Isaias Hernandez, aka the Queer Brown Vegan, is an environmentalist, educator, and creative devoted to improving environmental literacy through content creation, storytelling, and public engagements. A powerful influencer, Hernandez has thousands of followers at Instagram and produces informative, beautifully shot videos for his YouTube channel on important and timely topics (https://tinyurl.com/3uymcu5r).
Queer Brown Vegan is more than a moniker; it is an independent media platform that he started to bring intersectional environmental education to all. His journey to deconstruct complex issues, while centering diversity and authenticity, has resonated with a worldwide audience. He also collaborates with other leaders from the private and public sectors to uplift and produce stories of change for his independent web series, Sustainable Jobs and Teaching Climate Together. As a public speaker, he has presented for The New York Times, Harvard University, and many others.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, where he is currently based, Hernandez still has deep roots in the Bay Area. He earned his bachelor’s degree at UC Berkeley in environmental science, and lived in Oakland after graduation where he enjoyed meals at Millennium Restaurant, which serves inventive, locally sourced vegan dishes. He retains ties with Oakland’s Greenlining Institute, an organization that seeks to advance economic opportunity and empowerment for people of color through advocacy, community and coalition building, research, and leadership development.
A compelling aspect of Hernandez’s work concerns Queer Ecology, which he addressed in a recent blog post
(https://tinyurl.com/yfac2p6j). He wrote, “Did it ever occur to you that the animals, plants, and fungi might be queer? If not, that is exhibit A in our case for the importance of Queer Ecology, a field that challenges our heteronormative, cisnormative, and anthropocentric views of the natural world. It recognizes the fluidity and diversity of identities and relationships in both human and non-human realms. It aims to foster inclusive relationships with the environment and life that encompass and celebrate its broad spectrum, rather than limit it. It collapses systems of oppression and blooms a new regenerative perspective.”
He speaks from the heart. During his teen years, he worked with his father as a gardener for more affluent families and experienced backlash from his religious relatives about his emerging sexual orientation and identity.
“As the years went by,” he wrote, “I slowly became a small shell of myself, too sick to breathe the seas of sleep and believing that I belonged nowhere because I was Queer. I found the eeriness of the lost forests and outdoor spaces as a place to grieve. A place for pain so deep that I knew only the species that didn’t speak my language knew how to guide me back to my ancestors. I was feeling soulless and slowly started to climb from what seemed like endless vines against a cliff, a pathway that held my head high while I was looking for the glistening light.”
Through hard work, he gained financial and personal freedom as well as love and community. He also gained insight.
As he shared, “The world we live in is queer. This isn’t a personal opinion; it is a scientific fact. Scientists have observed non-binary, homosexual, transgender, and intersex relationships and identities occurring as naturally in ecosystems as their hetero/cisnormative counterparts. Or rather, ecological relationships (ecosystems) don’t exist within binaries, but instead occupy a full spectrum of existence.”
“Queer ecology offers us a critical lens to understand these relationships through, beyond the narrative of the binary,” he continued. “When we’re limited or fixed in what we understand as natural versus unnatural, or appropriate versus deviant, we misinterpret the world around us. Hetero/cisnormative perspectives assert views like sex being based primarily on biological reproduction and these values go on to shape human interactions with their environment, other humans, and non-human animals. What might happen if we prescribe values outside of cis and heteronormative norms? Queering nature is our connection to an expansive view that examines the wide possibility of relationships—not their limits.”
He also brings racial justice to the forefront of his work. Addressing the role that indigenous peoples play in protecting Earth’s biodiversity and supporting climate change mitigation, for example, he recently posted: “Indigenous autonomy has been determined to be a right of all Indigenous peoples and is inextricably linked to the protection of our planet and climate. Science has proven that land remains intact in places where Indigenous rights are respected.”
In collaboration with Amazon Watch, he is helping lead an effort to put public pressure on banks that intend to finance oil company projects in the Peruvian Amazon. The goal is to encourage representatives of these banks to meet with the Indigenous delegation that is heading to New York City Earth Day. To learn more and to join in solidarity with that delegation, go to: https://tinyurl.com/yj65tmks
This is just one of several efforts that he is working on now. Dedicated and passionate about his work, Hernandez brings intelligence and thoughtfulness to all of his projects. The Queer Brown Vegan is an emerging leader on environmental issues at a time when such voices of reason are greatly needed. To learn more, visit https://queerbrownvegan.com/
Earth Month 2024
Published on April 18, 2024
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