Justice & Ethics
Climate justice solutions involve addressing the disproportionate impacts of climate change and empowering communities.
Can environmental justice be achieved before social justice is? There are strong arguments that contend that the climate crisis began in slavery and that ignoring its impact on Black, Indigenous, and people of color is harming those communities today.
Considering all Angles
Climate change disproportionately affects marginalized communities, and ethical considerations require us to act responsibly for future generations. Justice ensures equity and addresses social inequalities exacerbated by climate change. Ethical responsibility and public trust are essential for long-term sustainability.
Beyond prioritizing vulnerable communities and promoting intergenerational equity, addressing climate change ethically also requires addressing its root causes, building diverse partnerships, and ensuring transparency and accountability in climate policies and actions. By allowing equity, fairness, and social justice to take precedence, we can ensure that climate change is addressed in a way that benefits all people.
“We are living in a changing climate and an economy that is fundamentally at odds with being sustainable. If we’re looking at endless growth versus being sustainable, I think it’s important for students to start to understand the contradictions.”
Justice & Ethics Climate Solutions Accelerator Projects
Co-Design Climate Resilient Community Health and Climate Justice in Harrisburg, Pa.
Designing the Future of Recovery: Catalyzing Conversations on Community-Centric Resilient Housing Solutions in Rural Appalachia
Furthering Indigenous-Led, Nature-based solutions through Rights and Onsets in the Global South
Integrated CO2 Mineralization and Critical Mineral Recovery for Sustainable Urban and Transportation Systems
Augmenting Climate Transition across the Atlantic Transect: Extension-driven Solutions to Implementing Socially Responsible, High-Integrity Forest Carbon Offsets
Biomaterials and Nature-Based Solutions: Achieving a Sustainable, Decarbonized, and Climate-Resilient Built Environment
Building Capacity for Subnational Climate Action
Carbon Management: Capture, Transport, and Geological Storage
Scaling One Health Approach through Multistakeholder Engagement in Arthropod Adaptations to Ecosystem Plasticity Associated with Climate Change
Research Program for Assisted Subnational Climate Planning
Climate-Driven Pluvial Flooding: Impacts on Environmental Non-Migrants in Central Pennsylvania
Developing and Evaluating Climate Solutions Educational Strategies through Leave No Trace
Developing Transformative Youth-Centered Research Agendas & Intergenerational Collaborations to Foster Climate Justice Solutions
Implementing State-Level Climate Change Policy and Management for Water Resources
The Penn State – Belizean Foundation for Research and Environmental Education Consortium Workshop
Penn State Mineral Dust and GeoHealth Workshop
Protecting Indigenous Lands and Promoting Ethical Conservation Practices Through Design of a Sustainable Environmental Monitoring Network
Resilience and Equity in Addressing Climate Health
Impact
Literature course focuses on polar communities and climate change
A professor is using her experiences from her five visits to the polar regions to teach students about the human impact of the climate crisis and focuses on how continental Americans, as well as people in other Western countries, perceive the Arctic regions.
IEE leadership helps shape report to NSF on climate change, role of engineering
Two Penn State researchers provided key leadership in the creation of a report to the National Science Foundation on engineering research areas that need to be better developed to address climate change, including ways in which engineering can be impactful and support the needs of the United States.