Miss Irene’s Requiem

You will be hearing about Dr. Irene McIntosh from a variety of us; known more informally as “Miss Irene” to her friends. I had the pleasure of connecting with her a few weeks before we traveled to the Gulf Coast. As a University of Southern Alabama mental health educator and a disaster mental health specialist, we have much in common. She is particularly intrigued by our group of environmental scientists, educators, and advocates. She believes that our group’s mission is precisely what is needed to stop human pain and suffering. By creating more environmentally friendly energy sources, protecting natural habitats, educating our children to care for the environment, and holding the powerful accountable, we advocate for the lives and livelihood of people.

Requiem from Uncage the Soul Productions on Vimeo.

A sense of mission is comprised of many things, three in particular: Hope precedes all human action, whether we are aware of it or not. Vision helps us channel that energy, and realism protects us from feeling betrayed by a vision that is inevitably challenged by obstacles along the way. Miss Irene’s hope is expressed in her belief that life is worth living despite its tragedies, and that human systems can change. The realism is that human systems often do not have regard for persons or the environment. In addition, she accepts that her vision may not be fully realized in her lifetime.

Her vision is simple: To maximize human connections and to hold the powerful accountable for how they use our natural and human resources. She believes that the suffering of her community after Hurricane Katrina was exacerbated by unintentional human error and overt disregard. She believes that the oil spill occurred because the powerful – big business and government – have designed a system of laws allowing them to operate with minimal regard for the environment and the communities in which they serve and do business.

She fears that the BP oil spill might be the nail in the coffin of many economically and emotionally vulnerable communities along the Gulf region. As a country we will eventually celebrate victories in the success of our clean-up efforts, decreases in unemployment, and self-correcting damaged waterways. But scores of people, coastal marshlands, and fish habitats will be left out of that celebration, remaining invisible to the larger population. She chose to sing us a requiem for these beloved communities in the hope that by sharing these invisible stories, her vision catches fire in the rest of us.

Miss Irene’s acknowledgement that she may not see the ideological shifts needed for creating sustainable communities in her lifetime caught many in our group off guard. But I understood it as a powerful resource to prevent her from being derailed from her mission. After all, she is a feisty woman of deep southern Baptist faith who once chained herself to a tree in the middle of a freeway to preserve the natural habit that is so intertwined with her understanding of what it means to be human entrusted with the care of the earth. She’s not giving up the fight, and she’s depending on us to join her.

By Anna Berardi