Waves of Change is an online interview series highlighting the diverse faces and perspectives shaping the environmental justice movement throughout the Great Lakes region.
This month, we spoke with Antonio Cosme, an Indigenous-descended creative, organizer and educator from southwest Detroit whose current work spans conservation, environmental justice and traditional ecological activities. He works with the grassroots nonprofit Black to the Land as an organizer and is the land stewardship manager for Friends of Rouge Park.
Listen to the full interview:
As someone who has been working in environmental justice for almost 10 years, Cosme said it all began with trying to stop the water shutoffs in Detroit.
Antonio Cosme gardening. (Photo courtesy of William Belen)
“Doing stuff together for a broader purpose as a group is one of the best feelings in the world,” Cosme said. “I love what I call collective effervescence, it’s just the joy and interconnection of a bunch of people working on a project. I love that. I often am searching for that and facilitating that and finding places where it’s happening and going to those places and just working with people. And outdoors happens to be one of my favorite places to do it.”
Learn more about the featured organizations:
- Black to the Land Coalition
- Friends of Rouge Park
- Detroit Parks Coalition
- Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition
- Detroit Urban Forest School
- Detroit Outdoors
- The Detroit Bird Alliance
- We Fixin to Fish
- The Michigan Natural Features Inventory
- Friends of the Detroit River
- Chicago Adventure Therapy
- Belle Isle Conservancy
- We Run 313
Catch more news at Great Lakes Now:
Nibi Chronicles: The Gift of Manoomin
Composting, water access and backyard chickens: Detroit’s urban farming evolution
Featured image: Antonio Cosme ricing. (Photo courtesy of Evan Lanese via Antonio Cosme)
