The acts of police violence against black citizens and the nation-wide protests that ensued in 2020 prompted the Earth and Environmental Science (EES) community to begin careful self-reflection and assessment of our current departmental climate, and to plan actions aimed at ensuring that EES is truly diverse, equitable and inclusive. The starting point in this work was the creation of a departmental Statement on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in summer 2020. We have since established a standing committee on workplace and classroom climate and DEI to ensure that EES be a fully welcoming and supportive work and study environment across all demographic categories, including race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin, language and culture, immigration status, socioeconomic circumstance, disability presence, political ideology, religious belief and age. The committee has a duty to represent the interests of all EES constituent groups and is interested in having an open dialogue with all EES members, which can be initiated through a PennKey-protected contact form [to be created and linked to]. We have begun compiling a digital library of DEI literature and other relevant information sources to help increase the EES community’s awareness of DEI issues, particularly in science and academia. As DEI problems are at their core systemic and cannot be successfully solved in isolation from the wider context, here we also offer some information on related entities and activities elsewhere to support EES engagement on DEI with the broader community.