Howard E. Woodin Environmental Studies Colloquium Series: Community-Engaged and Collective Action Learning Panel

Environmental Studies Conversations: Community-Engaged and Collective Action Learning Panel
Lindsey Berk, Executive Director, ACORN
Johanna Miller,Energy and Climate Program Director and VECAN Coordinator, Vermont Natural Resources Council
Amy L. Redman, Environmental Justice and Health Equity Advisor, Vermont Department of Health

In this Howard E. Woodin Environmental Studies Colloquium talk we will welcome long-time community partners for our Community Engaged Environmental Studies Practicum; Lindsey Berk, Executive Director, ACORN; Johanna Miller, Energy & Climate Program Director at the Vermont Natural Resources Council; and Amy L. Redman, Environmental Justice and Health Equity Advisor, Vermont Department of Health, to share their perspectives on community based learning. Lindsey, Johanna, and Amy will discuss their work in Vermont, reflect on their time working with Middlebury’s ES majors, and offer insights on the future and the need for community engagement work. 

Lindsey Berk sees food sovereignty as an important pathway towards liberation for all peoples. Lindsey joined ACORN in 2015 and has served as its Executive Director since 2021.

Johanna Miller is the Energy & Climate Program Director at the Vermont Natural Resources Council – a statewide environmental advocacy organization that works from the local level to the Legislature to reduce planet-warming pollution and create a just, clean energy future. Johanna also serves as the coordinator of the Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network, the statewide network of over 120 all-volunteer town energy and climate action committees and the partners who support them. In 2021, Johanna was appointed to the 23-member Vermont Climate Council, which is charged with developing a plan to achieve the legal pollution-reduction targets and broad resilience, adaptation and equity goals of the Global Warming Solutions Act. 

Amy L. Redman, PhD (She/Her), is a public health professional. She works as an Environmental Justice & Health Equity Advisor at the Vermont Department of Health and teaches for the University of Vermont’s Public Health Program.