We at the School of Global Environmental Sustainability affirm that Black Lives Matter, and condemn the police brutality and other violence perpetrated against Black bodies around the country. The recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, while horrifying, are only a small snapshot of the danger, hate, and violence Black people face every day.

We recognize that racism and the structural violence it perpetuates are not limited to a single sector of society. Racism, particularly anti-Blackness, is built into the foundation of the United States and affects every system in which we operate, including the social, economic, and environmental. It is a fundamental barrier to sustainability, because sustainability requires social justice and economic fairness in addition to healthy environmental conditions. The field of sustainability cannot begin to address social and environmental justice without actively working towards anti-racism.

The School commits to advancing an anti-racist approach to education, research, and engagement. This includes explicitly amplifying the voices of Black members of our University, and all other who are targets of racism and oppression. We commit to creating an environment of learning and research that is equitable, which requires pro-actively and systemically identifying structural biases and racist practices within our organization and changing accordingly to become anti-racist. Finally, we commit to empowering our own staff and students by providing anti-racism resources for action and justice.

Black Lives Matter, and we commit to challenging ourselves and our community to act like it.

Below are some resources that we will be using to educate ourselves as an institution so that we can better fight for Black lives and work towards active anti-racism. We call on all those who support sustainability to do the same.

What We're Reading

Articles:

Podcasts:

Books:

Videos:

More anti-racism resources to check out:

Resources for white parents to raise anti-racist children:

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We’d like to say thank you to Sarah Sophie Flicker and Alyssa Klein, for compiling this document from which we drew many resources.