Climates of Inequality Discussions

FAIN: GG-293134-23

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark (Newark, NJ 07104-3010)
Liz Sevcenko (Project Director: January 2023 to present)

Implementation of a discussion series on the history and impact of climate change in underserved communities across the United States.

Climates of Inequality Discussions will bring together scholars, students, and diverse publics in 8 communities across the country for humanities conversations centering “frontline” communities -- those living in areas historically impacted by environmental destruction, now disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Discussions will explore how local histories of environmental inequality can help us understand the global shape of climate impacts to come; and how local communities who have struggled with environmental degradation over generations have developed resilience strategies from which we all can learn. Grounded in HAL's national public memory project, Climates of Inequality: Stories of Environmental Justice, COI Discussions bring history to the climate fight in two ways: increasing communities’ knowledge of histories that help guide a path through the climate crisis, and building skills to practice public history as a resiliency strategy.