U-M Climate Week 2026

Win prizes by getting involved with Climate Week! Complete 4 activities on the tri-campus bingo card, and choose a sustainability prize from the Planet Blue Ambassador Program.

A series of 8-10 stand-alone exhibits creating a self-guided walking tour around the law quad, highlighting timely legal climate developments, amplifying issues discussed at the EELP Conference panels, and encouraging an appreciation for the natural world and our environment.

Water management is essential to communities around the United States and the world, but particularly to states and provinces in the Great Lakes region, where water provides revenue through recreation and products. As such, the University of Michigan has many opportunities for studying and improving water management, conservation, and quality. This event will feature a mini-panel of five people involved in this research going on at Michigan. Each person will give a five minute presentation on their research and then there will be thirty minutes of questions from the moderator and the audience. Coffee, tea, and snacks will be provided.

Come tour the Recycle Ann Arbor facilities! We will have 8 tour groups running every 30 minutes from 8:30-12:30. There are 6 station stops. Tour groups will consist of 20 people per group, so sign up soon!

Keep Growing Detroit is a Detroit-based urban farm and organization that exists to cultivate a food-sovereign city where the majority of fruits and vegetables consumed by Detroiters are grown by residents within the city itself. Through education, resources, and connection, Keep Growing Detroit supports thousands of gardeners and farmers across Detroit, Highland Park, and Hamtramck. Together we grow food, strengthen neighborhoods, and build the knowledge and relationships needed for a healthy and resilient local food system.

As part of Climate Week 2026, join the U-M School of Social Work for a service day at Keep Growing Detroit on Saturday, September 26, 2026. Our time at Keep Growing Detroit will happen from 10 am-12 pm. From 12 pm-1:30 pm, folks can explore Eastern Market and grab lunch. Transportation will be provided for volunteers, with the bus leaving from the U-M School of Social Work at 9 am and returning no later than 3 pm. Space is limited to 40 people. For more information, please reach out to Greer Hamilton at sswenvirojustice@umich.edu.

The University of Michigan Athletic Department is striving toward zero waste at Michigan Stadium with an aspirational goal of diverting at least 90 percent of waste from the landfill through recycling and composting.

​Get a special behind-the-scenes look at how this iconic institution diverts a huge percentage of their waste after game day with this walking tour.

​This event requires some walking and stairs! We suggest bringing walking shoes.

The event will be capped at 75 people.

​All Trash Talk Tour events are free but donations are appreciated! Any donations will go towards keeping future Trash Talk Tour events free and open to the public. https://zerowaste.org/donate/

Participants will meet at Shapiro at 11:30am to leave by 11:45am and arrive at Kiwanis Thrift Sale by noon. They will have a chance to learn about the impact they are making when they shop secondhand and everything that Kiwanis does to help reduce waste in the Ann Arbor community. They will get a tour of the store by Kiwanis staff during the first hour, then be able to look around the store on their own and potentially get discounts/student discounts on the items they buy after that. There will be a "leaving early" van that leaves at 2pm and another van that leaves at 3pm (or earlier depending on when participants are ready). Participants will be dropped off at Shapiro after leaving Kiwanis, but accommodations can be made if a student buys a larger piece of furniture that they cannot carry.

Fall Festival is a place for local, Ann Arbor vendors to host fun, zero-waste activities to promote waste reduction in our community. Come check it out!

This open house event is a dynamic celebration of U-M's student-driven food initiatives, emphasizing sustainability and creativity. Join us for lawn games, arts and crafts, live music, delectable food demonstrations, artistry, and informative tables from both student and community organizations.

Buses will run on a continuous loop, departing from the Central Campus Transit Center starting at 12:40 PM. Expect a bus every 20 minutes between these locations.

Join RSSL and Growing Hope for a hands-on afternoon of urban gardening, community, and cooking. Tour the garden, learn about Growing Hope's mission, and work alongside a local chef to help prepare a meal for their annual fundraiser.

Did you love The Mending Lab? Well we’re bringing it back this Fall in a whole new way with focused workshops and some refreshments while you learn.

One Monday a month, we’ll host a workshop with FPA to help you repair your much loved items that you can’t bring yourself to throw away yet. Try your hand at a new skill each month. Want to learn the skill but don’t have the garment? No worries! We’ve partnered with Wolverine Essentials to provide a limited supply of clothing or accessory items for you to practice on and make your own.

This month’s Mending Cafe, we’ll be teaching you how to do quick and easy repairs on your most loved jewelry pieces. Bring what you have and we’ll show you how to make it wearable again.

Extreme weather events, from flooding events and extreme heat to tornadoes
and extreme cold, do not affect everyone equally. LGBTQIA+ communities face compounding
vulnerabilities during disasters, which are shaped by housing instability, discrimination in
emergency services, and gaps in support networks. Drawing on recently published survey
research and ongoing focus groups with LGBTQIA+ Ohioans, this talk examines how gender
identity, sexual orientation, and other dimensions of social identity shape exposure to climate
hazards and associated negative health outcomes. The first half of the session will share findings on flooding and extreme heat experiences among Ohio’s queer communities, highlighting where existing disaster systems fall short and what queer-centered preparedness could look like. The second half turns from research to practice. Attendees will work through a short, hands-on climate emergency preparedness activity, choosing to focus on either a tornado or an extreme cold event. Using a guided worksheet, which will be available in print for in-room attendees and digitally for virtual participants, attendees will think through the essentials often overlooked in general preparedness advice. This activity will carry into an extended discussion period. Together, we’ll explore what it means to build disaster preparedness that centers, rather than overlooks, LGBTQIA+ communities left out of policy and practice.

Join UM’s Trash Club and the City of Ann Arbor’s Office of Sustainability and Innovation on the Diag for an A²ZERO Clothing Swap and build-your-own mending kit to kick off Climate Week!

About the Mending Kits
We will be passing out free, secondhand mending supplies (needle, thread, fabric) to build your own mending kit. Those who attend can learn simple fixes and stitches and continue repairs on their own with their new kit!

About the Clothing Swap
Clothing swaps are an opportunity to refresh your wardrobe, without buying new, and a chance to gift your gently used clothes to other members of your community. Each person can bring up to 10 items of clothing in good condition (no rips, holes, stains or unwashed items please!). Accessories such as bags, jewelry, and belts are also welcome. You can take clothing without bringing anything, or bring clothing without taking anything. A²ZERO Clothing Swaps are completely free events. For more information, visit luma.com/a2zeroclothingswaps.

Join us for a screening of the award-winning documentary We Are Guardians, a powerful story of hope and resilience in the face of the Amazon rainforest crisis. Directed by Edivan Guajajara, Chelsea Greene, and Rob Grobman, and produced by Academy Award winner Fisher Stevens with Leonardo DiCaprio as Executive Producer, the film offers an intimate look at the communities and ecosystems most affected by environmental destruction — and the global stakes tied to their future.

Before the film, join us for a conversation with internationally acclaimed Brazilian biologist and primatologist Dr. Julio Bicca-Marques. A professor of primatology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Dr. Bicca-Marques is the first Latin American scientist to receive the Distinguished Primatologist Award from the American Society of Primatologists. His decades of research on forest fragmentation, habitat loss, and infectious diseases affecting non-human primates have helped shape wildlife protection and public policy across Brazil and beyond.

Together, the screening and discussion will explore how collective action, community leadership, and informed choices can help shape a more sustainable future for the Amazon and our planet.

This is event 2. Climate change is not only an environmental issue but also a public health issue that requires informed action and civic engagement. This interactive workshop will introduce participants to the role of advocacy in shaping climate and public health policy while highlighting current issues affecting Michigan communities. Attendees will learn how to effectively communicate with elected officials, gain an understanding of the legislative process, and participate in a guided letter-writing campaign focused on climate and public health initiatives. Hosted in collaboration with advocacy organizations, this workshop will empower students with the knowledge, resources, and confidence to use their voices to advance healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable communities.

Water management is essential to communities around the United States and the world, but particularly to states and provinces in the Great Lakes region, where water provides revenue through recreation and products. As such, the University of Michigan has many opportunities for studying and improving water management, conservation, and quality. This event will feature a mini-panel of five people involved in this research going on at Michigan. Each person will give a five minute presentation on their research and then there will be thirty minutes of questions from the moderator and the audience. Coffee, tea, and snacks will be provided.

Come learn about efforts to amplify and accelerate Campus as Lab activities, linking research and academic activities of the institution to our own land, buildings and infrastructure. This coffee and networking event will include some informal tabling, lightning presentations highlighting examples of CAL projects underway, and an opportunity to tour Nancy Love’s lab for urine-to-fertilizer technology and research. Registration will help us plan for the coffee and snacks.

Explore the many water-related research opportunities at the University of Michigan! Water is an essential resource for Michigan, providing sustenance to people and crops; transportation of goods; and income from recreation and tourism. As such, there are many opportunities at U of M related to water conservation, quality, and management. This event will feature a lightning-panel of five people involved in Michigan water issues research so that students can get a better idea of the research opportunities available to them and how to get involved. Each person will give a five minute presentation on their research, after which there will be thirty minutes of questions from the moderator and the audience. Coffee, tea, and snacks will be provided. This event is free and open to the public.

In this panel session, we will discuss how we can reconcile the carbon footprint of international education with our institutional commitment to climate justice? We will focus on integrating sustainable practices into education abroad with initiatives such as Stay Local Weekends and slow-travel itineraries, along with small changes that lead to significant institutional impact in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Calling all students, faculty, and staff interested in sustainability on-campus! Select Flint students actively engaged in sustainability work on- and off-campus will present what they’ve learned in their recent sustainability experiences during lightning talks.

After the presentations, meet sustainability organizations and programs that provide sustainability opportunities that you can get involved in, including the upcoming Michigan Climate Action Fellowship.

Food will be provided!

Welcome to Michigan will happen at all Dining Halls during the lunch period which varies from Dining Hall to Dining Hall, so you can tell folks to check the dining website (dining.umich.edu).

(Draft) Building on the momentum of last year’s event, the 2026 Climate-Health Mixer will bring together U-M researchers from across campus who are working at the intersection of climate and health. The event will showcase the breadth of climate-health research occurring across campus, create opportunities for meaningful interdisciplinary connections, and help strengthen a vibrant, collaborative climate-health research community.

How do you know when a building's HVAC is working well and efficiently? How do we dream up energy conservation retrofits for existing buildings and systems? Come hear about the UM building tune up program, where we're applying it, and how it helps us work towards our carbon neutraility and energy efficiency goals.

A climate café is a welcoming space where fears and uncertainties about our climate and ecological crises can be safely expressed. Together, we create a space where participants are encouraged to pause, connect, and talk about their experiences with the environment and climate change. We aim to provide uninterrupted discussion time and ensure that everyone has a chance to speak and be heard. U-M School of Social Work will be hosting two Climate Cafés:

Virtual: Wednesday, September 30, 2026 at 5 pm-6:30 pm EST

In-Person at the School of Social Work: Friday, October 2, 2026 at 12-1:30 pm EST

Join award-winning forager, outdoor educator, and James Beard Award winner Alexis Nikole Nelson for a lively conversation about wild foods, sustainability, and the rich cultural traditions connected to the plants growing all around us. With more than 5 million followers across Instagram and TikTok, Alexis has become a beloved social media creator known for her joyful and informative foraging videos. She inspires audiences to see the natural world in a new way while exploring the intersections of food, history, and environmental stewardship. Through storytelling, humor, and practical insights, she invites us to reconnect with the land—and maybe discover a few tasty surprises hiding in plain sight.

The Farm Stand is a weekly pop-up market and education project that sells produce grown by students for students.

Powered by the U-M Sustainable Food Program (UMSFP) and the Campus Farm at Matthaei Botanical Gardens (CF). In addition to fresh, local produce, the Farm Stand offers hands-on food system education by creating opportunities for students, staff, and faculty to engage with farming, food, and sustainability at U-M.

Stop by the Diag for a festival celebrating sustainability initiatives across U-M and the surrounding communities. Discover opportunities to engage with sustainability via more than 40 student groups, U-M departments, and local nonprofits. Sample local food, help plant a pollinator garden, bring your bike for repairs, screen print an item, and more! This event is free and open to the public.

Sign up to take tangible steps toward a more sustainable future with the Planet Blue Ambassador program in a Day of Service during Climate Week! Sign up for a variety of projects throughout the afternoon across campus and in Dearborn. Registration required.

Join us at the Lab Swap Shop to repurpose surplus lab supplies into fun art activities! This is a great way to reduce waste, rehome lab equipment, and unite departments across campus. This event is free .

Join the Planet Blue Ambassador program in a Day of Service to take action during Climate Week! Sign up for a variety of projects throughout the afternoon across North Campus, Central Campus, and in Ann Arbor. Registration required.

Take action with the Planet Blue Ambassador program in a Day of Service during Climate Week to create tangible change! There will be a variety of projects all over campus and in Flint. Registration required.

"We’re celebrating Sustainability Week with a tri-campus Day of Service. Join UM-Flint Planet Blue Ambassadors, the Thompson Seed Library, and Department of Natural Science as we provide three opportunities for you to give back!

Interested in a traditional clean-up? Join the Planet Blue Ambassadors at Riverbank Park as we tackle litter around the Flint River before the rainy and snow season.

Need something a little less physical? Join the Thompson Library’s Seed Saving workshop and learn how to conserve seeds from harvest to use next spring.

Interested in a new opportunity to volunteer on-campus? Bird collisions into buildings are being monitored on campus and you can become trained in how to spot them. Volunteers are especially needed during their migratory season later this year.

Choose your own adventure, or if you have the time, attend more than one opportunity during this year’s Day of Service!"

Virtual discussion via Zoom with a panel of our global partners discussing title-related topics

Explore the connections between nature, creativity, and well-being through the living language of willow. Join artist and farmer Howard Peller, botanist Dr. Selena Smith, and invited Indigenous and campus voices for a conversation on willow's cultural history, ecological importance, materiality and role in fostering resilience and human well-being. The event will also introduce the Living Willow Structures future campus wide project, followed by a hands-on willow weaving workshop where participants can experience the mindful, restorative process of creating with this remarkable material.

Building on the momentum generated by the leadership of MassTimber@MSU to foster and expand Michigan's mass timber ecosystem, this event convenes leaders from policy, industry, design, and education to explore the innovations needed to scale mass timber adoption across the Great Lakes region. The symposium is organized into three thematic sessions: Policies and Incentive Structures, Educating Future Professionals, and A Full Systems Values Approach.

Policies and Incentive Structures examines how public policy can accelerate the development of a regional mass timber industry while advancing climate, economic, and community development goals. Educating Future Professionals focuses on educating the future professionals who will help transform a growing mass timber sector. A Full Systems Values Approach broadens the conversation to examine the interconnected relationships among forests, manufacturing, construction, communities, and environmental outcomes.

Connect with fellow U-M community members in a safe space to pause, connect, and talk about their experiences regarding the environment and climate change, a.k.a. Climate Café. In this small group, we encourage participants to share their stories and discover connections between our experiences. During this event, participants will bridge gaps between climate emotions and sustainability action in our lives, and learn how to care for ourselves and others. Light refreshments will be provided.

We wish to provide uninterrupted discussion time, and make sure that everyone has a chance to speak and be heard. Due to the nature of this activity, participants should arrive at the start time promptly.

The event is free and open to any U-M community member, but registration is required. Please email pba-information@umich.edu with questions. The Climate Café structure utilized is inspired by Dr. Michaela Zint’s EAS581 course and the Climate Psychology Alliance-North America (CPA-NA) café framework. This event is brought to you by LSA Sustainability, Student Life Sustainability, and the Planet Blue Ambassador program.

A climate café is a welcoming space where fears and uncertainties about our climate and ecological crises can be safely expressed. Together, we create a space where participants are encouraged to pause, connect, and talk about their experiences with the environment and climate change. We aim to provide uninterrupted discussion time and ensure that everyone has a chance to speak and be heard. U-M School of Social Work will be hosting two Climate Cafés:

Virtual: Wednesday, September 30, 2026 at 5 pm-6:30 pm EST

In-Person at the School of Social Work: Friday, October 2, 2026 at 12-1:30 pm EST

Join U-M Health Sustainability Leaders for a conversation with Victor Dzau, MD, Immediate Past President of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), Chancellor Emeritus and James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Duke University, Past President and CEO of the Duke University Health System, and U-M Health Board Member to discuss the critical role of the healthcare sector in driving meaningful climate action. Come learn about national efforts to decarbonize healthcare systems and what these sustainability movements mean for U-M Health’s clinical practices, facilities, and procurement processes. Discover how our faculty and staff can champion climate-resilient care and lead the way toward a greener future for Michigan Medicine.

This will be a Shark Tank style competition where students can pitch their sustainability improvements for the Residence Halls
at the University of Michigan. We are still working on the details, but we are hoping to fund the winning improvements if it is
feasible.

Will provide an updated version as soon as I get the last speaker confirmed.

We’re looking for future nature enthusiasts! If you’ve never had the opportunity or access to experience the great outdoors, or just want a little more knowledge before planning a day in nature, now’s your chance. Join us for this inclusive, day-long excursion as we build community with each other.

Kayak, hike, and learn about the outdoor activities that will make your time in the elements fun. End your day around a campfire, roasting smores.

This is a full-day event, and you must be available for all of it. Spots are limited, so register early!

Lunch and snacks will be provided.

Climate Science & Society is the kick-off event for four STEMM Festival style events at UMMNH. This event will highlight UMMNH's role in supporting public understanding of and engagement with climate resilience. The three later events will build on that theme throughout the year while exploring the related themes of Innovation, Food and Energy, and the importance of Night.

***Climate Science & Society: October 4, 2026 Explore how communities are responding to climate challenges and building resilience through research, innovation, and collaboration.

Science & Innovation - January 17–18, 2027 Celebrate discovery, creativity, and the tools and technologies helping us better understand our world, past and present.

Food Science & Energy - April 10–11, 2027 Investigate the connections between food systems, energy use, sustainability, and community well-being.

Science Under the Summer Stars June 12, 2027 Discover the science of the night—from astronomy and ecology to light pollution, human health, and the wonders that emerge after dark