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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

Oregon Climate Change Research Institute: Oregon Law assistant professor Sarah Adams-Schoen and research associate Michelle Smith contributed a chapter on land use law with support from Oregon Law's Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center and the University of Oregon Environment Initiative.
MakeUseOf: Research by Chris Minson, professor of human physiology at the University of Oregon, helped develop app. 
The Islands' Sounder: Features research by Ross Whippo, PhD candidate at the University of Oregon Institute of Marine Biology. 
Anna Murphy and Stuart Warren, students involved with the Institute for Policy Research and Engagement at the University of Oregon, are featured. 
KGW-TV: Lauren Ponisio, assistant professor of biology at the University of Oregon, is featured.
North American Clean Energy: Maps were produced in collaboration with the InfoGraphics Lab at the University of Oregon. 
Ag Info: University of Oregon community and regional planning graduate student Stuart Warren is featured. 
Oregon Law professor and faculty leader of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center's Food Resiliency Project, Michael Fakhri has been the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food since 2020. 
The La Grande Observer: The Ecosystem Workforce Program (Institute for a Sustainable Environment) at the University of Oregon provided data. 
The Montecito Journal: University of Oregon is a member of the ALERT Wildfire consortium. 

 


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.