<p>Ethnic minorities represent less than 20 percent of staff at environmental organizations, despite representing more than 40 percent of the U.S. population, according to Dorceta Taylor, a University of Michigan professor who authored <a href="http://vaipl.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ExecutiveSummary-Diverse-Green.pdf" target="_blank">a 2014 study</a> looking at the disparity. In environmental advocacy and grantmaking organizations as well as governmental agencies, power is held largely by white men, according to the study.<br></p>
<p>"We haven't solved the problem, but there's been an upward trend," Taylor said Friday at the <a href="https://www.sej.org/sej-annual-conferences/AC2018-agenda" target="_blank">Society of Environmental Journalists conference</a>. </p>
<p>Women have made significant gains, she noted: From 1988 to 1990 they made up just 30 percent of the staff in environmental organizations. Today, she said, that number is around 62 percent.</p>
<p>Environmental justice reporter Yessenia Funes agreed that things are improving.</p>
<p> "There's a long way to go still," Funes said, "but things have gotten so much better than when I started reporting in this space just five years ago."</p>
<p>Although women now hold a majority of positions in environmental organizations, they're still mostly white women, Taylor noted. And the positions they hold are primarily entry-level.</p>
<p>"As you start to hit the glass ceiling, the numbers of women in C-level positions drop significantly," Taylor said, adding that her newest research shows that significant gender and racial wage gaps still persist—and that they're the largest for women of color. </p><blockquote><em>"We are starting to see changes at very high levels. Presidents and vice presidents of major environmental organizations are finally starting to include people of color."</em></blockquote>
<p>Grist executive editor Nikhil Swaminathan, who moderated the panel discussion, said that diversity in the stories about environmental work is just as important as diversity within environmental organizations.</p>
<p>"Environmental organizations have a diversity problem," Swaminathan said. "Journalism does, too. It's important to tell stories that reflect the audience you want to have."</p>
<p>Rhonda Anderson, a Detroit-based environmental justice organizer for the Sierra Club, pointed to journalist Zoë Schlanger's <a href="https://www.medicaldaily.com/detroit-air-quality-michigan-deq-air-pollution-379768" target="_blank">reporting on toxic air pollution in Detroit</a> as an example of why including diverse voices in stories about environmental health is so important. After that story broke in 2016, the EPA was forced to take action.</p>
<p>"When you cover these stories, it makes a major difference," Anderson said. "You can literally save lives."</p><p><em>Editor's note: This week, the Society of Environmental Journalists is holding its annual convention in Flint, Michigan. EHN.org reporter Kristina Marusic is there, and senior editor Brian Bienkowski is conference co-chair. Follow the conversation on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23sej2018&src=typd" target="_blank">#SEJ2018</a></em></p>
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