Antioch University New England is proud to announce the publication of the dissertation by Anna Mooney, PhD, a 2025 graduate of the PhD Program in Environmental Studies and Sustainability. Her dissertation, Avoiding Racial Equity Detours: Racial Equity Trainers’ Visions of Racially Equitable Residential Environmental Education, offers a timely and critical contribution to the field of environmental education.
In this innovative study, Mooney explores how racial equity trainers envision racially equitable residential environmental education (REE), a question that strikes at the core of persistent systemic inequities in the field. Although racial justice has long been a theme in environmental scholarship, actual practice continues to be shaped by systemic power structures and equity detours that impede transformative change.
Using constructivist grounded theory and the relational methodology of portraiture, Dr. Mooney conducted one-hour virtual interviews with six racial equity trainers, followed by a two-hour virtual focus group and a 30-minute “dissertation reality check.” Through iterative coding and constant comparison, her analysis revealed four defining characteristics of racially equitable REE.
First, equitable REE must offer a clear alternative to Whiteness by acknowledging and addressing the harm it causes to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). This includes recognizing how systemic racism operates within educational spaces. Second, racially equitable REE must be rooted in BIPOC environmental perspectives, ensuring that BIPOC worldviews shape the development and delivery of programs. Third, the intentional selection and long-term support of BIPOC leadership is essential, addressing representation and power dynamics within organizations.
Fourth, a racially equitable program creates a space where BIPOC students belong and are viewed as assets, with their identities actively shaping the relational and emotional environment of the learning experience.
Mooney further identifies four critical recommendations for avoiding common equity detours in REE: to critically examine Whiteness to avoid pacing-for-privilege; connect Whiteness to environmental education to avoid superficial celebrations of diversity; decenter Whiteness to avoid essentializing non-White cultures; and disempower Whiteness to reject deficit-based ideologies. Rather than offering a fixed framework, the model she proposes is an embodied, practice-oriented approach informed by the lived wisdom of racial equity practitioners.
With more than 14 years of experience as an environmental educator and researcher, Mooney has designed and led inclusive environmental programs that have served over 150 school groups annually. Her professional background includes research and evaluation work at the Wildlife Conservation Society—supporting the Brooklyn Aquarium and Bronx Zoo’s Madagascar exhibit—and an internship at the Institute for Learning Innovation, grounding her practice in visitor studies and program assessment.
Mooney holds a Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies from Antioch University New England, a Master of Arts in Psychology from Hunter College (CUNY), and a Bachelor of Science in Biopsychology from Wagner College. As both a scholar and practitioner, she is committed to reimagining environmental education through the critical examination of Whiteness and to fostering inclusive, equity-driven learning environments where all students thrive.
Engage with the impactful work directly here:https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/1139/
