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climate justice, adaptation, community resilience, global climate problems, and other climate change topics. Another main focal point is the urgent action needed for pollution cleanup in poor communities and communities of color. Each issue is thoroughly discussed at the conference before coming up with practical solutions. A few of the research themes of this year’s conference included tracking air pollution in St. James and St. John the Baptist parishes in Louisiana, and the city of Houston, TX, as well as building flood protection in the port cities of Gulfport, MS, and New Orleans, LA. Another research point was measuring the impact of pollution on environmental health in communities of color across the U.S.

This year, contributors to the conference made it a point to not only incorporate college students into activities but also get active efforts from high school students. Activities included things like computer-simulated games that put into perspective the realities of climate change for younger students. Several students, both high school and college, left the conference inspired and ready to do more. “What I learned from the conference is the student activism and seeing what’s coming in terms of taking responsibility because we’ve seen that this work takes decades. It takes years, and we don’t have years,” said Karis Thomas, first-time conference attendee and student at Howard University. Other student attendees left the conference feeling more knowledgeable about climate change. Aside from HBCUs and their students at the conference, other organizations contributed to the event. They include the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Southeast Region, and the Climate Adaption Science Center (CASC). Along with staffing an exhibit, CASC sent five climate fellows who had the task of communicating with HBCU students about the opportunities that USGS has, as well as recruiting pathways and relationships with HBCU students for the future. White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council members were also in attendance. Dr. Robert Bullard, distinguished professor at Texas Southern University (Houston), and Dr. Beverly Wright, executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Inc., co-founders of the conference, are members of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. They spoke about their excitement over new developments to come in the future.

“The movement has changed, and it’s resourced for the first time at a level higher than it’s ever been before,” Wright said at the conference.

Through an executive order signed by Pres. Joe Biden in January 2021, the

White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council was established to advise the Council of Environmental Quality and the White House Environmental Justice Interagency Council to increase the federal government’s efforts to address environmental injustice. The council’s efforts will include a range of strategic, scientific, technological, regulatory, community engagement, and economic issues related to environmental justice.

PRAIRIE VIEW A&M CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECT AND STUDENT INVOLVEMENT

While the annual climate change convention is a major collaborative effort, several HBCUs, including Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU), are ramping up projects of their own on campus. Back in 2016, a research project was created on the PVAMU campus to help determine the impact of climate change on cotton, corn, and sorghum. At the time an Eddy Covariance (EC) Flux Tower was installed on the campus’ research farm to capture data. More recently, PVAMU’s College of Agriculture and Human Sciences has installed sensors in research testbeds, with efforts spearheaded by associate professor Ram Ray, Ph.D. and members of the college’s Cooperative Agricultural Research Center Natural Resources and Environmental Systems. The sensors gauge carbon dioxide and methane levels, as well as evapotranspiration. This is all a part of a climate change practice study. Students at PVAMU have played a role in monitoring parameters, including soil moisture, precipitation, air temperature, wind speed, solar radiation, humidity, evapotranspiration, and greenhouse gases. Ray explained the importance of getting students involved in projects like these on campus. “All undergraduate, graduate, master, and Ph.D. students are involved in every project because it is not possible without their support,” Ray said. “They help me with collecting data, measurements, and samples. We need their support, but they also need to learn something new that they cannot learn in their day-to-day classes.”

When speaking about the important roles that students play in the projects, Ray specifically highlighted the work of electric engineer major and student researcher Reggie Jackson. “We have a student from the College of Engineering, and this is very interesting to them because they are learning about the sensors which relate to electrical engineering, and they come here to the research farm and see how we are using them to monitor the parameters that we use for climate change,” Ray said. Students are able to gain important experience and insight through the project that they are not able to in the classroom alone.

“The movement has changed, and it’s resourced for the first time at a level higher than it’s ever been before.”

Dr. Beverly Wright, executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Inc.

“There is no course that can fully explain climate change better than a hands-on project like this one,” Ray said. “Students are able to understand what is climate change, what can we do about it, and how we monitor all of this.”

The goal of the project is to measure the impact that climate change has on things like crop water, requirements, crop nutrient, and soil and water qualities for cotton, corn, and sorghum at Brazos River Watershed.

The long-term goal of the project is to gain correct insight so that they can train limited resources, socially

disadvantaged farmers, ranchers, and other stakeholders on the outcomes of the project to improve their farm operations.

MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Students from Morgan State University (MSU) are also doing their part in starting important conversations and educating others regarding the climate change crisis. Project Citizen: Climate360 is a website formed in collaboration between a diverse group of students from across the United States that are devoted to reporting on climate change. Students come from four different universities, one being MSU. Students from MSU occupy several different roles on the project to keep it up and running including executive producer, managing editor, and content producers. Below are a few of the MSU students involved in the project. MSU senior Alexis Durham is a content producer for the Climate360 project who studies multimedia journalism. Durham has grown fond of writing and videography, thus explaining her involvement with the Climate360 project. She hopes to one day produce her own

content for television and radio.

Durham has created and published several videos regarding climate change, one that answers the question as to why some people seem to not care about climate change and another one where she and other journalists give climate coverage a report card. MSU senior Brian Jeffries is an executive producer for the Climate360 and a senior multimedia major as well. Jeffries is a U.S. Navy veteran who has an associate degree in broadcast journalism from San Diego City College. Aside from writing, Jeffries is also an editor who does copy editing, photo editing, and video editing. Jeffries has a long-term goal to join the world of journalism and contribute to the spreading of news effectively across several platforms. Jeffries helped publish an article for the project that discusses climate change and how it is creating the new normal of California wildfires.

MSU junior Micah Caldwell is a managing editor for the Climate360 project who is studying multimedia journalism. Aside from working on Climate360, Caldwell serves as a member of MSU’s National Association of Black Journalists Executive Board as social media manager. Caldwell is also a member of the Wall Street Journal-MSU

Business Exchange program. MSU junior Julien Johnson is a content producer for the Climate360 and studies multimedia journalism and entrepreneurship. Aside from working on Climate360, Johnson has his own podcast, “The Versatility Podcast.” where he discusses several different topics ranging from societal issues, sports, business, and more. Aside from publishing and managing content regarding climate change, students also contribute to pushing out science, tech, energy, and economyrelated content.

“What I learned from the conference is the student activism and seeing what’s coming in terms of taking responsibility because we’ve seen that this work takes decades. It takes years, and we don’t have years.”

Karis Thomas, first-time conference attendee and

student at Howard University.

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