2020–21 Climate Justice

The Oregon Humanities Center (OHC) presents its 2020-21 lecture series centered on the theme of Climate Justice.  

Advocates for Climate Justice believe that climate change is a human rights issue and that current social and political structures and environmental policies inequitably affect human opportunities and lived experiences amidst a changing climate.  

As with all OHC themed lectures, our five-part lecture series on Climate Justice seeks to create space for experts to share their research, knowledge, and ideas and foster conversation and understanding. Our speakers will apply their diverse expertise to topics of climate and racial justice, reparation ecology, building an equitable green economy, the interdependence between the humanities and sciences, and climate change communication. By applying the tools of the humanities – rigorous inquiry, critical thinking, and open discussion – to the challenges of climate change and social justice, our speakers will help educate and inspire us to collectively improve our shared human experience.  

Robin Morris Collin, Norma Paulus Professor of law, Willamette University. “The Geography of Injustice and the Ecology of Reparations.”

Anthony Leiserowitz (UO Environmental Studies MS 1998, PhD 2003), Senior Research Scientist and Director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. “Climate Change in the American Mind.”

Vien Truong, is one of the country’s foremost policy experts and strategists on building an equitable green economy. “Fighting for the Future.”

Bathsheba Demuth, History and Environment and Society at Brown University. “The Reindeer at the End of the World.”

Naomi Oreskes, Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University. “Can Science be Saved?”