Schedule
The Climate Justice Conference at SOU runs from 9am-5pm on February 24-25, at Stevenson Union (1118 Siskiyou Blvd, Ashland Oregon).
Session Descriptions & Speaker Bios
Navigate below to learn more about the confirmed sessions for the Climate Justice Conference!
Keynote Speakers
Connectedness of Humanity, Hope, and the Land: Considering Climate Justice through an Indigenous and Racial Equity Lens
Teresa Cisneros (she/her) – Indian Education Facilitator, Southern Oregon ESD; Vice-President, Oregon Indian Education Association; Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas; Board member, Southern Oregon Land Conservancy; Co-chair, Coalizion Fortaleza
Finding strategies to yield abundance
Margaret Corvi (she/her) – Niishanax, dai estes, hello. Margaret Corvi is a hanis coos and citizen of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw. She is a consultant working to support the protection of cultural and environmental resources important to the traditions and identity of Tribal Nations and citizens. She views cultural and natural resources as intertwined and connected to how we fish, hunt, harvest, heal, celebrate and create. Margaret volunteers on Siuslaw Watershed Council acting as the President of the Board of Directors, Ocean Policy Advisory Committee as the Tribal representative, Natural and Working Land Committee of the Oregon Global Warming Commission and works with Tribes, state agencies, universities, and other organizations to support the use and protection of cultural and environmental resources and places important to the traditions, practices and identity of indigenous people and Tribal sovereigns.
Land Acknowledgement
Southern Oregon University is located within the ancestral homelands of the Shasta, Takelma, and Latgawa peoples who lived here since time immemorial. These Tribes were displaced during rapid Euro-American colonization, the Gold Rush, and armed conflict between 1851 and 1856. In the 1850s, discovery of gold and settlement brought thousands of Euro-Americans to their lands, leading to warfare, epidemics, starvation, and villages being burned. In 1853 the first of several treaties were signed, confederating these Tribes and others together – who would then be referred to as the Rogue River Tribe. These treaties ceded most of their homelands to the United States, and in return they were guaranteed a permanent homeland reserved for them. At the end of the Rogue River Wars in 1856, these Tribes and many other Tribes from western Oregon were removed to the Siletz Reservation and the Grand Ronde Reservation. Today, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians are living descendants of the Takelma, Shasta, and Latgawa peoples of this area. We encourage YOU to learn about the land you reside on, and to join us in advocating for the inherent sovereignty of Indigenous people.
Contact the Sustainability Center
SOU Student Sustainability Center
1250 Siskiyou Blvd.
Stevenson Union, Room 310
Ashland, OR 97520
541.552.6454
ecos@sou.edu