Climate Justice

The impacts of climate change are becoming ever more tangible. Their intensity and impact are felt more acutely by marginalized communities that have done the least to create this problem. This integrator will advise the other climate action areas on responding to new policies, infrastructure, engagement, and other impactful community programs through an equity lens.

Below are 10 ways we are working to center justice at our 2024 Climate Action Plan Update event that will be held on April 22nd at the Center for the Arts Main Stage Theatre. 

Here are a set of ground rules on communication at this event:

Speaking:

• Speak Up - You can tell someone to speak louder by holding your hand out with your palm up before raising up your arm.
•  Slow Down - You can signal for someone to slow down their pace of speaking by first bringing your hands in front of you with your palms facing away from you, then putting your fingers together before pulling your hands apart.
• Stories Stay (and are not retold), Lessons Leave
• Be Mindful of Jargon (by defining it)

Perspectives:

• Hold Multiple Truths
• Challenge the Idea, Not the Person
• No One Knows Everything, Together We Know A Lot
•  We’re Not Going to Solve Everything Today (so center a growth mindset and creating community transitions)

Accountability:

•  Own Your Impact, Honor Your Intentions - Taking responsibility for the impact of our actions on others, regardless of our intentions, demonstrates our capacity to build and maintain strong relationships. 

•   See land acknowledgement from UB's Office of Inclusive Excellence (OIX) and read more about the mentioned treaties:
• The Dish with One Spoon Treaty of Peace and Friendship - summary
• 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua - summary and document
• Find your local Indigenous communities at native-land.ca.
• Take a self assessment and make an action plan of Indigenous solidarity.

Centering justice requires recognizing past and ongoing harms as we move towards restorative practices that ensure equity and dignity like through anti-racism. All present day US institutions benefit from this nation’s wealth that is built on violence and exploitation. We acknowledge: 

• Enslaved people, mainly of African descent, whose trafficking, labor, and suffering greatly created the infrastructure of our nation.
• Exploited migrant and American-born workers of color are underrecognized and undercompensated in many industries
• Incarcerated peoples and countless others are unfairly compensated for their work and systemically exploited
• The gender pay gap still exists and needs to be equalized
• 30% of LGBTQIA+ people live in states where they are not protected from discrimination in housing and public accommodations 

At this event, there will be spaces where participants will be working collaboratively in anti-racist ways through inclusive programming and educational updates.

Centering communities of color by centering leaders of color in climate work is crucial to addressing racial justice. Promoting equal-status contact where marginalized community members are centered as both experts and attendees creates representation, increases engagement, and dismantles barriers to equity. At this event, we have centered underrepresented leaders by:

•  Inviting students to perform, inspire, and share their work
• Engaging and outreaching to units, departments and clubs on campus that represent marginalized communities
• Extending an invitation to Buffalo Public School students so that they can share a space with the university community 

Striving that at least 30% of event’s budget goes to minority and women owned businesses. 

In recognition of their time and expertise, students asked to speak or perform at this event have been compensated. This recognizes their hard work and dedication to go above and beyond was has been asked of them.

In RVSPing for this event, accommodations have been made for anyone that has requested them through:

• Physical accommodations
•  Language access with interpreters
• Captioning when available and necessary
•  Recordings of events for those who miss parts of events.
• Requests for and discourse on accommodations

Learn more through UB’s Reasonable Accommodations Policy.

During an engagement session, participants will have the opportunity to reflect on a future “just world” and what that will look like. As always, we encourage feedback and suggestion on how to center justice at all future events. If interested, please fill out the feedback form here

Implementing UB’s Climate Action Plan with justice involves:

• The Climate Justice Integrator that centers the most impacted by climate issues
• Hiring a  Climate Justice Student Assistant 
• A Climate Justice Committee (CJC) that reviews work from each CAP strategy
• A Climate Justice Policy Response protocol
• Asking for community to submit feedback.

It is important to foster places of dialogue and discourse. There are guidelines to balance political expression with the needs of quality community spaces:

• Acts of protest must follow university guidelines under the picketing and assembling policy
• Stay clear of doorways for Fire Code safety
• Protests may be reported by other bystanders
• Please be respectful of others' desire to learn and participate at this event
• Policy violations may lead to exclusion from current or future events
• Other disruptions exceeding communal tolerance may be countered accordingly

Read more on UB's Commitment to Freedom and Expression