_Illustrated by_ [**Paula Castro**](https://breedlondon.com/artists/paula-castro/)
Known on TikTok as the Earth Stewardess, Doria Brown is an environmental scientist using her work both on and offline to create the change she wants to see. Whether it be on her personal account or as a member of EcoTok, a group of TikTok influencers using their platform to promote sustainability, Brown is devoted to sharing her knowledge with others in the hopes to create a more sustainable future. With an extensive background working as a sustainability specialist, and now as the active Energy Manager for the city of Nashua, New Hampshire, Brown has dedicated her life to discussing issues of environmentalism and social activism, promoting suggestions for how we can improve, for the sake of both our environment and humanity.
We sat down with Brown to discuss her work, the aestheticism of sustainability, and the correlation between environmentalism and social justice.
* * *
**What is your goal through your TikTok account?**
Through my personal account, my goal as The Earth Stewardess, as I proclaimed myself, is to talk about a multitude of different issues. I'm an environmental scientist by trade. I talk about environmental issues as well as solutions, but I also use my platform to talk about social justice issues and to help bring together different communities, like the Black community, or minority communities, and our white allies who want to help, but it kind of gets lost in translation how to best do that. So I try to kind of bridge that gap and create a very healthy place for conversation.
> [@earthstewardess](https://www.tiktok.com/@earthstewardess "@earthstewardess")
>
> I am so pumped to be a part of this… even if I don’t have Meg’s Knees [##startup](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/startup "startup") [##cleanenergy](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/cleanenergy "cleanenergy") [##thefuture](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/thefuture "thefuture") [##climatecrisis](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/climatecrisis "climatecrisis") [##blackgirljoy](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/blackgirljoy "blackgirljoy")
>
> [♬ TWINNEM - Coi Leray](https://www.tiktok.com/music/TWINNEM-7010057968234268674 "♬ TWINNEM - Coi Leray")
**Besides your TikTok, you studied environmental science at Franklin Pierce University, you worked as a sustainability specialist for Worthen Industries, and you're now the Energy Manager for Nashua City in New Hampshire. Could you talk a little bit about the work that you do as an Energy Manager and some of the responsibilities and projects that you've been working on?**
Right now my biggest initiative is called Community Power. The state passed a bill back in 2020 that allows communities to actually buy energy on behalf of the entire community. So that's residents and businesses on an opt-out basis. Now my portfolio has increased to 47,000 accounts for people that I can buy energy for. I realized as the Energy Manager, that in my department of one, buying energy for 47,000 people and doing customer service is not possible.
So in that endeavor, I have connected with a bunch of other communities, including the town of Hanover, the city of Lebanon, the town of Exiter, and Cheshire county, and we have all come together to create a company called the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire. Over the past two years, I've been working with these communities to start up a company. It's a great job and I have so much fun doing it.
**What made you turn towards TikTok, and what was it like being one of the original members of EcoTok?**
I turned to TikTok in 2020. I had an Instagram account where I focused mainly on my home renovation. I bought a house in 2019 and I posted about every renovation we did. I got into making video content and put it on TikTok, then I realized, ‘Hey, there's a lot of people that actually care about the environment and are talking about that on this platform.” So I switched gears and I brought my career into my social media account.
I changed my name from Doria Brown to Earth Stewardess, and started making eco content. That's when I got into EcoTok. And I guess I actually just joined the executive committee as the chief analytics officer of EcoTok. So we're trying to figure out how to translate our analytics into goals. That transition from just a group of people to having an executive committee and regular meetings was… honestly, it was very natural. Our leaders of the group, Abby ([@tofology](https://www.tiktok.com/@tofology?lang=en)), Sabrina ([@sabrina.sustainable.life](http://tiktok.com/@sabrina.sustainable.life)), Alaina ([@thegarbagequeen](https://www.tiktok.com/@thegarbagequeen?lang=en)), really led these efforts along with Alex, who is [@ecofreako](https://www.tiktok.com/@ecofreako?lang=en) on TikTok. He started EcoTok as a teen activist who brought us all together. So going from that to a real organization, it was surprisingly smooth sailing and very successful thanks to the leadership of the group.
> [@earthstewardess](https://www.tiktok.com/@earthstewardess "@earthstewardess")
>
> I keep so many things that I don’t need because I hate creating waste! [##zerowaste](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/zerowaste "zerowaste") [##trainofthought](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/trainofthought "trainofthought") [##reusable](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/reusable "reusable") [##recycle](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/recycle "recycle") [##imperfect](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/imperfect "imperfect") [##reallife](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/reallife "reallife")
>
> [♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey](https://www.tiktok.com/music/Monkeys-Spinning-Monkeys-6746993352891189249 "♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey")
**You’ve partnered with people like Bill Gates and also companies like Ted Countdown. How do you think that TikTok has provided you all with a space for this form of organization and activism? Do you think that EcoTok could have been as popular without a resource like TikTok?**
I don't think so. TikTok kind of brought educators together with people who want to learn. It combined that entertainment aspect of content with that need, and that hunger, to figure out how people can help or make a change during this climate crisis. So I do not think that we would have the platform that we do without TikTok and that nice short 15 to 30 second video style content.
**How are sustainability and social activism intrinsically tied and why do you think it's so important to make that connection in your work?**
It's all intertwined because we cannot have environmental justice without social justice. The minority communities in the United States and around the world are disproportionately affected by the environmental crisis because they do not have access to the resources that the white community has. And until those groups get access to the resources that they need, and a safe place to live, we cannot defeat the climate crisis.
**You’ve talked before about the stereotype of what sustainability looks like and how there's an aesthetic that's associated with it. What would you say that aesthetic looks like, how do you try to actively disprove that in your work?**
Sustainability is that beautiful home with white walls, glass jars, perfectly put together bulk goods on a shelf. That is kind of that aesthetic sustainability that people love to see. But, what sustainability really is, is reusing your Country Time butter container and putting your leftovers in it. It is things that people have been doing for years that are considered cheap, or not something that somebody with a ton of money would do.
Both of those things, having your glass containers and your Country Time butter container, they’re the same thing. They are using less and doing something to do better for the environment. And I think that showing both of those things together as great environmental improvements that you can make in your life is important, so that people don't get this idea in their heads that ‘I need to have a lot of money to be sustainable.’ Because anybody can do it at any time in their life.
> [@earthstewardess](https://www.tiktok.com/@earthstewardess "@earthstewardess")
>
> We’ve go to stop focusing on climate doom and gloom! Working on these solutions brings me so much joy! [##climatecrisis](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/climatecrisis "climatecrisis") [##climateanxiety](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/climateanxiety "climateanxiety") [##tiktokresumes](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/tiktokresumes "tiktokresumes")
>
> [♬ Dougie x Breakfast x Chosen - Kuya Magik](https://www.tiktok.com/music/Dougie-x-Breakfast-x-Chosen-6971625163129916161 "♬ Dougie x Breakfast x Chosen - Kuya Magik")
**What are some tips that you have for managing climate anxiety, on both a personal level and for other people who are dealing with it?**
Climate anxiety is so real. The way that I would say to manage it is, sometimes you do engross yourself on that education journey, and all of these issues, and doom and gloom. Sometimes you just \[have\] to take a step back, take a deep breath, and realize: I am one person. I am not the solution by myself. I cannot carry all of this on my back because if I do, I will not be able to help in my piece that I can do to help the environment. You have to think of it as doing what's best for you, and keeping your mental health as healthy as possible so that you can be the best environmental warrior, or whatever you want to call yourself.
**What are a couple of things that you think people might overlook, or write off as too expensive, that are actually easy steps to take in your day-to-day life?**
One thing somebody might write off as too expensive is reducing their emissions from their vehicle. And people automatically think ‘I need to have an electric car.’ My fiancé and I do have an electric car, but other things that you can do \[are\] walk instead of drive, ride your bike. You can reduce your emissions by getting places just by doing those things. Taking public transit. It's a hundred percent possible and you don't need a lot of money to do that.
