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In light of recent events, particularly the murder of George Floyd, harassment of Christian Cooper, and unjust actions against protesters supporting the #BlackLivesMatter movement, we at LITC want to acknowledge the systematic oppression and racism that exists in our field.

We wholeheartedly support the Black community and communities of color, and firmly stand against racism.

We strongly believe the outdoors are for everyone, and that everyone should feel safe when conducting research and enjoying nature.

We acknowledge that for far too long this has not been the case for Black, Indigenous, and Latinx peoples and we commit to making our field a safer place for everyone in our community.

 

We will not be posting this week about urban ecology and evolution. Instead:

We are using our voice to promote the voices of Black scientists and naturalists. With this we would like to take a chance to highlight #BlackBirdersWeek and #BlackInNature, an initiative started by a group of Black biologists in direct response to the targeted harassment of Christan Cooper in Central Park. We encourage our readers to follow this initiative, listen to the experiences of Black naturalists, and amplify their voices.

We are using our voice to draw attention to the intersection of race, identity, and science in the urban evolution community. Our experiences in the field are influenced by our identity, and we acknowledge that many of our colleagues face additional challenges to conducting research in urban environments. We also emphasize that urban ecosystems include diverse human communities and urban research is inherently intersectional with environmental justice. As urban evolutionary ecologists we must remember to engage with the communities in which we work. We point our readers to a wonderful contribution to LITC by Dr. Chris Schell on integrating identity and community in urban research, as well as this post on fostering inclusive urban ecosystems.

We strive to promote equity, inclusion, accessibility, and diversity. We encourage participation in this community-run blog as contributors and commenters by individuals of all identities.

 

Kristin Winchell, Elizabeth Carlen, Lindsay Miles

Editors and Founders of Life in the City