Envisioning Climate Justice with Smith Students
Smith College has taken initiatives to increase on-campus sustainability in the face of the climate crisis, but there is work to be done to incorporate justice into these solutions. To envision how Smith can implement climate justice within its physical campus, workshops were hosted on Cromwell Day. The primary stakeholders for this report are Smith students, who are key constituents in implementing Climate Justice on campus. The workshop included three exercises to guide students in envisioning climate justice at Smith: illustrative visioning, participatory mapping, and an exit survey. The most important themes that emerged from the illustrative visions were Nature and Resources. From the participatory mapping exercise, the most prominent themes were Green Space and Infrastructure. The most common themes in the exit survey were Green Space, Infrastructure, and Divestment. Visions under the themes of Green Space and Infrastructure had the most synergy with projects mentioned by the Landscape Master Plan, indicating the potential for a climate justice framework in this guiding institutional document. A diverse range of climate justice visions was generated in the workshop, but many visions were either sustainability-oriented or justice-oriented, rather than climate justice-oriented. We recommend actions to incorporate climate justice into the physical landscape and other parts of campus life to increase discourse on climate justice at Smith.
Report Executive Summary:
Final Presentation Slide Samples:
