About Stacia:
Dr Stacia Ryder is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Utah State University. She received her PhD in Sociology in 2019 from Colorado State University and worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Geography at the University of Exeter from 2019-2023. Stacia uses a critical approach to examine how power dynamics create justice issues in environmental, energy and climate contexts. She has authored several publications on these subjects. Stacia aims to create concrete social change by working with communities to establish just and equitable transitions as essential components of climate planning and policy.
1. What first sparked your interest in environmental justice and rural community engagement?
I grew up outside of a town of 1,000 people in central Pennsylvania, so I come from a rural community. Though I did not come from a particularly diverse community, values of community service were instilled in me at a young age.
In addition, in elementary school, I had a teacher who used Jane Elliott's "Brown-Eye/Blue-Eye" experiment, where our classroom became segregated by eye color for a short time to teach us about segregation, discrimination, and civil rights. Despite being young, I recall grappling with the lessons the teacher was trying to instill in us about the unfair treatment of different groups of people—something I continue to try to unpack and address today.
As I eventually pursued graduate school, the desire to understand and address social inequality intersected with my interest in various environmental issues, from fair trade to disasters and hazards, and eventually in the context of energy and climate change.
As a PhD student at Colorado State University, I was particularly struck by the impacts and concerns surrounding unconventional oil and gas development, which were affecting both my hometown in Pennsylvania and the area where I was living in Colorado. I was interested in how people often felt excluded from major environmental decisions that were likely to negatively affect them.
Since many of these projects are proposed in more rural areas, much of my work has taken place in rural communities.
2. Can you explain how your work connects sustainability with social equity, especially in underrepresented communities?
My work encompasses sustainability but has a broader focus on understanding how social inequalities create—and are further exacerbated by—environmental inequalities. For example, social inequalities play a big role in determining where people live, which in turn affects their levels of risk in the context of disasters and climate change, as well as where unwanted developments with negative health impacts are often proposed.
But the flip side is also true: access to green space and sustainable choices is also shaped by inequality. Those living in more affluent and predominantly white neighborhoods tend to have more access to natural amenities.
In one rural community where I worked in the UK, residents were deeply concerned about the complex consequences of a proposed shale gas site. The location was closest to community members living in social housing who faced overlapping economic, age-related, and health-related challenges. The broader community felt it was unfair for those members to bear the greatest burden of risk.
I also work in the context of the Great Salt Lake. We know that neighborhoods composed primarily of low-income communities of color face a greater risk of exposure to air pollution from the lake’s drying, compounding the pollution they already face from nearby industrial activity. Yet even within marginalized communities, risk exposure can differ. For example, some residents have raised concerns about how toxic dust from the Salt Lake may affect fertility and pregnancy outcomes.
So, I focus much of my work on how inequalities are experienced differently both across and within underrepresented groups.
When it comes to sustainability, I believe it's important to recognize that sustainable choices aren’t equally accessible to everyone. We need to consider people’s actual capacity to make these choices, and the barriers they face, both individually and structurally. For instance, electric vehicles are out of reach for many families. Yet an even more sustainable option, public transit, is often not a viable alternative, especially in rural areas. Larger-scale systemic change is needed to remove the barriers to individuals face when trying to live more sustainably.
3. In your experience, how are rural communities responding to climate and environmental changes?
This is a tricky question. Much of my work focuses on incorporating people’s place-based connections into thinking about more sustainable and equitable futures, so the responses look different across communities.
For example, Utah farmers in the Great Salt Lake watershed are reducing their water usage to adapt to declining water availability. In Carbon and Emery counties, some of the people we’ve interviewed are thinking primarily about what future industries might replace the coal sector, which has historically provided stability but now faces long-term decline.
We also recently saw the city of Logan, which I consider to be a town in a largely rural region, responding to a natural gas power plant proposal. While the city ultimately approved the project, it reduced its commitment to the volume of energy it would purchase. That decision likely wouldn’t have happened without strong community opposition.
During my dissertation work, I saw similar dynamics play out in Fort Collins, Colorado. Residents there objected to unconventional oil and gas development, in part because drilling seemed inconsistent with the city’s branding around sustainability and climate leadership.
In other cases, communities have conducted their own research in collaboration with scientists. I highlight this in my work on rural UK communities that resisted shale gas development. In Fairbourne, Wales, after residents were told their village would be decommissioned by 2050—and labeled the “UK’s first climate refugees”—they commissioned their own climate impact assessments. Their goal wasn’t to deny climate change, but to demonstrate that the official projections informing the decision-making process had critical inaccuracies.
So, we see adaptive strategies happening at both individual and community levels in rural and urban areas alike. These actions are often rooted in shared local values. There’s also growing resistance in some rural areas to the projected urbanization and expansion of traditionally rural communities, as residents view that development as a major threat to local ecosystems and natural resources.
4. How can local governments better support communities that are vulnerable to climate displacement or environmental degradation?
Proactive local government planning to prevent environmental degradation and mitigate the impacts of climate change on communities is crucial.
In reviewing a variety of climate plans for local governments in FEMA Region 8, I found that many of them lacked an approach for considering how climate change might influence population shifts—either through increased in-migration or out-migration due to climate impacts or forced displacement.
Additionally, many of these plans failed to address how environmental and climate impacts are not experienced equally across all populations—especially among those facing multiple forms of social inequality. Accounting for these differences is essential for equitable planning.
For example, are climate and environmental informational materials produced in multiple languages, or only in English? If they're only in English, non-English-speaking populations are at greater risk due to lack of access to potentially life-saving information.
If and when situations arise where people may need to relocate to escape harm, having resources and financial support programs in place becomes vital. For instance, if a homeowner's property value drops due to environmental risks—or if an area is deemed uninhabitable due to climate-related hazards—local governments (along with other stakeholders) should be prepared to support those residents in relocating and purchasing homes elsewhere.
Moreover, planning for larger-scale community resettlement in advance can help reduce the social and emotional strain of displacement. If relocation allows people to remain close to their existing neighbors and settle in areas with similar cultural or geographic characteristics, it may help preserve important place-based bonds and community ties.
5. What role does public participation play in shaping fair and sustainable environmental outcomes?
Public participation is a crucial component of environmental decision-making in order for the process to be procedurally fair and just. However, this can sometimes be in tension with certain sustainability goals, such as when a community voices strong opposition to a renewable energy project proposed near them.
Involving communities early in the sustainability planning process can help build trust and increase support for initiatives. But for this to be effective, the initiatives often need to resonate with people's sense of place and align with core community values.
That’s why incorporating those values through active public involvement is key to achieving environmental outcomes that are not only sustainable but also widely supported and equitable.
6. What are some ways people can get involved in sustainability or justice-focused work in their communities?
There are so many scales at which we are called to action. These include our individual choices—like cycling instead of driving, growing gardens, reducing water-intensive lawn use, recycling, and composting. They also include ways we can work within and alongside our communities, such as participating in farmers’ markets, food cooperatives, and ride shares.
As individuals, we can make lifestyle changes and take the time to research local organizations to get involved with. However, I tend to believe that some of the most effective actions are those that help drive broader societal-level change, which holds the potential for far greater impact.
For instance, we know that just a handful of companies are responsible for the majority of global carbon emissions. While we should absolutely fly less and reduce our individual carbon footprints, we can also use our voices to lobby elected officials to create policies that limit corporations’ ability to emit greenhouse gases.
Similarly, while driving less is a valuable personal goal, we can also advocate for the creation of infrastructure that offers better transportation alternatives. For example, Cache Valley continues to lack affordable public transit options, and limited bicycle-friendly infrastructure can prevent people from choosing to ride bikes.
Beyond infrastructure, we can also work to foster cultural changes, such as building a strong local bike culture, while pushing for physical improvements that make those choices safer and more practical.
All of these efforts—whether made individually or through participation in organizations—can contribute to creating a healthier, more sustainable environment.
7. What keeps you hopeful or inspired as you work at the intersection of sociology, policy, and sustainability?
I think what keeps me inspired is the people I meet who are doing this hard work—both those who have been committed to it for a long time and have seen the needle move, whether just a little or a lot, and those who are newly involved and bring such passion and energy to the issue.
There are so many different ways to pursue change, and all of them matter. Whether it's individual actions, community efforts, or policy-level advocacy, each level of engagement contributes to the broader movement.
Right now, we are seeing pushbacks when it comes to addressing climate change and environmental equity. But despite that, many people remain deeply committed to building a more environmentally sustainable and socially just future. They are continuing this work in increasingly creative and strategic ways.
I believe that the work we do now, especially during this challenging time, will position us well to take advantage of the opportunities that will emerge when the current anti-science and anti-justice tides inevitably begin to recede.
8. Last, what is one way you practice sustainability on a regular basis?
While there are a few things I could mention, one of the biggest ways I feel I have an impact is by relying more on sustainable energy sources and moving away from fossil fuel use.
For example, I try to walk or use public transit whenever possible, I drive a hybrid car, and my house is primarily powered by solar panels.
Another way I incorporate sustainability is by purchasing choices. I would say about 90% of our clothing and big household items second-hand. This helps ensure that these items last through their full life cycle, reducing waste and consumption.