We will kickoff the conference with our Keynote Speaker: Daniel Blackman.

Dr Treva Gear, Dogwood Alliance will charge us for another amazing EJ&CP Conference.

Track 1: Building Change via Coalitions

Speakers will explore bringing people together, outreach to specific groups, and building trust. They will highlight examples from their own experiences and work.

Yarrow Koning, M.Ed. in Environmental Education, Organizer, Queers for Climate Justice

• Calling All EcoQueers: Engaging LGBTQ+ Communities in EJ/CJ Coalitions

Tykivious Grier, MPA, South Georgia Organizer, Georgia Interfaith Power and Light

• Community Mapping for Change Tracing Relationships, Trust, and Action Across South Georgia

Olivia Asher, PhD Candidate, University of Georgia; Organizer, Coalition of Athens Scientists

• Community Engagement Behind the Athens Clean and Renewable Energy Plan

Track 2: Community & Climate Resilience

Our climate doesn’t just need to be resilient to change, but our people do as well. Learn how both communities and the environment can be strengthened to respond to our changing climate.

Natalie Pilgeram, PhD, Community Member, East Point, GA

• Tree Equity in the “City in a Forest”: Protecting Urban Tree Canopies for Community Benefit

Amy Chicos, MA Transpersonal Psychology & Ecopsychology, Community Member

• The Social Mycelium: Relational Permaculture as the Missing Leg of Sustainability

Danait Issac, Community Manager, Girl Plus Environment

• Building Climate Resilience Hubs in the Aftermath of Natural Disasters

Track 1: IYKYK – Effective Authentic Engagement Strategies

Meeting people where they are and sparking their interest goes a long way in creating change. Speakers will cover various successful strategies to work with communities.

Diamond Spratling, MPH, Founder & Executive Director, Girl Plus Environment

• Culture Is Infrastructure: Lessons from a Millennial-Led Organization Using Culture and Media for Environmental Justice

Laura Early, Eastern Program Director, SouthWings

• How the Bird’s Eye View Can Elevate Your Cause

Ryan Jones, Founder, Black Empowerment for Environmental Sustainability

• Creating Climate Culture

Track 2: Data Centers – everything you wanted to know, and more

Amy Sharma, Executive Director, Science for Georgia, will cover all things data centers: what they are, community outreach techniques, available resources, and using maps to track their locations and impacts.

Finish your lunch and fight the food coma by participating in small group exercises.

Brandy Hall, Founder & CEO Shades of Green Permaculture

• Smart Stormwater: Practical Solutions for a Resilient Future

Anna Zelcer, Climate Fresk, MBA in Sustainability, Sustainability Coordinator, Angelini Pharma

• Your community members can become a Climate Hero!

Amy Chicos, MA, Ecopsychologist & Relational Permaculture Coach, BeEcoWell

• Tending the Social Soil: A Relational Permaculture Design Lab

Akissi Stokes-Nelson, CEO & Cofounder, WunderGrubs, Inc.

• Insect Mania Card Gameplay

Chad Livsey, Founder of The Chad Livsey Project

• The Weight of Waste

Allen Hyde, Associate Professor, School of History and Sociology, Georgia Institute of Technology

• Using maps to facilitate story telling around data centers and understand community needs.

Track 1: A Panel on Black Women’s Environmental and Climate Justice Activism in Coastal Georgia

This panel will engage climate and environmental justice advocates in coastal Georgia, looking to a rich past of Black women’s activism in the region and towards a future that centers memory, heritage, and culture in climate justice movements. This discussion will highlight both the successes and challenges to addressing environmental injustice in coastal Georgia. Panelists will engage in a discussion about ecological injustices within their communities, how they sustain themselves and their work, and discuss coalition-building towards a sustainable climate justice movement on the Georgia coast.

Panelists: Adrian Cato, PhD candidate, Emory University; Courtney McGill, Digital Creator & Community Archivist, Independent (Black-Owned Brunswick); Neesha Powell-Ingabire, journalist, essayist, writing educator & cultural organizer.

Track 2: Community Involved Research

Lara Martin, Community Member, Lindmoor Woods Neighborhood Association

• Paved Over: What the I-285 Expansion Reveals About Health, Equity, and Community Power

Allen Hyde, Associate Professor School of History and Sociology, Georgia Institute of Technology

• Community-Engaged Approaches to Understanding the Effects of Data Centers on Communities in Atlanta

Garry Harris, Center for Sustainable Communities

• NASA Hampton Roads Coastal Resilience Project

Check out our unposter session while enjoying snacks and networking with your colleagues.

Energy burden and resilience are top of mind. Join Treva Gear, Amy Sharma, Garry Harris, and others as we discuss this important topic and strategize a way forward.

Track 1: Tales from Rural Towns

Learn firsthand about the “Highway to Hell” in rural South Georgia. From the negative impact of the woody biomass industry to proposed data centers to natural disasters. 

Panelists: Dakkia Bradshaw, Lumber City Community Leader; Treva Gear, Dogwood Alliance.

Track 2: Workshop/Panel: Community Benefits Agreements

CBAs are often mentioned as a great tool for creating and sustaining change. But what are they? How do you make them happen? and what must be done to make them work for communities? 

Make new friends over lunch and answer questions to help us plan for the upcoming year.

Close out the conference by investing in your own resilience.

Track 1: Resilience as Resistance: Trauma-Informed Tools for Environmental Justice Leaders and Communities

Crystal M. Consonery