Join Black Girl Environmentalist and Studio Museum in Harlem for Obsidian: Soil, Soul, Song, a day-long program of environmental justice education featuring local artists, environmentalists, and organizations that support, advocate, and promote community needs and the prosperity of urban and natural environments across the Black diaspora.

Workshops and activations are drop-in and have limited capacity. RSVP is required.

This event is free and open to the public. ASL interpretation will be provided.

12:00–1:00 pm
Obsidian: The Black Anthropocene

Start the day with an opening panel from Harlem and New York State’s leading Black environmental and climate leaders as they reflect on the question, “What is the Black Anthropocene?” The panel emphasizes methods of Black thriving and well-being that advocate and promote Black ecology and environmentalism.

Moderated by Kolu Zigbi-Johnson, this conversation between Destiny Tullis (Earth Convergence); Sara Zewde (Studio Zewde); and Amaha Kassa, founder and executive director of African Communities Together, will discuss the disproportionate impacts of climate change on Black and Brown communities, ecological stewardship, and public policy change through the prism of intersectionality. This discussion explores tools from across the African diaspora to advance our collective future in New York City.

RSVP Required



Celebrate Harlem Climate Week with art-making workshops, demonstrations, and conversations rooted in nature-driven wellness. Enjoy the views on the terrace while engaging in a movement workshop led by Black Girl Fight Club and a laugh meditation led by Laraaji.


1:30–2:15 pm 
Laugh Meditation

Laraaji brings his daily meditation practice to the Studio Museum. Participants are encouraged to bring their own yoga mats.

RSVP Required



2:30–3:15 pm
Black Girl Yoga Club

Black Girls Fight Club, leads a yoga session crafted for Black women, femmes, and non-binary individuals seeking a yoga sanctuary led by instructors who can understand their experiences. Participants are encouraged to bring their own yoga mats.

RSVP Required

1:30–3:00 pm
Agrarian/Nature-based Art Making

Join Lorena James in learning how invasive plants that are usually pulled and destroyed can become something beautiful. This demo turns invasive kudzu into wearable hair beads in a hands-on look at “soil-punk”–inspired upcycling. This demo turns invasive kudzu into wearable hair beads in a hands-on look at “soil-punk”–inspired upcycling.

RSVP Required

1:30–3:30 pm
Material Preservation as Self Preservation

Material Preservation as Self Preservation is a participatory mending and repair experience led by Repair Café El Barrio. Through a series of thirty-minute sessions, participants will learn practical skills for extending the life of their clothing. Participants may also bring one personal item for guidance and simple repairs. 

RSVP Required



1:30–3:30 pm
Connect with local Climate Action Organizations

Connect with Harlem and New York City climate organizations, like the Mayor’s Office of Urban Agriculture and BK LVL UP to learn about the work they do.

RSVP Required

4:00–5:00 pm
Soil, Soul, Song: Closing DJ Set

The afternoon concludes with a DJ set by LOVIE.

Black Girl Environmentalist is a national organization dedicated to addressing the pathway and retention issue in the climate movement for Black girls, women, and gender-expansive people. They resource, re-center, and rally Black girl environmentalists (BGEs) to empower them to take collective action against the climate crisis.

Kolu Zigbi-Johnson is a Harlemite whose life work has been informed by the communal culture and traditional indigenous knowledge of her Loma people, who have lived for generations in the Upper Guinea Rainforest of Liberia. A facilitative strategist, “re-sorceress”, connector, coach, and catalyst, Kolu co-creates pathways to social and environmental justice. She partners with grassroots groups to activate participatory grantmaking and investments, and with foundations to grow funding for collaborative world-building led by people of the global majority. With twenty years of experience as a grant maker, she's supported sustainable local and regional food systems and environmental justice. As the co-founder of Community Food Funders, a philanthropic organizing project of the North Star Fund, she promoted a more equitable, ecologically sound food shed for New York City. Kolu is a 2025 recipient of the Rachel’s Network inaugural Legacy Award and a 2014 recipient of the Loeb Fellowship at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. Kolu's call to action is Wage Love.

Amaha Kassa is the founder and Executive Director of African Communities Together. Amaha has twenty-five years of professional experience as a labor and community organizer, nonprofit director, and social entrepreneur. For nine years, Amaha directed East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, a workers’ rights nonprofit in Oakland, California, growing it from a startup to one of the leading organizations in its field. Prior to launching ACT, Amaha earned his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School. He is an immigrant from Ethiopia.


Destiny Tullis is a STEAM educator, urban farmer, and multimedia designer from New Jersey with a degree in Urban Placemaking and Environmental Design from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Destiny leads all youth programming at Earth Convergence including but not limited to school campus urban agricultural rewilding and native pollinator project implementation as an American Geophysical Union Thriving Earth Exchange Community Leader, small farmer relationship-building and intensive training development, and external education contract program management. Both a Young Black Climate Leader (YBCL, 2025) and YBCL alumni leader (2026), they continue their work championing “liberation through education” through introducing archival practices to their work, ensuring future youth workers and land justice practitioners can learn and engage in long-term stewardship projects.


Sara Zewde is founding principal of Studio Zewde, a design firm practicing landscape architecture, urbanism, and public art. Named to TIME Magazine’s TIME100 Next, Architectural Digest’s AD100, and a United States Artists Fellow, her work is celebrated for design methods that sync culture, ecology, and craft. In parallel with practice, Sara serves as Associate Professor of Practice at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard University, a Master of City Planning from MIT, and a BA in Sociology and Statistics from Boston University. She is also currently writing a book on Frederick Law Olmsted’s travels through the Slave South, to be published by Simon & Schuster in 2027.


Lorena James is a facilitator working at the intersection of regenerative agriculture and ecological restoration. As Development & Communications Coordinator at Nature For Justice, she supports the Growing American Farmer Prosperity Program, engaging a network of over two hundred regenerative smallholder farmers across North Carolina and Virginia to build soil health, resilience, and profitability on rural farmland. She is also the Founder & Executive Director of Invasive Impact Initiatives, where she curates a community of makers, land stewards, and invasive species experts who turn invasive species into upcycled materials. Drawing on this experience designing and leading community-centered programming, Lorena brings a practical, participatory approach to facilitating conversations on regenerative land practices.



Laraaji is a visionary musician, composer, and mystic who has enchanted audiences worldwide with his ethereal and transformative performances. Born Edward Larry Gordon and educated in music theory and composition at Howard University, Laraaji emerged as a pioneering figure in ambient and new age music. His respect for the power of laughter as a medicine has led him to develop a daily laughing & toning practice which he shares worldwide in laughter release work/play meditation gatherings along with his deeply touching music programs. 

Black Girl Fight Club (BGFC) is committed to providing empowering experiences for black women, fostering joy, value, and a sense of community. Through a range of diverse events in NYC, they cater to the needs of their community, while also offering a platform for black women/femme/non-binary artists to showcase their talents in industries that historically marginalize and overlook our contributions.

Founded in 2022, Repair Café El Barrio is a community-led repair & volunteer-fueled initiative based at El Barrio’s Artspace PS109 in East Harlem. At its free and low-cost events, volunteer coaches work alongside community members to repair clothing, electronics, furniture, jewelry, bicycles, and other belongings. Through hands-on repair, workshops, and creative reuse, Repair Café El Barrio helps keep useful objects out of the waste stream while building practical skills, confidence, and relationships across the community.