Suggested Materials
Inclusive Sustainability: Environmental Justice in Higher Education
The aim of this paper is to demonstrate why and how efforts at UC Santa Cruz have begun to shift from sustainability as a technical, export-oriented activity focused on aspects such as built environment, climate, energy, food, and water, to more of a concern with inclusive sustainability, which centers on issues of power dynamics, difference, and ethical considerations.
Principles of Environmental Justice
Read the Principles of Environmental Justice, as established at the 1991 First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit. These principles serve as a defining document for the growing grassroots environmental justice movement.
Self-Assessment For Diversity, Inclusion, & Sustainability
Developed for UC Sustainability Officers from the workshop "Diversity, Inclusion, & Sustainability: What can YOU do as a Sustainbility Officer?" by UC Santa Cruz in Oct. 2016 (Elida Erickson, Dr.Rebeccca Hernandez, Dr. Flora Lu, Adriana Renteria). Updated in 2022.
PoCSC Research Infographics 2020
- UCSC Student's Hometown Community Environmental Health Threats
- Race and Environmental Justice at UCSC
- The Growing Environmental Converns of UCSC Undergraduates
- UCSC Undergraduates & The Environmental Belief Paradox
- Ranking of Sustainability Definitions at UCSC
The Future We Choose: The Stubborn Optimist’s Guide to the Climate Crisis
Written by: Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac
-Synopsis: In The Future We Choose, Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac—who led negotiations for the United Nations during the historic Paris Agreement of 2015—have written a cautionary but optimistic book about the world’s changing climate and the fate of humanity.
The authors outline two possible scenarios for our planet. In one, they describe what life on Earth will be like by 2050 if we fail to meet the Paris Agreement’s climate targets. In the other, they lay out what it will be like to live in a regenerative world that has net-zero emissions. They argue for confronting the climate crisis head-on, with determination and optimism. The Future We Choose presents our options and tells us what governments, corporations, and each of us can, and must, do to fend off disaster.
All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis
Written by: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & Katharine K. Wilkinson
-Synopsis: There is a renaissance blooming in the climate movement: leadership that is more characteristically feminine and more faithfully feminist, rooted in compassion, connection, creativity, and collaboration. While it’s clear that women and girls are vital voices and agents of change for this planet, they are too often missing from the proverbial table. More than a problem of bias, it’s a dynamic that sets us up for failure. To change everything, we need everyone.
All We Can Save illuminates the expertise and insights of dozens of diverse women leading on climate in the United States—scientists, journalists, farmers, lawyers, teachers, activists, innovators, wonks, and designers, across generations, geographies, and race—and aims to advance a more representative, nuanced, and solution-oriented public conversation on the climate crisis. These women offer a spectrum of ideas and insights for how we can rapidly, radically reshape society.
-Learn more about the book: https://www.allwecansave.earth/
A Bigger Picture: My Fight to Bring a New African Voice to the Climate Crisis
Written by: Vanessa Nakate
-Synopsis: Leading climate justice activist Vanessa Nakate brings her fierce, fearless spirit, new perspective, and superstar bona fides to the biggest issue of our time. In A Bigger Picture, her first book, she shares her story as a young Ugandan woman who sees that her community bears disproportionate consequences to the climate crisis. At the same time, she sees that activists from African nations and the global south are not being heard in the same way as activists from white nations are heard. Inspired by Sweden’s Greta Thunberg, in 2019 Nakate became Uganda’s first Fridays for Future protestor, awakening to her personal power and summoning within herself a commanding political voice.
Nakate’s mere presence has revealed rampant inequalities within the climate justice movement. In January 2020, while attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as one of five international delegates, including Thunberg, Nakate’s image was cropped out of a photo by the Associated Press. The photo featured the four other activists, who were all white. It highlighted the call Nakate has been making all along: for both environmental and social justice on behalf of those who have been omitted from the climate discussion and who are now demanding to be heard.
Premade spotify provided podcast playlist:Climate Crisis
Synopsis: Thought-provoking conversations and stories about the world's fight against climate change
Premade spotify provided podcast playlist: Your Guide to Climate Solutions
Synopsis: "How to Save a Planet" host Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson shares her favorite climate change conversations.
Dismantled Podcast- Intersectional Environmentalism Channel
Synopsis: Dismantled is a podcast for intersectional environmentalists. We believe conversations about the climate crisis must center, and be led by, those most impacted by it: Black, Indigenous + POC communities.
How to Save a Planet Podcast Channel
Synopsis: Climate change. We know. It can feel too overwhelming. But what if there was a show about climate change that left you feeling... energized? One so filled with possibility that you actually wanted to listen? Join us, journalist Alex Blumberg and a crew of climate nerds, as we bring you smart, inspiring stories about the mess we're in and how we can get ourselves out of it.Check out our Calls to Action archive here for all of the actions we've recommended on the show.
The Yikes Podcast Channel
Synopsis: There’s a lot to make us Yikes in this world. From the climate crisis to racism to activism and resisting oppressive systems, it can get a bit overwhelming. Yikes is a podcast which leans into the Yikes of the world rather than letting it overwhelm us. We break down the issues in an accessible intersectional and nuanced way to guide us towards action together.
No Place Like Home Podcast: Indigenous Wisdom & the Seed of Life with Sherri Mitchell
Synopsis: Sherri Mitchell's name in her language is Weh'na Ha'mu Kwasset. She is an indigenous rights attorney from the Penobscot Nation and the author of a wonderful book, Sacred Instructions, that we highly recommend checking out. It brings together indigenous lessons, teachings and guidance she has been moved to share with the wider world, on behalf of the elders in her community Sherri's book: https://sacredinstructions.life/
Outside/In Podcast: Sea Change
Synopsis: Picture this: thousands of wind turbines off the Atlantic coast, each one taller than the Washington Monument. Offshore wind is seen as an essential solution to climate change, and it’s poised for explosive growth in the United States. How did we get to a moment of such dramatic change?
Windfall is the story of a promising renewable technology and the potential of wind power in a changing climate. It’s a story about who has the power to reshape our energy future.
Ted Climate: Environmental Justice is Racial Justice
Synopsis: Why has there been so little mention of saving Black lives from the climate emergency? For too long, racial justice efforts have been distinguished from climate justice work, says David Lammy, Member of Parliament for Tottenham, England. In a stirring talk about building a new movement to care for the planet, Lammy calls for inclusion and support of Black and minority leadership on climate issues and a global recognition we can't solve climate change without racial, social and intergenerational justice.
Kiss The Ground
-Synopsis: Kiss the Ground is a full-length documentary narrated by Woody Harrelson that sheds light on an “new, old approach” to farming called “regenerative agriculture” that has the potential to balance our climate, replenish our vast water supplies, and feed the world
-Learn more about the motivation and efforts behind the movie: https://kisstheground.com/
When Two Worlds Collide- A Battle for Indigenous Amazonian Land
-Synopsis: In this tense and immersive tour de force, audiences are taken directly into the line of fire between powerful, opposing Peruvian leaders who will stop at nothing to keep their respective goals intact. On the one side is President Alan Garcia, who, eager to enter the world stage, begins aggressively extracting oil, minerals, and gas from untouched indigenous Amazonian land. He is quickly met with fierce opposition from indigenous leader Alberto Pizango, whose impassioned speeches against Garcia's destructive actions prove a powerful rallying cry to throngs of his supporters. When Garcia continues to ignore their pleas, a tense war of words erupts into deadly violence.
-Available on Kanopy (accessible for all ucsc affiliates)
There’s Something in the Water
-Synopsis: This documentary spotlights the struggle of minority communities in Nova Scotia as they fight officials over the lethal effects of the industrial waste
Before the Flood
-Synopsis: If you could know the truth about the threat of climate change — would you want to know? Before the Flood, presented by National Geographic, features Leonardo DiCaprio on a journey as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, traveling to five continents and the Arctic to witness climate change firsthand. He goes on expeditions with scientists uncovering the reality of climate change and meets with political leaders fighting against inaction. He also discovers a calculated disinformation campaign orchestrated by powerful special interests working to confuse the public about the urgency of the growing climate crisis. With unprecedented access to thought leaders around the world, DiCaprio searches for hope in a rising tide of catastrophic news.
-Learn more about the motivation and efforts behind the movie: https://www.beforetheflood.com/
Brave Blue World- Racing to Solve our Water Crisis
-Synopsis: From Reuse to energy generation, new innovations across five continents are explored in this documentary about building a future for sustainable water
The True Cost
-Synopsis: The True Cost is a documentary film exploring the impact of fashion on people and the planet. Storyline: This is a story about clothing. It's about the clothes we wear, the people who make them, and the impact the industry is having on our world. The price of clothing has been decreasing for decades, while the human and environmental costs have grown dramatically. The True Cost is a groundbreaking documentary film that pulls back the curtain on the untold story and asks us to consider, who really pays the price for our clothing?
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