Empowering a more just and sustainable world requires interdisciplinary coalition-building and collaborative action. The University of Michigan is pursuing multidisciplinary approaches and initiatives built around social justice to ensure that work strengthens and supports Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) and all communities. No outcome is a true solution unless everybody benefits.
U-M was the first university to offer Environmental Justice as an academic field of study in the U.S., and remains on the forefront of educating leaders who make real impacts across the spectrum of EJ challenges. In partnership with communities throughout the region and world, U-M experts, from a wide range of disciplines, are pursuing inclusive, responsive, and equitable solutions to real-world problems. Some of our key initiatives in environmental justice include: the Tishman Center for Social Justice and the Environment, Poverty Solutions, the Center for Sustainable Systems, the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy, and the Sustainable Food Systems Initiative.
Reading about climate-induced immigration prompted negative, nativist attitudes among people toward the affected migrants—an unintended, perhaps even paradoxical effect of many delivering the original messages, according to researchers at U-M and elsewhere. The findings, the researchers say, raise cautionary flags for reporters, advocates and other communicators in their work related to forced migration caused by global climate change.
Engaging researchers from nine units across U-M and several other academic institutions, along with multisectoral partners, the projects will explore community solar, agrivoltaics, carbon-neutral building materials, aviation fuel waste reduction, and sustainable archeology.
Michigan is blessed with a significant portion of the world’s freshwater supply, but water quality and affordability have been persistent issues affecting households throughout the state. Because of the suburbanization of poverty, there are now more residents struggling to afford and access clean, safe water in suburban communities where there are also fewer social welfare institutions to meet their needs.
President Biden signed a historic executive order called Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All, which will direct federal agencies to focus on confronting longstanding environmental injustices. Kyle Whyte, the George Willis Pack Professor at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), a U.S. Science Envoy, and a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, served as an advisor on the development of the executive order.
Participating in our democracy, particularly locally, and organizing for systems and policy change to promote the collective good is critical to building a clean energy future that is just and works for all. This was the overall sentiment of a panel that brought together three community activists and organizers who have emerged as powerful leaders that work on pushing forward solutions that consider the rights of all people.
Replacing all of the oldest school buses in the nation could lead to 1.3 million fewer daily absences annually, according to a U-M study. The suspected cause of these preventable absences is exposure to high levels of diesel exhaust fumes, which can leak into school bus cabins or enter buses through open windows. Over time, exposure can exacerbate respiratory illnesses and other conditions and lead to missed school days.
