Red Emma’s

Climate justice in Baltimore now means better, fairer housing. It means closing down coal port, giving us better air and less asthma. It means composting our food waste, which leads to decreasing fuel for the incinerator, building our soils, and curbing food for pests.

Join our panelists as they discuss hopes for a just transition and how citizens of Baltimore can participate in building out that better world we so badly need.

Naveeda Khan is professor and chair of anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of RIVER LIFE AND THE UPSPRING OF NATURE (2023), IN QUEST OF A SHARED PLANET: NEGOTIATING CLIMATE FROM THE GLOBAL SOUTH (2023), MUSLIM BECOMING: ASPIRATION AND SKEPTICISM IN PAKISTAN (2012) and editor of BEYOND CRISIS: REEVALUATING PAKISTAN (2010).

Brennan A. Murray is the Assistant Managing Director, Business & Neighborhood Development at Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC). BDC is the economic development agency for the City of Baltimore. Our mission is to grow the city’s economy inclusively by retaining, expanding, and attracting businesses and promoting investment, thereby increasing career opportunities for residents. Throughout his career, Brennan has produced exceptional design solutions for various projects for multiple firms. From residential brand collateral to large-scale, international planning projects, his leadership, work ethic, and creative approach to branding and identity translate into a comprehensive vision that benefits our clients and brings a fresh perspective to the multi-disciplinary design studio.

Outside of his design work, Brennan supports and volunteers his time with an array of varied non-profits, some based in education, digital equity, real estate, and social entrepreneurship. But no matter the organization, the goal is to build a better-connected and more sustainable community. Brennan is a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), and Innovating Commerce Serving Communities (ICSC). He currently serves as Chair of the ULI Baltimore Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and Baltimore Chair of ICSC's Next Generation Committee. Brennan earned his Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 2010 after completing an Interdisciplinary Design Program at the Nuova Accademia Di Belle Arti in Milan, Italy, in 2008.

Lydia Stamato is a PhD Candidate in the Human-Centered Computing program and Graduate Research Assistant in the Designing pARticipatory futurEs (DARE) lab at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Her research uses and promotes transdisciplinary ways of knowing and doing that seek and include diverse perspectives. Through lenses of aesthetic experience, youth empowerment, and the interplay of global and local concerns, Lydia's research looks at implications of community engagement and participation in emerging science and technology for design justice. Previously at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Lydia conducted a qualitative study of adolescent wellbeing in Baltimore and coordinated an international study of adolescent health. Lydia has organized with concerned students, faculty, and staff at UMBC and beyond to increase institutional alignment with environmental justice organizers in South Baltimore by implementing wider food scraps collection and composting on campus.

Susan Sterett is a Professor of Public Policy at UMBC. She is the author most recently of LITIGATING THE PANDEMIC: DISASTER CASCADES IN COURT. She is currently completing a book manuscript on social welfare programs and a changing climate.