Faces of Michigan

Bunyan Bryant: Promotes Environmental Justice

Bunyan Bryant, University of Michigan professor of natural resources and of urban planning, has devoted his career to environmental justice and social activism.

Bryant, who teaches in U-M’s School of Natural Resources and the Environment and A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, is founder and director of the Environmental Justice Initiative, a program that helps formulate environmental justice policies at the local and national levels.

In October 2006, Bryant received national recognition as an educator, social activist and pioneer in the environmental justice movement. The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Dillard University presented him the Damus Smith Power-of-One Environmental Justice Award. His efforts helped promote former President Bill Clinton’s signing of Environmental Justice Executive Order 12898, which required all federal agencies to design and implement programs to address environmental justice concerns.

Recently, Bryant took an important step to ensure his legacy is passed on to a new generation of scholars by donating $100,000 to the Bunyan Bryant Scholarship Fund in Environmental Justice at U-M.

Bryant’s gift will assist students who conduct research, organize conferences and disseminate information to communities and policy-makers on environmental justice issues.

“Today’s environmental crises demand that we as a nation become more visionary,” Bryant says. “If we fail to plan, we will blunder into the future with a host of environmental problems.”

Excerpted from the Spring 2007 issue of Stewards, published by the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment.