Environmental Educator Teaches Benefits of Ecological Restoration

Martina (Mars) Patterson is a former Chief Land Steward at Nearby Nature Milwaukee and now environmental educator and artist. Patterson has led multiple projects in ecological restoration and environmental cultural wellness. Her leadership has been seen in her work throughout Northwestern Milwaukee and The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.

Patterson shares her thoughts on ecological restoration and environmentalism through their artistic and spiritual perspective on their work in sustainability and the climate. She discusses topics on educating the youth about environmental projects, climate racism and injustice, privilege, and the intersectionality of environmentalism in communities in Milwaukee.

Katherine Nguyen:

 Do you think the youth and adult programs that you supervised provided more justice and ability to make a change in spreading awareness about these environmental issues?

Mars Patterson:

Oh, I like to think so. I hope so. Just by me being the person representing what is possible, I like to say I’m living my ancestors’ wildest dreams. I have notes on my wall up here that remind me of  my great grandparents who couldn’t read or write. So the fact that I’m able to share this information blows my mind sometimes. One thing that I like to do is be cautious of the vocabulary and terminology I’m using to describe what I’m doing. For example, I know that programs is a common term that everybody uses and it’s what we’re doing, we’re building a knowledge base, if you will. But I like to use the word, specifically when I’m dealing with black and brown youth is skill building or initiatives. Whenever I’d have to write like project proposals for Nearby Nature, I would take the word “program” out because they will be like “youth programs”, “program director”, and I feel like well, we’re not building robots in the terminology, but I want to grow perspective on the energy of that word. 

I want to introduce what we’re really doing, instead of looking at it as like programming minds, we’re offering initiatives to implementing skills, so that hopefully they can continue with what they learn and inspire others. I think maybe an example of seeing that in progress will be I took some children to Haven Woods State Forest, I think it was third and fourth graders who had never been to the forest before. So, there’s a lot of apprehension, but we can do things to softly introduce them into these ecosystems and environments, so that I can create a safe space for them to feel comfortable. But a student from a different group was like, black people don’t go to the forest. And I’m like, really? That’s fascinating, that you think that.  Tell me more? And she didn’t really have an answer to why, so I try to grow perspective. 

Q: Have you encountered any food deserts that are not talked about in the media (in or outside of Milwaukee)?   

A: Yes, I live in a food desert and worked in several food deserts. Now that I’m thinking about it, like my whole life, I’ve lived in a food desert, that’s fascinating. That question that now I have to think about my own life. I think that is so normalized within the area that I grew up in and currently live in that. There’s four liquor stores in the vicinity. I know that there’s more than that. I’m just visualizing when I drive down the street, as soon as I leave my house, there’s two. Actually three, you pass three going. South. there’re more liquor stores in unhealthy access, then healthy access, which I think plays into the economic injustice and the environmental racism that exists. It also makes me think of the red lining how all of this was structurally. The structural racism because all of this was designed this way and how can we get a new design team or ahead of the design team so that we can offer healthy options.

A part of that is a lot of people have good intentions building raised garden beds within the community, but they lack the educational component to teach some of the people how to care take the garden throughout the seasons, even after spring and summer, and the upkeep that it requires, even watering if you build a raised garden bed in an empty plot,  there’s no access to water, then people are probably just going to abandon it because they don’t want to lug a bunch of water back and forth. So just thinking logistically in terms of how to sustain these healthy options, because it’s more than just your good intentions, it has to last 50 years from now, what happens when you leave if you’re not passing that knowledge on. It’s all about sharing knowledge and hopefully creating healthier spaces. Because why are there so many empty green spaces, but there’s a disconnect between the people and the green space. So, I’m trying to figure out ways to reconnect that thread. 

Q:  Do you think that it comes from a deep place of economic and environmental privilege for these environmental projects to continue to sustain after it’s been implemented into the city? 

A: Yes, I would agree with it. And I think it also stems from authority. For lack of a correct word like the authoritative complex; this is ingrained and designed to keep certain members of society in these pockets, which is so fascinating how humans work. In the midst of them trying to do this, they are doing as humans are reflecting ecosystems. If we took our time and recognized how much we are reflecting what nature does, I think that it would humble us. We would have a little bit more empathy and connectivity between each other because I’m thinking of different ecosystems, how certain plants that came in from a different location dominate it and kind of run all of the other local plants out because they took over the sunlight or they are causing too much shade. It’s so fascinating, I do think that it comes from a place of privilege, blind privilege, sometimes because people will argue to the death that I’m not privileged, but that there’s not a negative word is just an observation because some people have more access to necessities than others.

Q: Has exploring the interconnectedness of different communities in the area through their cultures taught you more about their environmental justice?  How has it helped you understand the intersectionality of environmentalism?

A: Yeah, I like the word intersectionality. It seems like the hot word or what have you within a lot of these environmental groups. But it’s true, it’s a very good word to describe what has been going on. I think that my thing is people, place, plants and trying to highlight that through art, ecology, and wellness. All of those things intersect without having to try so hard. If we just observe, I don’t think there’s a deep separation between ecology and wellness. If you are a steward or land restorationist, your job or your goal is the well being of the space and in turn, that is going to help you in the community in your health and wealth. Unfortunately, some people abuse the wealth,  I mean it in terms of spiritual wealth, like well being, It has been commodified into  how much money can we get off of this project or community or activity in losing sight of the natural benefits without all of the money being involved. Now, I think that goes back to your comment about privilege. There’s a lot of money involved in this work, and there’s a lot of greedy people, unfortunately.

Q: Has the media coverage on environmental programs been more prominent in your opinion? If not, is it discouraging or does it make you more empowered to continue with your work?

A: I think it’s a little bit of both. My natural instinct, when I receive those, the energy from the stories that I read or watch, it can be discouraging.  To your point, that one sided view or two sided view, in being in the world, for real, that is encouraging, because media is created to manipulate and divide. It’s supposed to be to encourage, inspire and inform. In my opinion, it has turned into something else because of greedy individuals. For the small group of people who are there to inspire, encourage and inform with truth; that is encouraging for me to continue what I’m doing, and I think this two sided viewpoint is unrealistic.

Why do I want to believe what I’m seeing anymore? If you consistently push negativity about the other person, you’re creating a lot of turmoil and trauma in my space in my thoughts. I’m carrying that with me subconsciously, so then when I get to a restaurant, I snap on the waiter, because I’m angry about what I saw on TV, and I didn’t know that I was still carrying that. So I think that a lot of what we see, we absorb, unintentionally and subconsciously, we need to cleanse, honestly and reel away from social media and the news. I think a lot of people, me too, are lazy, we don’t want to do the research and find the truth because there are other media outlets and individuals in journalism who are passionate about their work. I look to those people for encouragement, so that I can continue my work. I have been interviewed a couple of times before but my purpose is not to be on somebody’s TV or newspaper but I mean, if it helps encourage others who spread the word then alright.

Q: Are there any publications or organizations that you reach out to or they have reached out to you that make you more empowered to show your work to the media?

A: None specifically that I can think of at the moment I’ve been interviewed by, I wanted to see institutionalized businesses. I don’t mean that in a negative way, they just have money behind them, like the Journal Sentinel  that it’s been around for decades, or CBS, things like that, it would be cool. If I could do a TED Talks one day, or be on PBS, a platform that feels good, because it is really doing good.

Q: How has your art background and interest in community growing environmentalism and ecology interconnected themselves into your passions in life?

A: Oh, that’s a good question, I think that it’s kept me alive. Sometimes I feel like I’m losing my mind and it feels like a daunting task taking on some of the responsibilities and work that I’ve done and am doing. It also just coming back home sometimes feels like you know, just living and I have no shade to my neighborhood because I love my peoples. But also the human trafficking that takes place in this neighborhood is just overwhelming so I have to keep my art going so I can keep my mind.

Q: Has exploring different communities in the area and their cultures taught you more about environmental justice and their knowledge?

A: I’ve had the beautiful opportunity to work with Melanie Tallmadge Sainz, who’s a wonderful artist and Hocąk elder. She hired me to assist her and Muneer Bahauddeen to do ceramic tile murals in Sauk County. I learned so much and she taught me so much about her traditions, her food, everything and  communicating with my neighbors on both sides of me and across the street or among families. It is just learning so much about everybody’s culture and implementing it into what I’m doing is very inspiring.