UC to host environmental justice symposium

An environmental justice symposium on Friday will provide a homecoming for some notable alumni at the University of Cincinnati. 

UC’s School of Environment and Sustainability will host the fourth-annual Environmental Justice and Advocacy Symposium from 3 to 6 p.m. Friday at Tangeman University Center’s MainStreet Cinema.

Speakers will deliver short presentations on topics such as sustainability and the disproportionate impacts of climate change around the world.

“The idea is for these to be TedX style talks,” UC Associate Professor Bob Hyland said. “They’ll discuss issues they are seeing in their day-to-day work as sustainability professionals and will talk about how their time at UC’s College of Arts and Sciences helped prepare them for their work.”

Speakers include:

• UC graduate Julianne Fernandez, class of 2017, who served as chief scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s post at the South Pole in Antarctica. She now works for Scientific Aviation, Inc. 
• Rob Gioielli, a 2008 UC graduate, who now teaches history at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.
• Jake Deighton who earned multiple degrees at UC and now studies how contaminants such as PFAS get into wastewater. He has worked for the Ohio EPA, the Cincinnati Health Department and the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati.

Hyland said climate change is a big topic in environmental justice because it disproportionately affects people both geographically and socioeconomically.

“It’s the most critical human issue of our time. There’s no question the privileged world is responsible for a lot of environmental and climate hardship,” he said. 

Some people live in places where the impacts of climate change are not as profound or who have the means to deal with the personal impacts of climate change such as flooding or drought. Others are not as fortunate.

“For example, some people might have more trouble in the future getting flood insurance on their properties,” Hyland said.

The symposium is a chance to highlight the important work of UC grads in these fields, he said.

“Bearcats are working around the world trying to do their part. I’m excited to hear what they have to say,” he said.

Featured image at top: UC will host its fourth-annual Environmental Justice and Advocacy Symposium on Friday at Tangeman University Center's MainStreet Cinema. Photo/Bilanol