Department of Geography

The Quest for Environmental and Climate Justice

Robert Bullard, Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy, Texas Southern University

Event Live Stream link and full list of Sponsors on the Teale Series webpage: https://cese.uconn.edu/the-edwin-way-teale-lecture-series/

Please join us for the next virtual Teale lecture to be streamed live on Thursday, March 11 at 4:00pm EST.

Dr. Robert Bullard has often been described as the father of environmental justice. A Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning Environmental Policy, and former Dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University, he is also an award-winning author of eighteen books: https://drrobertbullard.com/books/

Climate change is the defining environmental justice, human rights, and public health issue of the twenty-first century. The most vulnerable populations 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. Dr. Bullard will examine the intersection of environmental action (or inaction) and racial disparities. The presentation will focus primarily on the United States and the need for empowering vulnerable populations, identifying environmental justice and climate change “hot-spot” zones. Bullard will discuss designing fair, just and effective adaptation, mitigation, emergency management and community resilience and disaster recovery strategies, and offer strategies to dismantle institutional policies and practices that create, exacerbate, and perpetuate inequality and vulnerability before and after disasters strike.

Bullard’s most recent books include Race, Place and Environmental Justice After Hurricane Katrina (2009), Environmental Health and Racial Equity in the United States (2011), and The Wrong Complexion for Protection (2012).

In 2013, Robert Bullard was honored with the Sierra Club John Muir Award, the first African American to win the award, and in 2014, the Sierra Club named its new Environmental Justice Award after Dr. Bullard. Bullard completed his PhD at Iowa State University, and the Iowa State University Alumni Association named him its Alumni Merit Award recipient in 2015—an award also given to alumnus George Washington Carver in 1937.

Introducing and moderating the program discussion will be University of Connecticut hosts Carol Atkinson-Palombo and Michael Willig. Carol Atkinson-Palombo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography, Director of the Environmental Studies Program at UConn, and Chair of the University Senate. Distinguished Professor Michael Willig is the Executive Director of the Institute of the Environment and Director of the Center for Environmental Science and Engineering at UConn.

This WebEx event is open to the public and viewers may submit question via chat during the live program.

This is the program’s main event! Author Amitav Ghosh will be joined by experts from multiple disciplines to discuss climate change and The Great Derangement (co-sponsored by the Teale Nature and the Environment Lecture Series)