What does Climate Change and Sustainability look like for you? The UMD Office of Sustainability and the Institute on the Environment Duluth (IonE) discussed climate from different perspectives and invited students, faculty, staff and the public to the conference to explore sustainability from the perspective of “Our Climate Futures.” The two-day conference was held on Oct. 23-24 on the UMD Campus where over 150 individuals attended the conference. 

The conference aimed to explore impacts, adaptation and mitigation related to climate change and how climate change disproportionately affects marginalized communities. The keynote speaker was August Ball, with the Cream City Conservation along with presenters from Northern Minnesota such as paleBLUEdot and the City of Duluth. Part of the conference involved an art installation from the UMD Art and Design department and participatory artwork from the conference participants. The conference concluded with an art exhibition opening and mixer in the UMD Tweed Museum of Art as well as a keynote from August Ball. 

“There’s been a lot of logistics about it. A lot of behind the scenes work that you don’t even really think about until it comes up, like catering and making sure presenters are confirmed,” said Elizabeth Wix, an Institute on the Environment ClimateCorp (IonE) member. “Personally, getting everything together and seeing everything manifest itself has been so much fun.” Wix has been with IonE Duluth since August along with ClimateCorp member Louise Curnow aiding IonE Duluth with the Our Climate Futures Conference and further sustainability focused events across the UMD campus. “We had students, we had faculty, we had people who worked for nonprofits, people who were just in businesses around town or even community members who showed up so we were really getting that diversity and inclusion at the center,” said Wix.

The conference was two years in the making with both Office of Sustainability Director Jonna Korpi and IonE director Julie Etterson working together to make the conference a success. “I feel like we got a really good mix. We had really great student representation, I think we got a good mix of community folks, staff folks, and there were different staff and faculty at different sessions,” Korpi said. “The two sessions that I led were asking people to engage and interact with each other. The conversations in small groups were really eye-opening and people had a lot to share. They appreciated the ability to do that within the context of the conference and to really start processing what they were hearing and learning.”

The conference covered a slew of discussion points within the span of two days. Ted Redmond, the co-founder of paleBLUEdot, specifically dove into the data behind Duluth as a climate refuge and the vulnerability Duluth will still face due to the effects of climate change. Keynote speaker, August Ball, the founder of Cream City Conservation, held a training workshop focused on diversity within environmentalism as a way to connect inclusion and diversity to the core of the conference and within sustainability work overall. The conference hosted the installation opening of the Black Gold - Living Memory: Portraits of the Lake Sturgeon hosted within the UMD Tweed Museum of Art with opening remarks from UMD’s very own Interim Chancellor David McMillan, showcasing an intersection of artwork and sustainability to conclude the conference.