We at the Division of Applied Undergraduate Studies (DAUS) take great pride in the diverse pursuits of our faculty. Many find ways to contribute their knowledge and expertise to contemporary issues that we face today, seeking change and challenging traditional modes of thinking. We’d like to highlight one such faculty member and her new initiatives to tackle social justice and the environment.
Dr. Fadia Nordtveit’s research on environmental communication, global social justice movements, and ethical multimedia technologies led her to found The BGreen Project. BGreen is a transnational platform that works on environmental justice projects, social action and sustainability education.
Dr. Nordtveit provided some background on her projects and further explained the mission and goals of these initiatives.
What is The BGreen Project and what prompted you to found this initiative? What are its objectives?
The BGreen Project began as my dissertation project in the Communication Department of University of Massachusetts Amherst and is the subject of my book, Participatory Networks and the Environment: The BGreen Project in the US and Bangladesh. I wanted to create a participatory platform for global youth to convene to do action research and academic-community engaged projects that are based on environmental education and social justice. Its base is in two places: Bangladesh and the United States. You can find the link to some select Bangladeshi BGreen projects here.
After a very successful fieldwork process, the community members involved in the project requested that we turn it into a registered organization in Bangladesh and continue doing environmental education and social justice work around the world. Over the years, we have done a wide range of environmental action projects with multiple organizational partners from around the world--such as action workshops, trainings, public access television shows, conferences, seminars, community projects, and deliberations in Bangladesh and the United States.
Are there current projects or research areas you are working on as part of the BGreen Project?
My social justice work continues to evolve. I am invested in seeing the #BlackLivesMatter movement intersect with environmental justice. This is because the discussion on environmental justice is incomplete without an equity, wellness and racial justice lens and vice versa. Hence, all my workshops, writing, and action projects are now consciously tackling a combination of these topics. Also, my work is committed to bringing forth BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) perspectives on social justice issues.
For example, I just launched a new public access television show via a media house in Amherst, MA called Amherst Media called Talking Out of Line. This show takes an intersectional approach to social justice and hosts conversations to forge ways for disruption, a new order, a new safe space, unity and transformative social justice.
I am also in the process of creating an inclusive, green makerspace in Dhaka, Bangladesh to provide sustainable, green platforms for the creation of green artisanal products for local equity focused makers in Dhaka.
I am also working on my new book in the Routledge Sustainability and Business Series called Millennials, Generation Z and the Fair Trade Revolution in the United States (Routledge, 2021).
Dr. Fadia Nordtveit is Adjunct Instructor at NYU SPS DAUS teaching Social Media courses. Dr. Nordtveit’s Doctorate and Masters degrees are from the Communication Department at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and she has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hampshire College. She is the co-founder of a social entrepreneurship project called Bija Bangladesh.