Program on the Environment

Climate change is exacerbating the global crisis of forced migration, primarily through economic displacement. US immigration labor and detention policy has always contributed to systemic exploitation of immigrant labor, making immigrant labor advocacy organizations particularly salient. Additionally, there are many studies on the impacts of environmental restoration work on participants’ connection to nature, but none studying the impacts on immigrant participants, who may have relationships with nature in their home countries to compare. There are also studies showing the unique ability of art in environmental education to connect complex ideas and reimagine reality. The purpose of this study is to bridge some of the gaps between art studies, environmental psychology, and migrant labor studies.

As an intern with Partner in Employment’s Environmental Restoration Job Training Program, I designed and facilitated an Artistic Storytelling Workshop to connect relationships to nature with immigration stories through creating collages. I then interviewed participants on how environmental restoration work has affected their relationship with nature, how that compares to their relationship with nature in their home countries, and how these themes intersect in the collages they created. I found that environmental restoration work increased participants’ awareness and appreciation of ecosystems through environmental education and direct participation in ecosystem management. Participants creatively connected their relationship to land from their home countries to Seattle, and incorporated different ecosystems into their identity. Connecting to nature is important for feeling rooted as active participants in communities and ecosystems.