For Our Common Home Lecture Series

Spring 2025

January 29 - Lessons from Howard Thurman’s Life

Speaker: Dr. Darian Spearman

Howard Thurman is well known for his spiritual and intellectual significance to the Civil Rights Movement as well as his influence on Martin Luther King Jr. However, it is only recently that the ecological dimension of his work has begun to be explored. This talk will explore how Thurman articulated his view that life is a process which best actualizes itself through communion as written in The Search for Common Ground. In this book, Thurman seeks to ground the Civil Rights Movement in a vision of life’s unity in response to the challenge of Black nationalism beginning in the 60’s. This talk will discuss the core themes of community, potential and unity as Thurman sees them in the biological processes of individual organisms and interspecies communion. These insights from Thurman will then be applied to dimensions of the contemporary climate crises such as eco-anxiety.

About the speaker: Dr. Darian Spearman is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Gonzaga University. His research interests include Africana Philosophy, Ecophilosophy, Philosophy of Myth, and Philosophy of Religion. His work appears in Philosophy and Global Affairs and the American Philosophical Association’s Black Issues in Philosophy Blog.

February 5 - Nature-Positive Development and Generous Urban Design

Speaker: Juliet Sinisterra

Urban environments rely on healthy ecosystem services to thrive, such as clean air, clean water, and temperature regulation. Because 56% of the world’s population now live in urban environments, urban design and development must contribute to the health, well-being, and sustainability of the ecosystems they impact. As of September 2023, humanity has crossed six of the nine biophysical boundaries that allow life to thrive on Earth. According to the Nature-Positive movement (which consists of 27 of the world’s largest nature conservation organizations, institutes, businesses, and finance coalitions), “connecting the nature-positive goal to equity and carbon neutrality recognizes the fundamental connection between human development and the health of nature and the deep connection between nature, climate, and Earth system stability.” In the face of biodiversity loss, oceanic acidification, and climate change, how can we optimize urban development for life in the coming decades and support local ecosystems within our built environment? The Spokane University District (UD)—an innovative life sciences and energy district--aims to pioneer both nature-based infrastructure and an urban development framework that supports the long-term health of the district’s ecosystem, inhabitants and ecological limits.

About the speaker: Juliet Sinisterra currently serves as the CEO for the Spokane University District public development authority. Juliet holds a professional Bachelor of Architecture degree and a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies from Washington State University. She also holds a certificate in urban design from Syracuse University, Florence, Italy. She brings over 30 years’ experience in urban design, master planning, project management, community engagement, and sustainable community development from her work in both the Seattle and Spokane areas. Her work at the University District has focused on developing a community-informed prioritized listing of strategic investments within the district that can be implemented via regenerative urban development and nature-based infrastructure. Juliet is particularly interested in how urban systems can respond to the limits of planetary boundaries, while at the same time developing systems that support all of life.

February 12 - Baku at the Heart of Climate Action: Insights from COP29

Each year, the United Nations Climate Change Conference hosts high-level negotiations on global climate policy. Attendees at the COP from Gonzaga community and the Spokane area will share their insights and indicate paths forward for climate action at our Jesuit, Catholic, humanistic institution committed to global sustainability.

About the speaker: Dr. Bi Zhao, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Gonzaga University, specializing in International Relations, with a substantive focus on global climate change governance, transnational climate activism and climate justice. Her research has been published in Environmental Policy and Governance and the Journal of Human Rights. Her forthcoming book Who tells your story? Ecology of NGOs at the UN climate change conferences, will be published by Cambridge University Press.

February 24 - Transition is Inevitable - Justice is Not: The Central Role of Social Movements in Navigating Ecological Crises

Speaker: Gopal Dayaneni

The term "Climate Justice" is rapidly replacing "Climate Change" as the way we talk about the existential threat to humanity. But mainstream Climate Justice framing has tended to focus on the disproportionate impacts of climate change on certain communities; particularly the poor, BIPOC, Global South, Small Island Nations, People with Disabilities, and more. While recognizing that those "hit first and worst" and "on the frontlines" are least responsible for the crisis is essential; it is insufficient. When the story stops there, it is the story of victimhood and not the true story of agency and action. Those on the frontlines of the crisis are at the forefront of the solutions. It is grassroots organizing and social movements who are leading the way on climate solutions; from phasing out coal-fired power plants and stopping new fossil fuel infrastructure to transforming the economy through Energy Democracy, Food Sovereignty, Indigenous Land Defense, Resilient Community Design and so much more. The story of Climate and Ecology Justice is most importantly the story of community leadership to transform unjust relationships of power so we not only mitigate climate disruption but navigate the inevitable changes with the greatest equity, justice and democracy possible. There are aspects of the climate we cannot stop from changing but we have 100% control over how we experience those changes. The most impactful way to mitigate the catastrophe is to transform the economy away from extractivism, exploitation and enclosure towards cooperation, care, commons and consent.

About the speaker: Gopal (he/him) has been working for social, economic, environmental and racial justice through organizing & campaigning, teaching, writing, speaking and direct action since the late 1980’s. Currently, Gopal teaches Race, Activism and Climate Justice; Asian Americans and Environmental Justice; South Asians in the United States; and Climate Action: Applied Learning for Real World Change at San Francisco State University in the Race and Resistance Studies and Asian American Studies Departments. Gopal is also on the steering committee for Climate Justice Leadership Initiatives and the Certificate in Climate Change Causes, Impacts and Solutions. He is a co-founder of Movement Generation: Justice and Ecology Project, which inspires and engages in transformative action towards the liberation and restoration of land, labor, and culture. MG is a founding member of the Climate Justice Alliance. Gopal has served on the staff-collective and is now a member of the Planning Committee and Board and continues to work closely with MG on diverse projects. Gopal serves on the boards of Movement Generation, Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, The People’s Solar Energy Fund, ETC Group and Frontline Catalysts. Gopal works at the intersection of ecology, economy, ending extractivism & empire and creating commons and community.

March 26 - Small Modular Nuclear Reactors: Separating Fact from Fiction

Speaker: Dr. Edwin Lyman

In recent years, nuclear power has seen a resurgence of interest as the world forgets about the 2011 Fukushima triple nuclear meltdown in Japan. Citing the potential of nuclear plants to help fight climate change and to meet the huge growth in data center-driven electricity demand that some predict, the nuclear industry has successfully rebranded nuclear power as “clean energy.” However, although nuclear power plants don’t emit carbon dioxide, they are anything but clean, as they produce large quantities of highly toxic and long-lived radioactive byproducts that are routinely emitted to the air and water and, in the event of a severe accident or military attack, can cause extensive, long-term contamination of the environment. Nuclear power is also generally much more costly than other low-carbon alternatives such as wind and solar power. Because new large reactors are so expensive—as exemplified by the recently completed Vogtle reactors in Georgia, which experienced massive delays and cost overruns—the industry has set its sights on small modular reactors, which it claims will be cheaper and safer. However, small reactors will generate more expensive electricity unless many corners are cut in design and operation—for instance, by eliminating the large containment buildings typical of today’s reactors and reducing the required number of operators and security personnel. Such modifications to future plants will make nuclear power less safe and secure than it is today, even if the designs themselves have some inherent safety features.

About the speaker: Dr. Edwin Lyman is the Director of Nuclear Power Safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, DC. He earned a doctorate in physics from Cornell University in 1992. He is a co-author (with David Lochbaum and Susan Q. Stranahan) of the book Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster (The New Press, 2014). He is the recipient of the 2018 Leo Szilard Lectureship Award from the American Physical Society. From 2020-2022 he served on a National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine study on advanced nuclear fuel cycles.

April 15 - Active Hope for a Livable Future: Divesting from Fossil Fuels

Speaker: Anna Johnson 

Hurricanes ramping from a Category 1 to 5 in mere hours, heat waves scorching our crops and people, flooding displacing millions of people each year, forest fires ripping through our beloved land at increasing heat and speed; we can see how, as Pope Francis wrote, The world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point. (Laudate Deum, 2).  As Gonzaga educates students to be leaders in service for the common good and to give glory to God, we are called to reflect upon the ways in which we are investing in the sustainability or collapse of this world in which we are inviting them to lead. While fossil fuels were a powerful force for the common good for many years, we now also know about the catastrophic consequences of their use, and it’s time to re-evaluate our commitment to them, and particularly the companies which continue to make their profit from their extraction and use. 

About the speaker: Anna Johnson is the North America Senior Programs Manager for the Laudato Si Movement, a Spirit-led movement that builds, inspires, and mobilizes a global community of Catholics to care for our common home and achieve climate and ecological justice, in collaboration with all people of good will. Prior to joining LSM, she worked for over a decade in Catholic Social Teaching and global solidarity curriculum design and leadership training, particularly with youth and young adults. Witnessing and experiencing how the climate crisis exacerbates all injustice, both globally and locally, drove her focus toward ecological justice. Anna has a BA in Peace Studies and Political Science from the University of Notre Dame, and an Executive Masters in Sustainability Leadership from Arizona State University. She lives in Washington, and on any given weekend you can find her camping, kayaking, hiking with her husband, Corbin, their two year old daughter, Helen, and their dog, Tilly.

April 22 - Graduating in the Age of Trump

Speaker: Dr. Brian G. Henning, Director, Gonzaga Climate Institute

On the fourth anniversary of the creation of the Gonzaga Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment, the Director, Director Henning, will discuss the challenge of pursuing climate action in a time of intense social, political, and ecological turmoil. Drawing on his background as an ethicist, Dr. Henning will ask what this moment requires of us.

About the speaker: Dr. Brian G. Henning (he/him/his) is Professor of Philosophy and of Environmental Studies & Sciences at Gonzaga University and is the inaugural director and founder of the Gonzaga Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment. Originally from Boise, Idaho, Dr. Henning joined Gonzaga’s faculty in 2008. He earned his bachelors sum cum laude from Seattle University and masters and doctorate degrees from Fordham University. An award-winning author, Dr. Henning has written or edited more than 13 books and 39 articles and chapters, including Riders in the Storm: Ethics in an Age of Climate Change (Anselm 2015), Climate Change Ethics and the Non-human World (Routledge 2020), and Value, Beauty, and Nature (SUNY 2023). He has delivered more than 180 talks to general and academic audiences in North America, Europe, and Asia.