The Story of Our Name

A refugium is a geographical location where environmental conditions remain relatively stable during times of climatic change, acting as a safe haven for the animals and plants impacted by these upheavals. For instance, many mountain meadows in North America serve as refugia for species that were much more widespread during the Pleistocene glacial periods known as the Ice Ages.  During challenging periods, refugia provide shelter to threatened communities, and when conditions in the wider world become favorable again, refugia serve as loci from which these species can once again spread into the surrounding environment.

Refugium principal Kellum Tate-Jones encountered the concept of refugia during their graduate research into the paleoecology and evolutionary history of marine mammals. Kellum immediately recognized the parallels between refugia and counterspaces, dedicated environments within broader systems that subvert dominant norms and power structures by centering the needs and experiences of people with marginalized identities. As a poet and thus a strong believer in the power of metaphor to cultivate social transformation, Kellum adopted the name Refugium to draw from this ecological framework in her consulting work. We invoke the ecological power of refugia by prioritizing the psychological safety for those communities with the least systemic power in all of our work to move relationally towards a society where all can thrive.