Episodes

I first met Ren Olive about 8 or 9 years ago camping at the Land Institute’s Prairie Festival in Salina, KS. I clearly remember having a number of very thought provoking conversations with them throughout that weekend about topics such as removing the barriers to food access in rural communities, democratizing food systems, developing more sustainable approaches to agriculture and food, and building more resilient communities. In the years following our initial meeting, it’s become clear to me ...

I first learned about Patrick Moore from Theresa Peterson (who is featured on the first season of the Just Sustainability Podcast). Theresa suggested that I should record an episode with Patrick because of his extensive community organizing related to protecting the waters of Minnesota and his allyship in support of the Indigenous nations in the Upper Midwest. Theresa, as she often is, was right: meeting and chatting with Patrick was a wonderful experience. Patrick has had a long career related...

In this episode we return to Amanda Corris’ conversation with Eugene Chislenko. Amanda and Eugene talk about Philosophers for Sustainability and the role of professional philosophers in social discourse and advocacy. Eugene is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Temple University and is one of the co-founders of Philosophers for Sustainability. His scholarship covers a broad range of topics related to moral philosophy and moral psychology, history of philosophy, and — most salient given the...

In this episode Amanda introduces us to Eugene Chislenko. Eugene is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Temple University and is one of the co-founders of Philosophers for Sustainability. His scholarship covers a broad range of topics related to moral philosophy and moral psychology, history of philosophy, and — most salient given the focus of this podcast — the role of professional philosophers in the collective efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Links: https://www.eugenechi...

Julia Gibson often describes themselves as a farmer-philosopher. Her scholarship often weaves together themes such as palliative care ethics and remembrance, the impact and role of narratives and stories, resisting colonialism, and the rights and representation of non-human species in political discourse about environment and sustainability. Julia is core faculty in the Environmental Studies program at Antioch University New England and works the land on their family’s farm in eastern New York. ...

Julia Gibson often describes themselves as a farmer-philosopher. I would describe them as the author of some of the most exciting work that’s been recently published about environmental and animal ethics. Her scholarship often weaves together themes such as palliative care ethics and remembrance, the impact and role of narratives and stories, resisting colonialism, and the rights and representation of non-human species in political discourse about environment and sustainability. Julia is core fa...

Ray Burns is the Tribal Partnerships Manager for the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research in North Dakota (ND EPSCoR). Moreover, at the time that the conversation featured in this episode was recorded, Ray was the President of Leech Lake Tribal College in Cass Lake, MN. During the second half of the conversation I had with Ray, he told me more about tribal colleges, the role they play in nation rebuilding, what non-tribal institutions might learn f...

Ray Burns is the Tribal Partnerships Manager for the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research in North Dakota (ND EPSCoR). Moreover, at the time that the conversation featured in this episode was recorded, Ray was the President of Leech Lake Tribal College in Cass Lake, MN. I first met Ray 7 or 8 years ago when he served as the Director for the Native American Student Success Program at the University of Minnesota Morris. There are very few people I kn...

When I first met Simon Franco about a decade ago he was the Student Success Coordinator for Multi-ethnic Student Programs at the University of Minnesota Morris (which the precursor to the position that I currently hold). Soon after that initial meeting, Simon changed jobs and became the Assistant Director of Student Activities and Leadership (still at UMN Morris). In his Assistant Director role Simon created the Morris Leadership Education and Development (MLEAD) program. In this episode of Jus...

When I first met Simon Franco about a decade ago he was the Student Success Coordinator for Multi-ethnic Student Programs at the University of Minnesota Morris (which the precursor to the position that I currently hold). Soon after that initial meeting, Simon changed jobs and became the Assistant Director of Student Activities and Leadership (still at UMN Morris). In his Assistant Director role Simon created the Morris Leadership Education and Development (MLEAD) program. MLEAD is a series of w...

In the previous episode of Just Sustainability it was my pleasure to introduce you to Emily Brier and to share the first half of the conversation that I recorded with Emily. During that first half, Emily and I spoke mostly about how she thought about inclusive pedagogy and some of the steps that she has taken to make the courses that she teaches more accessible to students. In addition to being an educational innovator, Emily is also a terrific poet and contributed a great deal to supporting an...

There are at least two things about Emily Brier that would be of interest to listeners of this podcast. First, she’s innovative educator that has thought a lot about and built her courses around inclusive, accessible, and socially just pedagogy. Second, she’s a poet who writes about the relationships between food, women, and Queerness in Appalachia (she’s also done a lot of work with the Appalachian Studies Association). I first became familiar with Emily after a colleague sent me a copy of her...

On the finale of Season 2 of Just Sustainable, Julian Agyeman and I talk about a broad range of topics that include: (1) the importance of fostering a sense of belonging for work related to sustainability and social justice, (2) hiring and representation within universities and colleges, and (3) the steps that communities have taken to become more justly sustainable. Julian Agyeman is a Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning and the Fletcher Professor of Rhetoric and Debate at...

There’s an aphorism that suggests that one should not meet one’s heroes. That aphorism is without doubt incorrect when it comes to Dr. Julian Agyeman FRSA FRGS. Julian is certainly one of my heroes (indeed, the title of this podcast derives from the concept of just sustainabilities that — I believe — he coined roughly 20 years ago) and meeting him was very much a delight! During our conversation, which was recorded late spring in 2020, Julian offered an abundance of gems about how he thought ab...

In the second episode featuring Gabe Desrosiers, Gabe and I discuss how institutions of higher-education within the United States might better support language and cultural reclamation by appreciating the full personhood of students. We also talk about what it means to live in a good way from an Anishinaabe perspective. Gabe Desrosiers is an award winning singer and dancer, he is a translator and a voiceover artist for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, and he runs the Anishinaabemowin ...

I was initially acquainted with Gabe Desrosiers as a fellow Canadian amongst the faculty at the University of Minnesota Morris. Indeed, I first learned of Gabe as the result of one of our mutual colleagues saying something to me like: “Oh, you’re Canadian? You should meet Gabe. He’s Canadian too!” However, in the 9 years that we’ve been colleagues, Gabe has become a good friend and a teacher. He’s taught me about Anishinaabe life ways and history. Through many hours of conversation, he’s helped...

On this episode we return to my conversation with Erika Bailey-Johnson. We talk about a workshop series at Bemidji State University aimed at providing students with a range of practical skills (many of which are related to sustainability and Indigenous lifeways), the hierarchies in higher-education, how we need to be conscientious of the effects of those hierarchies, and being better at change. Erika Bailey-Johnson serves in a number of roles related to sustainability, she’s: the Sustainability...

I first met Erika Bailey-Johnson about 8 years ago when she chaired the organizing committee for the Upper Midwest Association for Campus Sustainability (aka UMACS). It took one conversation with her to convince me of two things: First, Erika is a force of nature — if one looks up “change-maker” in the dictionary, one won’t find a picture of Erika in the entry but one really should. I’m fairly certain that Erika is involved in one way or another with every single project in the Upper Midwest tha...

When Cathy Jordan was previously on Just Sustainability, she mentioned that she was about to attend the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 26th Conference of the Parties meeting in Glasgow. In this episode she tells us about her experience leading the University of Minnesota’s delegation to that meeting and some of her thoughts about climate governance. Links: https://www.ipcc.ch/ https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/cop26 https://unfccc.int/conference/glasgow-climate-change...

On the second part of Amanda’s conversation with Evelyn Brister, they speak about efforts aimed at reintroducing American chestnuts to the wild and some of the ethical questions underlying those efforts. Dr. Brister is an environmental philosopher and a philosopher of science at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She’s written about a range of topics, including: climate governance, the problem of disciplinary capture in interdisciplinary areas (i.e. pretty much anything related to sustainab...

On the first episode of our new special series, Just Sustainability – Socially Engaged Philosophy at the Intersection of Sustainability and Social Justice, Amanda introduces us to Evelyn Brister. Dr. Brister is an environmental philosopher and a philosopher of science at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She’s written about a range of topics, including: climate governance, the problem of disciplinary capture in interdisciplinary areas (i.e. pretty much anything related to sustainability), ...

It’s my distinct pleasure on this episode to introduce you to a new contributor to Just Sustainability, Amanda Corris. Starting at the beginning of 2022, Amanda will start hosting a series of special feature episodes of Just Sustainability about socially-engaged philosophy at the intersection of sustainability and equity. Amanda is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Prior to her current appointment Am...

In the final part of our conversation, Cathy Jordan and I talk about the emphasis on addressing disparities and harms within much of the literature about environmental justice. Cathy suggests that those of us who work on environmental justice need for to be more aspirational and be better at envisioning a more utopic future. Cathy also tells me about the skills that she believes everybody should practice to be better listeners. Cathy Jordan is a pediatric neuropsychologist that teaches at the U...

Cathy and I had so much fun during our live-recording for the IonE Annual meeting that we decided to follow that discussion up with a longer conversation. Reconvening allowed us to take some more time to go into greater detail about scholarship that empowers communities. During the first part of our follow-up conversation, Cathy and I chatted about community-based participatory research (CBPR), how CBPR might be a tool that land grant universities might use to better pursue their charge to serv...