Babiker, Essence Johnson and Louise Palmer of Intellectual Concepts and E2i2: 5 Things We Must Do To Inspire The Next Generation About Sustainability And The Environment
An Interview With Martita Mestey
Spend a Saturday planting trees, either in your own back garden or joining a local tree planting initiative.
As a part of my series about what we must do to inspire the next generation about sustainability and the environment, I had the pleasure of interviewing DeLois Babiker (IC), Essence Johnson (IC) and Louise Palmer (E2i2).
DeLois B. Babiker, CEO and Managing Member, Intellectual Concepts, LLC.
DeLois B. Babiker founded Intellectual Concepts (IC), a professional services firm that works on improving the quality of life of communities through providing technical assistance, monitoring & evaluation, and surveillance services to the public health, defense, and transit industries. She knows how to build a business from the ground up, overseeing the corporate strategy, alliances, client relationships, and partnerships that make IC successful. She is dynamic, innovative, and results driven. She is a dynamic mother, wife, mentor and friend.
Essence Johnson, Vice-President of Operations, Intellectual Concepts, LLC. and Vice-Chair at E2i2
Essence Johnson plays an integral role in both organizations, facilitating local mobility planning and coordination, public outreach, and partnership building. She serves as the liaison with leads in the community and corporations to develop and maintain current transportation services and eligibility processes. Essence is a doting mother, wife, community advocate and a professional.
Louise C. Palmer, Executive Director, E2i2
Louise C. Palmer is a sociologist, public health leader, scholar, British American, and mother. Louise is a dedicated, passionate advocate for health for all, achieved through community-driven programs, research studies, and supportive policy change. As climate issues intensify around the world, disproportionately impacting historically disenfranchised communities, Louise believes that tackling environmental health issues are the most critical health equity issue of our time.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit more. Was there an “aha moment” or a specific trigger that made you decide you wanted to become a scientist or environmental leader? Can you share that story with us?
Essence Johnson: I was stationed to work and advocate with the Sierra Club for a bill going to the state legislation for safe drinking water in Pittsburgh, PA. Knocking on doors, hearing the stories of the community, and listening to those impacted by the lack of safe drinking water had me thinking about how a pandemic can adversely affect communities. You see how much the environment plays a key role in our day-to-day living when there is no water to drink, no water to bathe in, and the implications on your health and the overall health of the community.
Louise Palmer: When I was an elementary school child in the 1980s in England, concern about our environment was front and center with the ozone hole crisis. At that time, the world came together to ban chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), used in many household aerosols. Together with my friends, we started our village’s first newspaper recycling effort, going door-to-door to collect newspapers. What began as a rudimentary campaign would develop into an institutionalized recycling service. Since then, I have cared deeply about preserving our planet for future generations, but I also understood firsthand the power of community organizing. Fast forward two decades and my career as an applied sociologist illuminated that systems of discrimination create unequal foundations to achieve access to healthy environments with detrimental impacts on health, well-being, and quality of life. As climate issues intensify globally, disproportionately impacting historically disenfranchised communities, it was a natural fit for me to take this role at E2I2.
Can you tell our readers about the initiatives that you or your company are taking to address climate change or sustainability? Can you give an example for each?
Essence: Intellectual Concepts and E2i2 work collaboratively to address environmental needs through our technical analysis and community-based approaches. We work hand in hand to ensure that the community drives the force for change because they are the residents and the ultimate ones impacted by their environment. To do that, we must:
- listen to communities because we want to know what is happening. Our ultimate goal is to leave a lasting legacy and a better environment then which we started working with.
- use the community’s approach, driving their wants and needs from our collaboration to educate and empower them to advocate for their own environmental leads. We deliver the technical data necessary for them to do that.
Can you share 3 lifestyle tweaks that the general public can do to be more sustainable or help address the climate change challenge?
Louise: At the policy level, I hope that the Biden Administration’s Justice40 Executive Order becomes institutionalized through legislation. Justice40 is a whole-of-governmental attempt to address racial and income inequities through funding focused on environmental pollution, climate threats, and economic instability. Justice40 mandates that “disadvantaged communities” (the Biden Administration term) must receive 40% of the benefits of certain governmental investments from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This historic investment must be strengthened and continued beyond the current administration to have a lasting impact.
At the individual level, I think there is often this feeling of helplessness when it comes to climate change. However, amazing innovation is taking place to move us away from dependence on harmful energy sources and combat pollution. I encourage people to commit to their own individual actions to reuse, reduce, recycle, and support climate innovators and nonprofits working on the front lines. A small-standing donation to environmental justice nonprofits can go a long way toward sustainable solutions.
Ok, thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview: The youth-led climate strikes of September 2019 showed an impressive degree of activism and initiative by young people on behalf of climate change. This was great, and there is still plenty that needs to be done. In your opinion, what are 5 things parents should do to inspire the next generation to become engaged in sustainability and the environmental movement?
1. Install habits into daily family life, such as using cloth napkins instead of paper towels, always recycling, and turning off lights not in use.
2. Provide hope by telling your children about cool, innovative solutions that young people will find interesting, such as System 001 — a 62-mile-long barrier that targets plastic debris, microplastics, and ghost nets.
3. With your teens, thrifting is huge right now — a great way to be the cool parent and help reuse clothing and other goods!
4. Spend a Saturday planting trees, either in your own back garden or joining a local tree planting initiative.
5. WASH — Waste, Sanitation, and Hygiene — aids in the decrease of infectious diseases, both domestic and international.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Essence: There is no one person, but I would say that I had a support system that poured into me, including my parents, my husband, my child, friendships, etc. In addition, those whose footprints I have stepped in to carry on the entrepreneurial spirit, the giveback, etc.
DeLois: I have had many individuals along the way that I got nuggets of knowledge from that I could apply interjectively to help us move forward as a company. Also, my strong, faith-based beliefs are the center of me and how I drive Intellectual Concepts and contribute to E2i2.
What is the best way for people to continue to follow your work online?
Instagram and Facebook: @IntellectualConcepts and @e2i2org
X (Twitter): @Intel_Concepts and @e2i2org
Intellectualconcepts.com
E2i2.org
This was so inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
