WHEN: May 19, 2020

WHERE: Virtual Conference

Climate change poses one of the greatest threats to humanity and it’s happening right now. Unfortunately, not all of us are impacted the same. Communities of color and underprivileged groups are most impacted by the effects of climate change due to systemic inequities.

The Third Environmental Justice Conference entails to bring awareness on environmental and climate justice initiatives, as well as to create a space for dialogue across scales, affiliations, and worldviews. Through presentations and interactive sessions, participants will be able to explore approaches to inclusive and meaningful engagement through innovation and collaboration.

The main objective of this conference is to reflect on best practices around equitable partnerships within the context of environmental/climate justice.

Agenda

  • 1:00pm- Welcome- Terryl Ross
  • 1:10pm- Keynote speaker address- Christopher Schell, Assistant Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, UW Tacoma (check out the recording of his presentation)
  • 2:20pm- Workshop Block I:
    • Social Work across the 49th Parallel: Big Salmon River and Columbia River Treaty modernization; understanding challenges to environmental and social justice through field courses (Morna McEachern, UW Pacific Northwest Canadian Studies Consortium and Stan de Mello, UW School of Social Work)
    • Resource Mapping and Systems Thinking from the Perspective of an Urban Community Garden (Angela Patel, Danny Woo Community Garden)
  • 3:35pm- Workshop Block II:
    • Queer Ecologies: Solidarity, Science, Politics (Eli Wheat, UW Program on the Environment and Cleo Woelfle-Erskine, UW School of Marine and Environmental Affairs)
    • Opportunity for Input: Washington’s EJ Task Force Recommendations for Improving Community Engagement Processes & Practices in State Government (Elise Rasmussen, Washington State Board of Health and Sameer Ranade, Front & Centered)
  • 4:45pm- Closing remarks

Finally, we recognize the importance of student involvement and we want to dedicate a section to amplify their voices. The following material contains more information about coming events and opportunities for students to become active around environmental justice issues: Students’ Voice

A group of students from Program on the Environment collaborated with Prof. Yona Sipos and the 2020 Food Systems Captsone class in Nutritional Sciences to record a video that showcases some students’ perspectives around food justice at the University of Washington.