Pashon Murray’s love of Mother Nature runs deeper than most. Growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Murray often accompanied her father, who worked in waste management, jumping in and out of trucks and playing around landfills.

Though she also recalls being shaped by sweltering summers in Mississippi on her extended family’s farm in Mississippi, which was also a major source of inspiration.

Decades later, in 2010, she co-founded Detroit Dirt, which composts organic waste into rich soil for urban growers. The company became hers fully in 2013, after buying out her co-founder, though the now 48-year-old trailblazer wants to make one thing clear: she’s carried her community on her back every step of the way.

“In this country, we’ve been taught about independence, and there is no independence. Everything and everyone is interconnected,” she says, giving props to her hometown for its deep cultural sense of community.

Just in time for Earth Day, BET.com caught up with Murray to learn more about her journey, her work as an eco-justice warrior, and why Earth Day and Black History Month should be thought of in the same way.

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Parts of a Whole

Since Detroit Dirt’s launch, it’s no surprise that Murray has evolved into more than an entrepreneur. Now at 48, she's testified four times before the U.S. Senate on infrastructure, energy, and recycling—one of the few witnesses nationwide.

She’s visited K-12 schools around the country, inspiring young minds to change the way they look at their environments, all while continuing to revolutionize the way we look at waste — as one sustainability chief put it.

Now she’s deeply embedded in the fight for a greener, fairer future. "Detroit Dirt is a component of who I am. But it’s really about a whole culture and system," she says. Murray shares that she’s bound to this kind of work —  by a calling that’s both spiritual and ancestral.

​“This is about purpose. This earthly plane is created in a certain form and way. And in order for it to sustain, we have to start shifting in a direction,” she says. “You don't have to call it climate change. I don't care about all these terms. What people need to realize is that the forest, the rivers, the air, all of that, since ancient civilization, we were stewards of that.”​

The Present

​Known for guzzling water and power, A.I. data centers have emerged in recent years as a new threat to many Black and low-income communities around the country.

​While it may feel like a newer problem, the solution all goes back to keeping people informed and empowered to act, if you ask Murray.

​“If we don't start sharing tools and information with those who live in these communities, then how will anybody know how to address an issue?” she says.

​Equity is at the heart of everything Murray does. Environmental justice, to her, means inclusive decisions—procedural, distributive—where low-income families aren't left paying utility bills they can't afford or breathing toxic air. "We all belong to these communities," she stresses.

​Her solution: Educate on basics—unpack infrastructure and demand community buy-in from day one; sustainable builds cost more upfront but pay off long-term, like in parts of Europe, Africa, and Canada. “There are systems that work just fine. They're eco-friendly, they are natural, but you pay more upfront in order to have a more sustainable system,” she says.

​Earth Day Every Day

With Earth Day upon us, Murray has an urgent message for everyone: Audit your life. Pay attention to what you eat, the products you use, and even how you’re moving through life. Can you walk more or ride a bike? Carpool?

​Most of all, she wants us to think of Earth Day differently going forward. “Think of Earth Day the way we think of Black History Month. It's every single day,” Murray says with a laugh.

​She urges us to start small: take 5 to 10 minutes learning about climate impacts or how environmental policies are made through YouTube or a book; and above all, go outside, touch some grass, and give thanks to the sun.

​“We have to deprogram and rebuild in a way that is connected to the source,” she says. “All around the world, for most indigenous people, the energy [source] was from the sun. We have been displaced, and we have been detached from nature and ecology. And the only way to get back aligned with it is to understand and equip the people with the knowledge that they need.”

​Murray's passion goes far beyond the landfills and urban gardens of Detroit. As she navigates Senate hearings and her current research at the University of Michigan, her mission is clear. She wants us all to be reminded that our connection to the earth is more than a trend; it’s our ancestral duty.

​"Knowledge is the awakening," she says. “We've got all of this in our DNA; it’s ancient. Just tap into it.”