Equity and Justice

The UW Center for Nature and Health is committed to the institutional practice of equity and justice. We honor, value, and strive to embrace diverse and equitable learning environments, promote access, justice, and opportunity for all. We recognize that ableism, institutional racism, and binary (cis) gender convey the dominant history and social values that do not meet the needs of all communities. We partner with constituents who inform our wider community through activities, experiences, ideas, and multiple knowledge systems to expand our field. Our commitments to diversity and equity are ongoing. We learn collaboratively through education, outreach, practices, policy, and research approaches—below are a few examples.

Greening Research in Tacoma Project (G.R.I.T.)

How will the Tacoma Mall neighborhood add shade and reduce pavement while also building more housing and upgrading other infrastructure? And how will these changes impact the people who live there? GRIT aims to understand more about how human health and increased greening intersect in South Tacoma.

BIPOC Research Collective

Recognizing how current research unevenly amplifies Western-dominated fields and cultures, we hosted a convening that wasn’t like a typical academic conference. In practice, this translated to a gathering that was first and foremost grounded by personal, collective and community experiences that was created by and for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) researchers.

Nature and Health Equity and Racial Justice Task Force

Our Equity and Racial Justice Task Force aims to build and strengthen our transdisciplinary relationships. Our approach to the field of nature and health embraces multiple worldviews and builds an ethic of anti-racism, equity, and justice.

Nature and Health Wins

This award recognizes individuals, communities, and organizations for demonstrating a commitment to anti-racism, equity, nature, and health.

We are all on Native land

We acknowledge the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land that touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip, and Muckleshoot Nations. We have a responsibility to acknowledge our Indigenous connections, as well as, histories of dispossession and forced removal that have allowed for the growth and survival of this institution.

We make this acknowledgment as one part of our commitment to working to create inclusive and respectful partnerships that honor Indigenous cultures, histories, identities, knowledges, and sociopolitical realities; that dismantle ongoing legacies of settler colonialism; and that recognize the hundreds of Indigenous Nations who continue to resist, live, and uphold their sacred relations across their lands.