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Climate Justice Activism Inspires Second Annual Women’s Global Leadership Conference
By Lea Agnew
The world’s climate crisis is hardest on populations burdened by economic, health and social disadvantages—a fact underscored at Agnes Scott College’s second annual Women’s Global Leadership Conference, held September 23-25 in person and virtually.
“Building a Better World: Women and Climate Justice”drew experts, institutional leaders, business organizations and grassroots activists who are spearheading efforts to reverse climate trends and their social consequences. For the Agnes Scott community, the WGLC spotlighted forward-looking strategies and methods while opening new avenues for engagement, from the classroom to the community.
WOMEN IN THE LEAD
Women’s prominence in climate justice efforts was evident from the speaker roster. Highlighting this fact, Agnes Scott President Leocadia I. Zak says that the all-women lineup was not intentional and reflected who is leading the movement across geographies, cultures and work fields.
Keynote speakers were Wanjira Mathai, the World Resource Institute’s vice president and regional director for Africa; Pat Mitchell, media executive and author; Cecilia Martinez, senior director for environmental justice of the White House Council on Environmental
Quality; and tribal attorney, indigenous rights advocate and pipeline warrior Tara Houska.
Panels focused on impactful climate initiatives. One featured Drawdown Georgia, a greenhouse gas reduction road map for energy efficiency, reduced food waste and expansion of renewable energy sources. A second panel highlighted private-sector actions to advance sustainable, socially equitable business practices. And another panel addressed environmental health impacts on specific communities.
DISPROPORTIONATE BURDENS
Data and anecdotal evidence show the harshest effects falling on those at society’s margins. Populations without economic, political and social agency routinely bear the brunt of climate-driven natural disasters, health impairments, food shortages, urban displacement, arable land shrinkage and loss of indigenous environments— effects often overlooked in scientific and policy analysis.
The WGLC also revealed that visionary disrupters are bringing compelling concepts and tactics to the battle for a livable planet. While attacking root causes of climate change, these difference-makers push back against social inequities. Among these grassroots participants was Jasmine Crowe, founder of the profit-for-good company Goodr, which helps the food industry eliminate waste
Agnes Scott Biology 350 students present to Wanjira Mathai at the WGLC Student Research Showcase.
while feeding the food-insecure in 20 U.S. cities. Jacqueline Patterson, founder and executive director of The Chisholm Legacy Project, described her organizing work in Baltimore to fight health and environmental degradation. And a panel titled “Inspiring Community Action” included Leah Trotman ’21, one of several Agnes Scott alums participating in the conference who are shaping their careers with a bent toward climate activism.
SUMMIT ALIGNMENT
The conference vividly demonstrated how Agnes Scott’s SUMMIT curriculum integrates with issues of social importance. Global leadership is part of SUMMIT’s essence, says Gundolf Graml, associate vice president for academic affairs and dean for curriculum and strategic initiatives. He noted the sense of global responsibility that pervaded the conference and summed up the SUMMIT connection in a single powerful question, “How can we create a just world and hear the voices that aren’t being heard?”
The WGLC can inspire Agnes Scott students to see themselves as forces for climate justice change, says Honi Migdol, associate dean for integrative leadership and SUMMIT co-curricular programs. “Instead of ‘So what?,’ the Agnes Scott question is ‘Now what?’ When I leave this campus, what will I boldly and ethically do?”
A CAUSE FOR ALL
Any career path intersects with climate justice, many speakers emphasized. According to keynoter Mathai, “The movement finds us; we don’t look for it. Prepare for a life of service to give back the gifts you’ve been given.”
Speakers offered practical guidance on getting involved, such as to start small and local and to pay attention to how economic, health and political inequities converge around climate change. The power of collaboration resonated, such as the Drawdown Georgia panel of leaders from organizations cooperating to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Agnes Scott alum Whitney Brown ’07 represented Georgia Interfaith Power & Light on this panel.
A student research showcase featured analytical projects related to climate. Shaped by conference programming co-chairs Stacey B.B. Dutton, Charles Loridans Associate Professor of Biology and Neuroscience, and Lauran Whitworth, assistant professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies and co-director of environmental and sustainability studies, these projects documented climate impacts on animal neurology, sea level rise along Georgia’s coast, campus soil analysis and more.
Students and audience members engage during the Q&A Session for “Building Strong Collaborations.”
“For students, these projects drive home the importance of going beyond opinion to understand rigorous data gathering and analysis in promoting climate justice,” says Whitworth. Dutton notes the projects’ interdisciplinary nature. “The fact that climate justice intersects all fields of study is fundamental for a liberal arts college like ours,” she says.
The research was supported by grants to faculty members, including Jennifer Larimore, associate professor of biology and co-director of the neuroscience program. She supervised several small groups studying climate effects on crayfish.
— WANJIRA MATHAI, THE WORLD RESOURCE INSTITUTE’S VICE PRESIDENT AND REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR AFRICA
“They gained high-level scientific skills, from modeling the experiment to capturing and interpreting the data to the ethical aspects of caring for the animals,” says Larimore.
A complementary WGLC component featured student-written articles about personal experience with climate change, which grew out of Assistant Professor of Public Health Viniece Jennings’ course on environment and public health communication. The geographic diversity of Agnes Scott students was evident in stories about enduring cholera outbreaks in South Sudan, fleeing wildfires in the U.S. West and being uprooted by Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. South.
NEXT STEPS
The WGLC points toward increased climate activism in the Agnes Scott community, both institutional and personal. Lessons learned and relationships formed will enrich the academic, global leadership and professional success dimensions of SUMMIT while assuming greater importance in the lived experiences of students, faculty and staff.
Enhancing the college’s already high profile in sustainability, Executive Director of the Center for Sustainability Susan Kidd ’78, M.A.T. ’07 foresees a fresh round of community collaborations on climate resilience and greenhouse gas reduction.
“To put it simply,” she says, “all of us who participated were really inspired to keep doing what we are doing and to do more. The information from the speakers and panelists will help the college increase its focus on justice for local populations most vulnerable to climate effects.”
Another outcome could be an expansion of privatesector partnerships. Business attitudes are shifting in favor of climate policies that reduce long-term negative economic impacts. The WGLC’s mix of corporate and philanthropic sponsors—the Ray C. Anderson Foundation and the Turner Foundation, along with BlackRock and Georgia Power—could signal more cross-sector collaborations driven by the college.
One message heard from multiple speakers was that Agnes Scott has a unique stature to stage such an ambitious conference. Coming on the heels of the college’s fourth consecutive U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges ranking as the nation’s #1 Most Innovative Liberal Arts College, this year’s WGLC buttressed Agnes Scott’s position as a courageous thought leader on pressing issues of the 21st century, paving the way for involvement in new breakthroughs.
Visit the conference website at conferences.agnesscott. org/WGLC2021/.
Agnes Scott students remove invasive species during the WGLC’s Day of Action and Advocacy.
The Conference’s Commitment to Highlighting and Strengthening Women’s Leadership in Climate Change
Climate change makes the headlines, but the critical role of women remains absent. Recent reports highlight how the environmental, health and economic challenges of climate change greatly impact women. For example, 80% of people displaced by climate change are women.
Also absent from the headlines is women’s leadership in developing some of the most promising solutions to climate change. A 2021 Brooking Institute article entitled “Why is girls’ education important for climate action?” concludes that “fostering female leadership globally is linked with increases in land and natural resource protection, the ratification of environmental regulations, stricter climate policies, and reduced carbon footprints.”
Agnes Scott College’s Women’s Global Leadership Conference wanted to shine a light on women as changemakers. Even as a college involved in addressing climate change—we have reduced our campus carbon footprint by more than 40%, and we are on track for our goal of climate neutrality by 2037—we had not imagined the scale of women’s leadership that we would find when we began planning the 2021 conference. From the selfproclaimed “elders” who have stubbornly championed the need for attention to women and climate for decades to the amazing young voices quickly coming to the forefront, we found that women’s leadership for climate action is deep and wide. With this conference, Agnes Scott changed the headlines.
Left to right: Wanjira Mathai, President Leocadia I. Zak, Pat Mitchell, Kathy Thomas, Susan Kidd ’78, M.A.T. ’07, executive director of the Center for Sustainability, and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean for Curriculum and Strategic Initiatives Gundolf Graml at the WGLC Speaker Reception.
