In this episode of Compost, Cotton & Cornrows, Dominique Drakeford sits in powerful conversation with Catherine Coleman Flowers - MacArthur “Genius” grant recipient, founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice and one of the foremost architects of modern environmental justice. From her upbringing in Lowndes County, Alabama where rows of cotton met front doors and families engineered their own sanitation systems  to advising the White House on federal environmental policy, Catherine reframes sustainability as “building something that’s lasting” in a nation designed for planned obsolescence. She unpacks how civil rights organizing shaped her advocacy, why environmental injustice is not a “Black issue” but a systems issue, and how storytelling, data, and local political power shape who gets protected.

Together, they confront the rising tensions of our time: water-hungry data centers and what Catherine calls America’s “disaster economy” a system that profits from neglect and rebuilds only after harm. Yet this is not a conversation rooted in despair. It is grounded in stewardship, spirituality and the radical belief that if we “do the work again,” change is not only possible, it is inevitable. This episode is a masterclass in resilience, policy literacy and the sacred responsibility we all carry as environmental stewards.

https://www.catherinecolemanflowers.com/

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