27th Annual Environmental Studies Symposium Focuses on Green Innovation in China and the U.S.

Can China’s progress in the renewable energy sector facilitate the global transition to renewable energy? How does the social and political setting in China enable and obstruct coordinated environmental action? Can we widen our imagination of possible futures from a comparison of approaches and challenges in the U.S. and China?

These are just a few of the questions that will be addressed in Lewis & Clark’s 27th annual ENVX Symposium, titled Green Innovation in China and the U.S.: Creating Climate Solutions, which will be held from September 30 to October 4, 2024. All events are free and open to the public.

This year’s symposium focuses on China’s innovation in green energy and technology as our environment reacts to climate change. It specifically focuses on the international geopolitical stage as China and the United States work to adapt to a changing climate, emphasizing how cooperation among countries may be critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

“U.S.–China relations are so essential for so much of our environmental progress right now,” says Jessica Kleiss, director of the Environmental Studies Program and the symposium’s faculty advisor. “The transition to green energy, especially, has been transformed by China’s actions.”

Jessica Kleiss, associate professor of environmental studies and director of the Environmental Studies Program
Credit: Nina JohnsonKleiss explains that for more than a decade, we’ve understood what was necessary to address climate change in a timely way, but we haven’t been on the right path to get there. “China kind of transformed that thinking through their intense production of wind and solar energy as well as through their innovation with electric vehicles,” she says. “They’ve reshaped the global picture of our capacity to stop emitting as many greenhouse gasses through electricity production and through transportation.”

But solving the climate crisis isn’t so simple as a shift in energy production or transportation.

Geopolitics and relationships between countries complicate our responses to climate change, which is why this focus is part of the symposium.

This year, two student cochairs are working with Kleiss on organizing the symposium: Morgaine McGrath BA ’25 and Kaia Hirsch BA ’26.

This year, the symposium will feature two keynote speakers, Angel Hsu and Yiping Fang. Hsu is an associate professor of public policy and environment, ecology, and energy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She specializes in climate change and its effects on urbanization and cities. Hsu is also the founder and director of the Data-Driven EnviroLab. Fang, an associate professor of urban studies and planning, is a part of Portland State University’s Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies. She specializes in researching China’s rapid urbanization, including economic development and comparative planning policies.

“Both keynotes had incredible, engaging work on topics regarding China, the environment, and technological/urban development, says McGrath. “From there, we formed the theme of our other events to complement their research.”

In addition to the two keynote speaker events, this year’s symposium will also include a showing of the film Deep Green in Council Chamber. The film will be followed by a discussion by Matt Briggs, writer and director of Deep Green, and sociocultural anthropologist Jeongsu Shin. According to Kleiss, the film asks viewers to consider such questions as, “How do we frame our messages about the climate problem?” “How can audiences be moved from passive media consumption to collective action?”

ENVX includes a panel discussion on the transition to electric vehicles. The event will feature four panelists, including Kris Strickler, the director of the Oregon Department of Transportation. “Given that our theme is so international, we really drew on our local community,” says Kleiss. “The panelists are all local.”

The symposium will wrap-up with a closing reception on October 4, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. This event is open to all and enables students, the public, and the surrounding community to engage in an interactive discussion on this year’s symposium topics. To attend, simply RSVP.

“The closing reception is a little bit new … we haven’t done it for a few years,” says Kleiss. “It’s really going to be a conversationally driven networking event.” She adds that since the symposium is plugging into larger themes and ideas, “we want to get people from the community who know a lot about these topics to come and talk with us and try to figure out how the U.S. and China might cooperate to address climate change.”

By bringing people from diverse backgrounds together, the organizers of the ENVX Symposium hope to create an event that invites learning, sharing, and gaining inspiration for addressing climate change, even in the midst of geopolitical complexity.

“Something that I personally find very important about this year’s symposium theme is thinking about how we see China and the environment here in the U.S.,” says McGrath. “I am hoping for people’s views to be challenged. I hope that, maybe even just on a small level, there are people who learn something new and re-evaluate what they previously believed.”

ENVX Symposium Environmental Studies