Welcome
Our world faces several existential threats whose roots lie in environmental and social injustice. The Yale Center for Environmental Justice (YCEJ) works with partners across Yale and in communities around the world to remedy the key drivers of injustice while co-creating generative solutions for a more just and sustainable world.
Environmental Joy
October 27 - 28, 2023
The Global Environmental Justice Conference has raised funds for travel scholarships particularly for grassroots participants, including limited funds for international grassroots participants. Please click here to apply by September 29th!
Highlighted Speakers

Bishop William J. Barber II
Co-Chair, Poor People’s Campaign
Founding Director, Center for Public Theology and Public Policy

Alfred Brownell
Tom and Andi Bernstein Visiting Human Rights Fellow
Goldman Prize Winner - 2019 Africa
Yale Law School

Aja DeCoteau
Executive Director
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

Michael Mendez
Assistant Professor of Environmental Policy and Urban Planning
University of California, Irvine

Toshi Reagon
Musician
Composer, Producer, and Activist Composer, Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower

Laurie Santos
Chandrika and Ranjan Tandon Professor of Psychology and Head of Silliman College
Yale University
The work of environmental justice communities around the world would not be possible without the element of joy – how joy holds communities together in the face of injustice and adversity, how the search for well-being and joy powers community innovation, how resilience, survival, and even thriving all serve as deep resources that power big change.
Environmental Joy will be a multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural exploration and celebration of these practices. The conference will make plain how practices and experiences of joy are core to the work of indigenous and environmental justice communities everywhere. And how they hold the key to solving our most pressing environmental challenges.
in Honor of Natasha Chichilnisky-Heal, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and other generous sponsors.
Featured Videos
Yale Global Environmental Justice Conference 2022
Security and Sovereignty in the Global Food System
Given the challenges that have deeply impacted the food system over the past year including climate change, conflict (such as that in Ukraine) and the ongoing Covid pandemic, what is our best way forward? How can food systems around the world best address these ongoing challenges?
Field Perspectives on Energy Transitions in the Global South
The transition to clean energy in the Global South will require a range of instruments that support flexible and rapid implementation to meet ambitious climate targets.
Opening Session; Finance for Climate Justice with a Caribbean Spotlight
The USAID Eastern and Southern Caribbean Mission presents Finance for Climate Justice: Caribbean Spotlight.
2022 Global EJ Conference: Keynote and “Fireside Chat” with Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
Moderated by Gerald Torres, Professor of Environmental Justice, Professor of Law; Yale School of the Environment, Yale Law School