March is here and so are we, back with another packed edition! Read this month’s issue for insights on the global ozone layer recovery, a creative spotlight from Yasmine Bolden (KSAS '25), and tips on balancing environmental advocacy and well-being. Events and opportunities abound this month: from debates on responding to climate change to tree-keeping classes and pop-up thrift shops—the Green Gatherings section has something for everyone!
Finally, a thank you to all who sent in feedback, content, and appreciation for the Green Guide—it’s your contributions that shape this newsletter into a true community resource. Earth Day is around the corner, and we want to know what you’ll be up to! Send over your organization’s events, plans, and upcoming projects here, and we’ll share them with the community come April.
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Researchers and community organizers gather at the BSEC kickoff meeting.
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| Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative Receives Funding for Climate and Environmental Justice Research |
The Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative, a new partnership between Baltimore researchers and community organizations, received a $24.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to pursue neighborhood-level research on environmental conditions, vulnerabilities, and climate action plans.
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Bloomberg Students Share Experiences, Insight on the Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria
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Hear insight from Bloomberg School of Public Health students and Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health experts on the challenges stemming from the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. Listen to the podcast and panel, as they address the enormous challenge of responding to a natural disaster in a part of the world that has suffered from continuous conflict, displacement, and crisis.
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Reminder: Attend the SLC Research Symposium |
Join JHU sustainability students, faculty, and staff on April 5 for a day of research presentations, panels, and activities in the Scotts-Bates Commons. Engage with topics from environmental justice, renewable energy, and sustainable food systems. For those interested in presenting, tabling, or displaying posters, submit your registration form by March 3! Organized by the Sustainability Leadership Council.
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Professor Scot Miller Weighs In on Ozone Layer Recovery |
Assistant Professor Scot Miller offers insight on the United Nations' most recent assessment of the Montreal Protocol, which offers good news on the restoration of the ozone layer. According to the report, the ozone layer is slated to recover to average 1980 levels by 2040, with the hole over the Antarctic recovering by 2066. Read more for Professor Miller's breakdown of the report’s implications, challenges, and takeaways for the average non-scientist.
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“A remarkable story of global cooperation to successfully tackle an environmental problem.”
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In both book and newsletter form, Gen Dread digs into all dimensions of coping and emotional well being.
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Podcast Episode #119 delves into climate grief with Luisa Nuebauer, a German activist and organizer.
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| Anthology of essays, poetry, and art, written and edited by women in the climate movement.
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Yasmine is a KSAS sophomore majoring in Writing Seminars and Africana Studies, and co-founder of Blue Jays & Poets. Their creative, educational, and advocacy work delves into the intricacies of Black and queer experience, illness and allergy, and religion. Check out her socials for more!
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| Untitled, by Yasmine Bolden (Excerpt)
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The Land Is a Being Who Remembers Everything - Joy Harjo
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The land knows what it is to be hunted Until the brink of extinction. To be the tree that the axe returns to as the axe
Claims that it only chops trees that need it, no, deserve it. That if the tree is cut it is because it had it coming. It was destined to be felled. Maybe it shouldn’t have been taking up so much air. Maybe it should’ve left room For those who know better. Maybe it should’ve remembered what it looked like before acting like that. So wild. So unruly. So begging to be tamed. Tonight, I am thinking about how the earth is really just another Black body.
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Blue Jays Go Green Challenge
Organized by Homewood Recycling
ALL MONTH | Self-reported
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All Things Cultivated Panel
Organized by JHU Alt Protein
MAR 2 | 12:00 PM | Virtual
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Pop Up Thrift Shop
Organized by SHIP
MAR 3 | 12:30 - 3:30 PM | The Beach
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Mindful Walk
Email Romina Rojas to join.
MAR 5 | 12:00 PM | Homewood Campus
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Dr. K Anthony Appiah: "Whose Heritage? Preservation, Possession, and Peoples"
AGHI Macksey Lecture Series
MAR 9 | 5:00 PM | The Great Hall
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Debate on Climate Change Response with Amali Tower and Ryan Brown
Foreign Affairs Symposium Series
MAR 16 | 7:00 PM | Shriver
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Victor Seow: "The Depths of the State: Energy and Power in Modern East Asia"
Organized by East Asian Studies
MAR 30 | 3:00 PM | Gilman 300
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Sustainability Leadership Symposium
With the Sustainability Leadership Comm.
APR 5 | 9:00 AM | Scotts - Bates Commons
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"The Power of Design! Working with Stakeholders to Design Human Spaces"
With the Baltimore Architecture Foundation
MAR 7 | 12:00 PM | Virtual
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Jake Bittle: "The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration"
In conversation with Dharna Noor
MAR 8 | 7:00 PM | Red Emma's
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TreeKeeper Stewardship Classes
With Baltimore City Parks and Rec
MAR 8 - APR 1| Virtual and In Person
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Stephanie Burt: "We Are Mermaids" Poetry
MAR 13 | 6:30 PM | Bird in Hand
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Documentary Screening: Forest Her
With Baltimore Green Space
MAR 15 | 7:00 PM | Cylburn Arboretum
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J.T. Roane: "Dark Agoras: Insurgent Black Social Life and the Politics of Place"
In conversation with Jessica Marie Johnson
MAR 23 | 7:00 PM | Red Emma's
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Gregory Smithsimon: "Liberty Road: Black Middle-Class Suburbs and the Battle Between Civil Rights and Neoliberalism"
AGHI Humanities in the Village
MAR 27 | 6:30 PM | The Ivy Bookshop
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Laura Di Bianco: “Wandering Women: Urban Ecologies of Italian Feminist Filmmaking”
MAR 29 | 6:30 PM | Bird In Hand
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Dear Green Guide: In trying to stay informed and active about climate change, it can be easy to get lost in all the stories of loss, devastation, and dwindling hope. How do I better face the emotional toll of this issue? |
Your distress is entirely valid. Especially as climate change is hitting closer and closer to home for many, it's more important than ever to have the tools to manage that burden. Here are a few tips we're revisiting from last year, put together by former intern Kylie Poe and Jennifer Weeks, LCPC, Mental Health Therapist in the Homewood Counseling Center for the JHU Well-Being Blog.
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1 | Spend more time in nature. Green spaces improve mood and reduce stress! |
2 | Spend less time online, and stay conscious of your sources. |
First, stick with verified sources to avoid misinformation and sensationalist content. Even doing so, the overwhelming amount of online information may only worsen your feelings of distress. Avoid obsessive doom-scrolling by setting a time limit for engaging with climate-related media.
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3 | Consider what you can do, and tap into action networks for support. |
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“A lot of this comes down to finding ways to bear the discomfort of sitting with people in their anguish, helping them to tolerate it even as it may feel intolerable to oneself, and allowing that form of support to unleash new creative capacities for moving beyond helplessness or denial, and stepping into agency, power and action.”
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~ Britt Way, Generation Dread |
| 4 | Talk with a professional. |
A good counselor will treat your concerns about the environment as valid; if you feel dismissed by a provider for this (or any other) reason, it’s time to change providers. While there is not yet any official training or professional designation for climate anxiety, there are self-identified climate-aware therapists. You can find a list of Hopkins talk therapy resources here.
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5 | Keep it all in perspective. |
Meeting eco-distress is not a matter of choosing optimism; for many people, that’s just not an option. However, positive changes have occurred on individual, local, and global scales (check out this TikTok!) and there is no reason to believe that they won’t continue, especially with your help. You have power to influence, advocate, and involve others around you, even if it’s just in creating space to talk about eco-distress.
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| EARTH ALTARS: THE PREMISE
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Try making an "Earth Altar"! The practice can be as ritualistic or spontaneous as you’d like: some people set intentions for their piece, imbuing it with personal meaning and symbolic materials (a tribute to a birthday, a death, recovery from a cold, a new relationship).
For others, the importance is in the feeling of being present and letting the design emerge organically. However you do it, the idea is to spend time co-creating art with the environment.
Play with the unique patterns and qualities of leaves, petals, twigs, and berries, knowing that wind, rain, and critters will reshuffle the pieces in time.
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Creating with the knowledge of change, impermanence, and decay in mind, you find a way to embrace these facts of life that are often concealed in day to day routines.
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