Gonzaga Climate Insitute to host discussion on ensuring climate justice

The Gonzaga Institute for Climate, Water and the Environment will host lecturer Gopal Dayaneni this week to discuss how societies can navigate the effects of climate change while remaining focused on equity, justice and democracy.

The free event, “Transition is Inevitable – Justice is Not: The Central Role of Social Movements in Navigating Ecological Crises,” is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday at the Hemmingson Auditorium, located at 702 E. Desmet Ave. For more information and to register, go to gonzaga.edu/ClimateEvents.

According to a biography provided by the Climate Institute, Dayaneni teaches at San Francisco State University and is on the steering committee for the Climate Justice Leadership Initiatives and the Certificate in Climate Change Causes, Impacts and Solutions.

Brian G. Henning, director of the Gonzaga Climate Institute, called Dayaneni a “leading figure in the intersections of climate action and justice.”

Henning said that while states nationwide are transitioning to cleaner, more renewable sources of power, the transition doesn’t guarantee an equitable outcome. The work, Henning said, must be intentional to ensure it “doesn’t leave some people behind.”

The discussion of justice, Henning said, is “fundamental to Gonzaga’s institutional identity.”

“We’re a Jesuit Catholic Humanistic University, and part of that mission is explicitly and intentionally about social and environmental justice,” Henning said. “This idea that, as Pope Francis tells us, that we need to hear the cries of the poor and the cries of the earth together. And so featuring discussions about not only about the renewable energy future and the low-carbon future, but also being attentive to the role of creating a just society, is central to the Gonzaga Climate Institute’s Mission and Gonzaga University’s mission as well.”