This working group is building bridges across campus to bring together researchers who are concerned with environmental issues. We will be organizing talks, workshops, teach-ins, and other events to build self-knowledge within the diverse communities that constitute the university. We want to learn about the concerns and objectives that connect our research, and to develop collaborative projects. We want to strengthen interdisciplinary courses and programs for our students, bringing together natural scientists’ work on ecological crises with the knowledge of social scientists, law experts, humanities scholars, fine arts teachers and creators, and Indigenous scholars.

We believe that we have an obligation to prepare our students as best we can to live well in societies that are being transformed by climate destabilization and related ecological and social crises. We need to equip our students not only with scientific and technical knowledge but also with social, cultural, and ethical knowledge and skills. Our task is to deepen the citizenship capacity of our students, so that they can engage effectively in the political and policy challenges that lie ahead.

Our Climate Emergency Teach-in, planned for April 9th, 2020, had to be cancelled because of the arrival of the COVID pandemic. We were in hiatus until fall 2022, but look for new events in 2023.