Blackboard Jungle 12 Symposium
Engaging Inclusivity, Practicing Civility, and Shaping Learning Communities for Today and Beyond
March 21 and March 22, 2019

The Quest for Environmental and Climate Justice in the United States

Climate change is the defining global environmental justice, human rights and public health issue of the twenty-first century. The most vulnerable populations in the United States and around the world will suffer the earliest and most damaging setbacks because of where they live, their limited income and economic means, and their lack of access to health care. Climate-sensitive hazards are forecast to increase in the coming years. However, not all of the populations residing within these hazard zones have the same capacity to prepare for, respond to, cope with, and rebound from disaster events. Having worked with New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina and witnessed firsthand Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Professor Robert D. Bullard’s presentation will focus primarily on the U.S. and the need for empowering vulnerable populations, identifying environmental justice and climate change “hot-spot” zones and designing fair, just and effective adaptation, mitigation, emergency management and community resilience and disaster recovery strategies. He will also discuss his book, The Wrong Complexion for Protection, which analyzes more than eight decades of government response to natural and human-made disasters. Finally, Dr. Bullard will offer strategies to dismantle institutional policies and practices that create, exacerbate and perpetuate inequality and vulnerability before and after disasters strike.

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Robert D. Bullard

Hosts: Dr. Nancy Mathews and Mara Saule