Geography, Environment, and Sustainability

The UNC Greensboro community has historical and contemporary relationships with Native American tribes, communities, parents, students, and alumni. We acknowledge that we are on the traditional territory of the Keyauwee and Saura. In providing this acknowledgement, we also hope to bring awareness to the vibrant Indigenous communities whose members still call Greensboro home and are represented in the Guilford Native American Association, and who are recognized by the state of North Carolina. These are the Coharie, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the Haliwa-Saponi, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, the Meherrin, the Sappony, the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, and the Waccamaw Siouan. We honor and respect the many Indigenous peoples connected to the land where we are today. 

We acknowledge the limitations of such statements, so we also advocate for a University-level initiative–in consultation with Indigenous students, faculty, staff, and communities–to make space for Indigenous people by investigating ignorance and bias within the faculty, staff, and student bodies; recruiting and retaining Indigenous faculty and staff across all departments; creating safety nets for retaining Indigenous students; and developing coursework around language, decolonization, and land and water protection which are culturally relevant and innovative in addressing issues of Indigenous sovereignty and environmental sustainability.   

The stylized four-leaf clover above represents the four areas of focus for our programs: environment and ecology (upper left), equity and justice (lower left), development and economics (lower right), and ethics and aesthetics (upper right). All are interconnected, as they are described in UNCG’s  definition of sustainability: “the enduring interconnectedness of social equity, the environment, economy, and aesthetics.” The environment leaf is the largest to reflect the foundational role of the planet in supporting humans.