Leading a workshop at the CliMates International Summit in Vienna, June 2018
Welcome to my website. I recently completed my PhD in the Department of Geography at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I am currently a President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Geography at Pennsylvania State University. Broadly, my research focuses on youth climate movements, the intergenerational dimensions of climate change ethics and politics, and the ways in which planetary futures are imagined in popular and youth cultures. To address these interests, my dissertation traced the ways in which U.S. and transnational youth movements reimagine and recreate the (inter)national politics of climate change.
I identify as a scholar/activist with a strong interest in writing for publics beyond academia. Since 2014, have been involved in progressive labor and environmental campaigns, from the grassroots and local to the global and policy-focused. As an undergraduate at the University of Alabama, I started a chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) and contributed to building progressive organizing capacity on campus. Around 2013/14, I worked as a Southern Regional Organizer for USAS building student-labor organizing networks across the South. I have also served as a leadership team member for the North Carolina Climate Justice Collective, a project-lead for the global youth ‘think-and-do-tank’ CliMates and a delegate to the United Nations’ International Climate Negotiations. When not writing, reading or organizing, you’ll likely find me exercising or making music.
I’m interested in launching new collaborations with youth organizers and activists on a range of topics including climate and environmental justice, arts-based organizing, and digital movement building. I am also open to consulting opportunities on topics such as histories of youth activism, strategic campaign design, and climate change. Please feel free to contact me by email or connect with me on Twitter:
Emails: mbortiz44@gmail.com | mark.ortiz@psu.edu
Twitter: @Ortiz__mark