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WORKING TOWARDS A JUST & LIVABLE FUTURE

 

 

At Oregon, we know that we are in the midst of unprecedented and transformative environmental change. All of us, and especially our students, are facing dramatic ecological shifts to all our natural systems because of climate change and other forces. This change highlights social justice dynamics and environmental inequities that shape our world. As a result, we see societal paradigm shifts in systems that govern our economy, the built environment, democracy, and fundamental relationships among people. This work requires the amplification of voices that have often gone unheard.

We face these challenges by generating new approaches, finding proactive problem-solving pathways, engaging in collaboration with multiple constituencies and social groups, participating in diverse ideas and forms of knowledge, and exerting the full measure of our creative energy.

About the Environment Initiative

 

 

EI Year in Review

Environment Initiative Annual Review

Read about the successes and solutions developed by experts, faculty members, fellows, and leaders within the initiative.

Read the Review

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Environment Experts in the media

For those media outlets looking to get a quote or hear from one of UO's environment experts, reach out to our media team.

Contact Media Relations

 

Events

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The University of Oregon Common Reading Program and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art present "Our Shared Breath: Creativity and Community," a Common Seeing exhibition featuring the work of six Indigenous artists exploring understandings of community, generosity, and creativity in all their forms.
Dr. Renee N. Salas
Join the Center for Science Communication Research (SCR) and co-sponsors at the University of Oregon for this year's Richard W. and Laurie Johnston Lecture series, which will bring Dr. Renee N. Salas (Harvard) to campus to discuss the potential health outcomes of a systemic transition from fossil fuels. 
UOregon grad student leads peer in playing climate change board game
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Co-hosted by assistant professors in the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication Maxwell Foxman and Danny Pimentel, Climate Change Game Night is an opportunity to explore representations of climate change through play. Game Night will be held in the Atrium of the first floor of Allen Hall. 
Collection of individual portraits of Peter DeFazio, Lynn Peterson, and Jameson Auten
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Head to the Ford Alumni Center to hear from three transportation heavyweights—Peter DeFazio, Lynn Peterson, and Jameson Auten—about potential responses to transportation challenges and opportunities. 
GBI Symposium Event Flyer
Join Oregon Law's Green Business Initiative (GBI) for its annual symposium in April. The event will feature expert discussions on key provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act. 
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Head to the University of Oregon Lundquist College of Business for the inaugural free Summit for Sustainable Organizations, which will explore business as a force for good with keynote speakers, industry panelists, interactive breakout workshops, and professional networking. 
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To celebrate Earth Week, the Student Sustainability Center presents "Creating a Better Present and Future: Artwork & Sustainability Workshop," in Crater Lake North in the Erb Memorial Union. Want to build artistic and social connections that support a just future? RSVP by April 10th. 
A figure can barely be made out as they are shrouded by fog hanging between the tall trees surrounding them
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An exhibition by Sarah Grew, Ghost Forest explores forest memory in the wake of wildfires with the accompaniment of a sound installation, Wildfire, by Jon Bellona, instructor of audio production in the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance. 
Red, cream, and orange California poppies
Join the UO Environmental Studies Program for this networking event designed to connect participants to jobs, internships, and volunteer opportunities in environmental disciplines. 
Timeline representation of fire ecology, how fire can be strategically employed to benefit an ecosystem and its natural participants

The panel—featuring University of Oregon professor of sociology and environmental studies Kari Marie Norgaard; Oregon State University assistant professor of anthropology and ethnic studies & Indigenous studies David G. Lewis (Grand Ronde); and Joe Scott (Siletz), Curriculum Director for the Traditional Ecological Inquiry Program at Long Tom Watershed Council—will center Indigenous histories and approaches to fire management, knowledge production, and ecological stewardship. 

 

 

urbanism
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Save the Date and plan on heading to Portland in April 2023 for the Urbanism Next Conference.
Dr. Andrew Yang
Dr. Andrew Yang will give a talk that traces natural-cultural entanglements spanning bird migration, light pollution, invasive carp, smog-tolerant petunias, and tsunami architecture. 
Jen Rose Smith
Jen Rose Smith, a dAXunhyuu (Eyak, Alaska Native) geographer and assistant professor of American Indian Studies and Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will deliver the Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples Lecture in the Many Nations Longhouse.
Michelle Murphy
To close Ghost Forest, Michelle Murphy, professor of history and women and gender studies at the University of Toronto, will deliver the University of Oregon Center for the Study of Women in Society's 2023 Acker-Morgen Memorial Lecture at Lawrence Hall. 
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The 2023 Joint Campus Conference will bring together graduate students and faculty from three programs at University of Oregon, Oregon State University, and Portland State University. Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville), will deliver the keynote address. 

News

Interested in sharing a poster or oral presentation at "Celebrating Environmental Knowledges," the 2023 Environmental Joint Campus Conference? Submissions are due May 1, 2023. 
The Sustainability Fellowship supports faculty in doing community-engaged learning or participatory action research, connects faculty with community partners, and provides fellows with a network of colleagues who seek to incorporate issues of sustainability into their curricula. 
The University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication will bring internationally recognized climate change and health expert Dr. Renee Salas to campus to deliver her talk, "Climate Action as a Powerful Prescription to Improve Health and Equity." 
Valerie Sahakian, assistant professor of earthquake hazards at the University of Oregon, is interviewed. 
GovernmentTechnology: Features study by Nico Larco, professor of architecture and director of the Urbanism Next Center at the University of Oregon. 

NPR: Annette Patton, postdoctoral scholar, and Josh Roering, professor, in the University of Oregon department of earth sciences, are leading community-driven landslide work in Sitka.

Eugene Weekly: Mary Wood, professor of law, and law student Maddie Reese, are part of the historic conference hosted annually at the University of Oregon. 
After successfully launching "Searching for the Cayuse Five" in 2022, Michael Moffitt, a professor with the University of Oregon's School of Law and Clark Honors College, is teaching the 400-level colloquium course again this term. 
Author and researcher Britt Wray will deliver an Oregon Humanities Center talk, "How to Cope with Climate Anxiety: Saving the Earth and Saving Ourselves," in the Erb Memorial Union Redwood Auditorium at 5:30 PM on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. 
WHYY: Theresa May, professor of theatre arts at the University of Oregon, provides expert commentary. 

 


Territorial Acknowledgement

The University of Oregon is located on Kalapuya ilihi, the traditional indigenous homeland of the Kalapuya people. Following treaties between 1851 and 1855, Kalapuya people were dispossessed of their indigenous homeland by the U.S. government and forcibly removed to the Coast Reservation in Western Oregon. Today, Kalapuya descendants are primarily citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and they continue to make important contributions to their communities, to the UO, to Oregon, and to the world.
 
In following the Indigenous protocol of acknowledging the original people of the land we occupy, we also extend our respect to the nine federally recognized Indigenous nations of Oregon: the Burns Paiute Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the Coquille Indian Tribe, the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, and the Klamath Tribes. We express our respect to the many more tribes who have ancestral connections to this territory, as well as to all other displaced Indigenous peoples who call Oregon home.