Just Transition
Research climate justice, as well as partner with communities and organizations to develop practices, projects, and policies that foster more equitable climate planning and civic engagement.
Activities include:
RISE: Resilient Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity, a research collaborative lead by Prof. Shideh Dashti with support from Prof. Shawhin Roudbari and Prof. Phaedra C. Pezzullo. See information on that website about ongoing activities, including research on how to reduce harms in incarceration infrastructure in an age of climate disasters. Their first published article came out in 2023 in the .
The Just Transition Collective (JTC), co-directed by Prof. Pezzullo and Prof. David Ciplet, who has a partnership with KGNU radio called , a radio storytelling project about what is needed to transition to a more just environment and society. In 2022, Prof. Pezzullo launched a podcast, to listen more deeply to people who have made headlines for making a difference to learn from their insights for successful creative climate communication and behavior change; the 2023 season includes interviews featuring leading global climate justice activists, like , and academics, like .
Prof. Roudbari is a founding member of the Spatial Justice Design Collective () at the CU Boulder Program in Environmental Design. The SJDC produces creative work through installations in order to advance explorations of racism in the design of our built environment. He has become co-director of CeDAR (The Community Engagement, Design and Research Center), which partners with Colorado communities to help build resilient and equitable cities and neighborhoods. CEDaR’s goal is to stimulate research and teaching on critical urban challenges, leading to innovations in design, policy and programs. He co-created an exhibit at the UN Summit on Human Rights and Climate in December 2022 to share voices of people formerly incarcerated about climate-related disaster vulnerabilities and possibilities.
On April 7, 2021, Prof. Boykoff and Prof. Pezzullo co-hosted a virtual climate teach in on Colorado Just Transitions featuring CO Gov. Jared Polis, Lizeth Chacon (Executive Director of Colorado People's Alliance), Stephanie A. Malin (Associate Professor, CSU), and Will Toor (Executive Director of the Colorado Energy Office). For a recording of the event: . In 2022, they also consulted on a by the Pulitzer Center on , which led to grants to support journalists. In 2022, Prof. Pezzullo spoke at the kick off online and in Washington, DC, at the Pulitzer Center's Conference .
Prof. Pezzullo was quoted in on the IPCC report's emphasis on global climate equality. She also was quoted in the : “The environmental justice groups this election did the grass-roots work of mobilizing voters & getting their agenda recognized by the Democratic Party for the first time in history. Now they are going to be assessing whether it made a difference.”