The "Honoring the Career of Bunyan Bryant: The Legacy and Future of Environmental Justice" conference pays tribute to Professor Bryant, who is retiring after 40 years of service to his field, the School of Natural Resources and Environment and the University of Michigan. Throughout his long career, he not only helped define the field and movement but has always advocated for the people behind it. The conference's purpose is to pay tribute to his contributions while offering attendees new thinking from leading activists, academics and government leaders. The event takes place nearly 30 years to the month since the historic Warren County landfill protest in North Carolina, which many consider the start of the modern Environmental Justice movement.

The conference will have keynote speakers and breakout sessions, culminating with the production later this year of a whitepaper spelling out an action plan for the movement. This is Bunyan's clearly articulated goal for the conference: a concrete work product that lives beyond the life of the conference and serves and informs the work of activists and academics in the years ahead.