April Union-Wide Newsletter

During these disruptive and violent times, the Climate Justice Universities Union provides an international collective space to act in solidarity and connect across boundaries of all kinds. A special welcome to the hundreds of new members that have joined the Union this month, as the stewardship of the Faculty for a Future project has now been officially transferred over.

In this April monthly roundup, we share updates on our first monthly virtual gathering (starting April 30th), membership resources including an action guide on moving away from Big Tech and tools for the Symbiocene, several working group and branch updates such as our first CJUU virtual book club and the launch of a new Irish Higher Education Policy Working Group, as well as news of external events and interesting publications.

In solidarity ~ The Climate Justice Universities Union Coordinating Team

Join us for a virtual interactive discussion on practical steps we can take individually and collectively to resist Big Tech and change the dominant narrative on AI on campus and throughout society.

Thursday April 30 2026: 5-6pm (Dublin/London), 12-1pm (EST), 9-10am (Pacific). Register here.

As part of this discussion, we have created an Action Guide: Moving Away from Big Tech. This new document sets out a practical guide for Climate Justice Universities Union to consider a progressive move to more ecologically and ethically conscious digital tools. Read the Action Guide here.

Intersectional forms of resistance are vital for building more sustainable and climate-just worlds. But, we must also have some inkling of where we wish to go, what kinds of worlds we wish to enact and sustain. Critique and imagination are two equally important engines of transformative socio-ecological change.

Thus, we've compiled this list of materials and resources designed to nurture green hope and foster our imaginative capacities for building radical alternatives within and beyond capitalism. This list is necessarily a work in progress, so please reach out with suggestions from your own practice so that we can continue expanding it! Let's work together towards what philosopher Glenn Albrecht terms the 'Symbiocene' - a desirable, more liveable future of respectful conviviality with Earth others. Check out our tools the Symbiocene here.

For the first time at No Kings, the Massachusetts climate movement (including 350Mass, Extinction Rebellion, Mothers-out-front, Third Act, and Massachusetts Climate Action Now) gathered at Copley Plaza as a “climate contingent”. About 300 climate activists marched to the Boston Common behind the banner “People Power for a Livable Climate”. On the Common, they joined with 180,000 protesters for several hours of speeches, music, and hands-on organizing at tables with signature collections for Make Polluters Pay petitions, and support for the “Save Money with Clean Heat” campaign, among others.  In their kick-off speeches, representatives, including Sabine von Mering (Brandeis) and Parke Wilde (Tufts), highlighted the Trump regime’s disastrous climate legacy, and the importance of democratic institutions for climate action.

The Climate Justice Universities Union was well represented by the Trinity College Dublin branch at the Earth Day protest in Dublin on the 22nd April 2026. The protest, organised by a coalition of environmental-civil society organisations and political leaders in the opposition, called on the Irish government to recommit to climate action and prioritise more just, healthy and fossil-fuel-free futures.

At the CJUU Annual General Meeting in March, there was interest in a reading group / book club, so we’re going to give it a go! If you’re interested in joining the CJUU book club, please:

· Follow this link to update your email preferences and join the new CJUU book club mailing list

· Go to this link to indicate your preference for a date and book for our first discussion. We also welcome your suggestions for other books for our first or subsequent discussions. We’ll read both fiction and non-fiction.

We’ll keep the poll open until Wednesday 29th April, and will let interested members know the selected book and date by the 30th. The book club will meet online (Zoom, for now) and we’ll aim for 3-4 meetings per year, starting in late May or early June. We’re looking forward to meeting you online and sharing some interesting discussions!

For all new North America-based members - join the CJUU North America branch monthly meetings held on the third Tuesday of every month! Register for our monthly Zooms, join our mailing list and/or share your interest in joining our working groups: Addressing the Polycrisis, Campus Policies/Shared Governance, Resisting AI/Big Tech in Higher Education.

Join our first online meeting to discuss the establishment of an internal Ireland-based CJUU Working Group on Higher Education Institution (HEI) Strategy/Engagement/Policy. The purpose of the working group would be to identify how we can inform, engage, support and encourage our HEIs to do the ‘right thing’.

The working group will discuss what the ‘right thing’ looks like right now and recognising that in this ever-evolving predicament we are in, the ‘right thing’ may not be entirely clear and will also continue to evolve. If you are interested in participating in this online (initially – we do hope to have some in-person sessions) please register here. The initial meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 6^th May (12.00-13.00) online – if you are interested but unable to attend at this time please do complete the registration form and we will keep you in the loop for future meetings. 

Publication: AI and ED Tech as Climate Criminals. Read this recent paper by CJUU Coordinator Colm O' Neill that investigates "the ecological implications of EdTEch, the excessive nature of modern digital technology, to examine the need for sustainable practices in the ICT sector and education's involvement therein".

Press Release: University of California Davis Academic Senate Passes Climate Literacy Requirement. Great news from CJUU member Mark Huising - Just in time for Earth Day 2026, the University of California, Davis Academic Senate on April 16 adopted a resolution to add Climate Change Literacy to General Education requirements. The resolution was written by a group of faculty across different undergraduate colleges and endorsed unanimously by the Associated Students of UCD (ASUCD).

Recent Article: Impactful publication in the Irish Times by CJUU Member Iris Möller highlights the need to consider relocation away from some coastal areas.

News Article: Read CJUU Coordinator Jennie Stephens' latest Irish Times column calling for a focus on "exnovation" away from fossil fuels highlighting the many costs and dangers of continued fossil fuel reliance.

• Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels - First International Conference. Over the next week, many members of the Climate Justice Universities Union will be watching what happens at the First Conference on Transitioning Away From Fossil Fuels in Columbia and the Netherlands starting tomorrow 24th April to 29th https://transitionawayconference.com/. Advocacy from members of the Climate Justice Universities Union Trinity branch earlier this year led to Trinity College Dublin's endorsement the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Campaigns to get other universities to endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty are ongoing and inspired by this win.

• DCU Climate & Society Annual Conference with President Catherine Connolly - Holding the Line: Climate action in a time of crisis - Dublin City University, St. Patrick's Campus, Tue, 12/05/2026 - 08:45 to Tue, 12/05/2026 - 17:30 IST. Find more information here.
• Ecoversities Re-imagining Education Conference 5.0: Watch the recording of the opening ceremony of the annual Re-Imagining Education Conference 5.0 with the Ecoversities Alliance

Communications

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Do you have news or updates you'd like to share with CJUU members in our monthly roundups? Please get in touch with us at Climatejusticeuni@proton.me