It was great to see everyone earlier this fall at the Bryant Colloquium. I was overwhelmed by the generous spirit of the individuals who returned to Ann Arbor to gather in honor of Bunyan, and I was honored to be part of such an incredible event.
Lisa F. Garcia, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s senior adviser to the administrator for environmental justice, delivered the keynote address at a conference celebrating the career of Bunyan Bryant.
“To the advocates: keep us honest and hold our feet to the fire,” said Lisa F. Garcia, the U.S. Environmental Protections Agency’s senior advisor to the administrator for environmental justice, told a crowd of activists and academics in Ann Arbor Friday. The occasion of her keynote address was a conference to celebrate the life work of Bunyan Bryant, the co-founder of the Environmental Justice program at the School of Natural Resources and Environment and a beloved mentor to many alumni. Rather than a traditional retirement party, Bryant wanted to end his career with a conference that also would chart the future of the movement and serve academics and activists alike.
The legacy and future of the field of environmental justice is the focus of a conference organized by the University of Michigan Oct. 4-6 at the Ann Arbor Sheraton Hotel. The event also celebrates the contributions to that field by Bunyan Bryant, who is retiring after a 40-year career as an activist, researcher and mentor at the School of Natural Resources and Environment.
Bunyan Bryant, a founder of the academic field of environmental justice, is being honored with the state of Michigan's highest environmental honor. Professor Bryant, a faculty member in the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE), will receive the Helen and William D. Milliken Distinguished Service Award May 28. The ceremony takes place as part of the Tenth Annual Environmental Awards Celebration, coordinated by the Michigan Environmental Council (MEC). The annual Milliken Award recognizes an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the protection of Michigan's environment.
Bunyan Bryant, a prominent educator, social activist and pioneer in the environmental-justice movement, received national recognition on Oct. 20 for his personal contribution and dedication to environmental justice during a national symposium on the Hurricane Katrina disaster. The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Dillard University, which hosted the event in New Orleans on Oct. 19-21, presented Bryant, a University of Michigan professor, with the Damu Smith Power-of-One Environmental Justice Award. The award honors the late Damu Smith, an activist who advanced the cause of environmental justice and paved the way for the formation of the first-ever national network of Black environmental-justice activists.