2025 Annual Rep Staff
Student employees
Our Mission
Informed by an abiding commitment to a just society and care for the planet, the Gonzaga Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment engages in regional capacity building, scholarship, and teaching to promote the flourishing of Inland Northwest communities, waters, and lands in the face of a changing climate.
We envision a transition to integral Earth-human relations characterized by thriving, equitable human societies within flourishing ecological communities.
Dear friends,
I take this moment to extend my gratitude to all who support the work of the Gonzaga Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment. The 2024-2025 academic year was marked by extremes. In December, we were awarded a three-year $19.9M grant to advance community resilience in Spokane, the largest in Gonzaga’s history A few months later, the new federal administration targeted the grant for termination. The fate of the funding is in the courts, with a class action suit expected this summer. If successful, it could eventually see funding restored.
Challenges are not limited to the federal level. Washington State’s sales tax dependent budget has been negatively impacted by national and international economic turmoil. This led the legislature to shrink or eliminate several previously reliable state climate grant programs.
Despite the challenges at the federal and state levels, we are not deterred from our mission. We can and must continue do as much as we can to address the climate crisis
Onward,
Brian G. Henning, Ph.D. Founding Director Professor of Philosophy Professor of Environmental Studies and Science
For Our Common Home Lecture Series
Vital conversations
We feature key conversations on critical topics by hosting speakers who address important parts of the climate conversation that are often lost or ignored in the wider discourse. The Climate Institute hosted 14 events in the 2024-2025 academic year.
Notable events in the 2024-2025 academic year included topics such as the Columbia River Treaty, a discussion of the future of democracy in a warming world with Dr. David Orr, an exploration of population growth and ecological limits, nature-positive design, small modular nuclear reactors, fossil fuel divestment, and the central role of social movements in navigating ecological crises. The series also featured the research of Gonzaga faculty from Political Science, Environmental Studies, and Philosophy.
The Institute also hosted the 7 Annual Spokane Candidates Climate Change Forum. It is powerful to have thoughtful Gonzaga undergraduates ask candidates for local office what, if elected, they would or would not do to address the climate crisis.
Student & Faculty Impact
Students for and with others
As a university-wide academic project, the Climate Institute has the opportunity to engage with the Gonzaga community across academic departments, student involvement, grant projects, campus events, and in-class engagements.
The Climate Institute offers Gonzaga students the opportunity to engage with the Spokane community to help address one of the most pressing challenges facing humanity.
“I really loved being able to talk to community members, learn information on hardships in Spokane, and step out of Gonzaga’s campus and learn more about places and perspectives in the city that I have lived in for the last four years. ”
Faculty representing every academic unit
Student employees representing 9 majors
Gonzaga undergrads
engaged in course projects
Course partnerships
Climate Literacy Project
We nourish equitable human societies within flourishing ecological communities by providing climate education resources, workshops, and learning experiences with a focus on place-based and hope-filled experiential learning to expand the understanding of and response to the climate crisis.
Supporting young people to create a hope-filled future
Educating for the world we want
The Climate Literacy Project serves a wide range of audiences in our education work including university faculty (both at Gonzaga and in the Spokane region), K12 educators and K-8 students in Northeast Washington, Gonzaga undergraduates, and life-long learners.
The Institute’s Climate Literacy Project has established itself as a leader in climate education within Washington and the broader region.
K-8 students reached
Of teachers report increased confidence teaching climate change 86% Students completed the Certificate in Climate Action Planning
Participating educators in Climate Literacy Workshops
“The fellows program has been so important to growing my skills as an employee, working in a team, public speaking, science communication, and growing my passion for working to combat climate change. I would be a different student and person without this job, and I think it’s such a valuable experience for any undergraduate with a passion for the environment. ” – Gonzaga Climate Literacy Fellow
4th grade students from West Valley School District on campus work with Gonzaga pre-service teachers on the “Catching a Heat Wave Lesson”
Karli Honebein, M.A. Climate Literacy Program Manager
“The most fulfilling part is getting to have conversations about climate change and the solutions we can create for the issues it causes with kids. They are often leaving our visits with more knowledge and a want to make change, and it really makes me feel like I’m creating change in the Spokane community. “
Gonzaga Climate Literacy Fellow
Climate Literacy Fellows
In partnership with the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and the legislature-funded ClimeTime program, the Gonzaga Climate Institute has created the Climate Literacy Fellows program. Through this program, the Climate Institute hires and trains exceptional Gonzaga undergraduates to deliver high-impact climate literacy activities in elementary and middle school classrooms (grades K-8).
62% 94%
Host teachers who agree that the Fellows improve their climate instruction
Title I Schools
Climate in the Zag curriculum
Since 2016, the annual Cataldo Project assists Gonzaga University faculty explore ways of incorporating sustainability and climate pedagogy and curriculum into their classes The workshop offers multi-disciplinary teaching strategies around sustainability issues, experiential learning about place, and pedagogical exercises designed to help faculty modify existing courses to incorporate climate and sustainability themes
Climate Action Planning
In collaboration with the Gonzaga Center for Lifelong Learning, the Climate Institute offers an 18-week Professional Certificate in Climate Action Planning. A climate action plan is a road map that guides a local community to achieving its emission-reduction goals, while making it more resilient to climate change. This year, 24 students from 11 different states completed the course.
Preparing student teachers
In the fall, we offered climate instruction to Gonzaga pre-service teacher candidates In the spring, Gonzaga undergraduates engaged with 227 public elementary school students from four West Valley School District schools who visited Gonzaga’s campus and received climate literacy instruction from pre-service teacher candidates
Teaching the teachers
In partnership with Dr. John Traynor from the Gonzaga School of Education, we engaged a cohort of 17 K-12 educators for a semester-long workshop discussing teaching climate solutions in the Inland Northwest. The cohort completed 12.5 hours of professional learning, including a field trip to Wildhorse Park. The workshop sessions covered place-based pedagogy, climate justice, value systems, family and community engagement, and student action projects.
Climate Resilience Project
The Climate Resilience Project fosters equitable human societies within flourishing ecological communities by supporting communities in the Inland Northwest in understanding, preparing for, and responding to climate-driven events.
Dante Jester, M.Sc. Climate Resilience Program Manager
Helping those who are hurt first and worst
Vital conversations
We seek to help our region respond to the urgent existential challenges created by a rapidly changing climate. With a geographic focus on the Inland Northwest, our work primarily focuses on building community resilience to extreme heat and wildfire smoke. Our work takes a multifaceted approach to growing resilience, interweaving the empowerment of grassroots organizers with academic research and engagement of local policymakers.
During spring semester of 2025, the Climate Resilience Project faced challenges of a new magnitude with the sudden threat of loss to contracted federal funding Rather than losing the momentum built on those previously funded projects, we will work to find the means to continue the vital, life-saving work using whatever new resources we can secure
Outreach and connection
The Climate Resilience Project sees its primary role in the community as a supporting force for established local organizations, empowering them to further the diverse work they are uniquely situated to do. Towards this aim, the Climate Resilience Project has many evolving external partnerships that exist at varying levels of involvement This year, the Institute’s Climate Resilience Project formally partnered with 27 total external organizations 13 local organizations, 11 regional, and 3 national
“The most fulfilling part of being a Climate Project Assistant has been working directly in the community at tabling events, symposiums, canvassing, and more. Also gaining really great professional experience that I can use in developing an environmental career after graduation. -–Student Climate Project Assistant
Climate Project Assistant, CJ Kreitlow (‘25), interacts with community members while tabling at the Finch Arboretum Arbor Day Celebration in April.
“I loved having this job in school because it gave me somewhere to apply what I was learning in the classroom, as well as giving me a sense of purpose and action in a time where there are such big problems to tackle. “ —Gonzaga Climate Project Assistant
Community-centered climate action
Building community resilience to extreme heat and wildfire smoke in the Inland Northwest requires tangible change and on-the-ground action to build the means for preparedness, response, and recovery But before that change can be achieved in a way that is thoughtful and equitable, it is essential to build a strong, complex understanding of the problems and their solutions The Climate Resilience Project strives always to start with creating this basis of understanding We do this by building trust over time with local organizations and community members, facilitating research and community conversations, and making ourselves visible in the community as much as possible
The Climate Resilience Project was launched after nineteen Spokane community members died in the 2021 Northwest Heat Dome, and the project is based on the simple idea that no one should die a preventable death This framing drives our work to be multi-faceted and ever-evolving
Results from the Spokane extreme heat survey
Rated heat as a moderate-severe threat to Spokane’s community
Rated heat as a moderate-severe threat to Spokane’s economy
Exploring the personal impact of heat, the most common symptoms reported were:
Climate Project Assistant, Ellen Lewis (‘25), facilitates a group discussion during the 2024 Smoke Ready Spokane Symposium 84.3% 71.7% 80% 41% 27%
Discomfort Heat exhaustion Fainting and dizziness
In the 2024-25 academic year, the Climate Resilience Project expanded our preparedness and response work, starting some new projects like the resilience hub network and continuing existing projects like air quality monitoring. We see this as only the beginning of our work, and we continue to seek new avenues of doing the most we can to keep our community safe and informed.
Helping Spokane be prepared
Since the 2021 Heat Dome, the most deadly weather-related event in State history, the Institute has been working hard to help our community be better prepared for the rapidly changing climate. Our work this year included: Assisting Spokane City Council in creating a Heat Health and Safety Ordinance so that landlords cannot prohibit tenants from installing ACs.
Drafting city-wide Extreme Heat and Wildfire Smoke Resilience Plans to improve preparedness and response strategies for climate-related hazards
Planning the Spokane Community Resilience Hub Network, a coalition of trusted local community facilities that can serve their communities in periods of crisis.
Nearly half a million dollars of improvements to Northeast Community Center’s HVAC system so it can serve as a cleaner air space.
Creating a city-wide wildfire smoke education campaign in collaboration with Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency
A collaborative approach
The Spokane Community Resilience Collaborative (SCRC) was founded by the Climate Institute in April of 2024 in response to frequent requests for greater collaboration across organizations in Spokane. SCRC is a group of community leaders representing 15 organizations , including healthcare providers, local government organizations, non-governmental organizations, and more.
SCRC goals:
Develop city-wide extreme heat and wildfire smoke resilience plans for Spokane.
Develop a building-level tool to be utilized by Spokane organizations and businesses to develop their own building-level heat and smoke resilience plans.
Create a summer resource guide to equip Spokane residents with the necessary knowledge and tools to build household-level resilience.
Partnering for resilience
Carl Maxey Center
The Carl Maxey Center is a Black-led and Blackserving community center in East Central, one of Spokane’s oldest neighborhoods. The neighborhood was greatly impacted by the creation of Interstate-90 in the 1950s, which split the neighborhood in half. Compared to the rest of Spokane, the neighborhood has less material wealth, with a median income of $38,326, compared to $44,768 citywide.
Our work with Carl Maxey Center includes:
A multi-methods study to understand how Spokane’s East Central neighborhood is coping with seasonal extreme heat and wildfire smoke. The report is available at repository.gonzaga.edu/climateresearch Heat and smoke safety education materials to help educate community members. Carl Maxey Center staff resilience training. A building-level climate disruption response plan. Indoor and outdoor air quality sensors. A real-time air quality information dashboard.
Coeur d’Alene Tribe
May of 2024 marked the launch of a NOAA-funded collaboration between the University of Washington, the Climate Institute, and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. Over the summer of 2024, the Tribe distributed 21 air filter kits to Tribal community members in Idaho. During the following winter and spring, the two organizations worked together to plan a community survey on heat and smoke impacts to be distributed to Tribal members in summer of 2025. The Climate Resilience Project team worked to develop process documents to assist the Tribe in installing air quality sensors and informational dashboards in community buildings owned by the Tribe.
This project was made possible by funding to Gonzaga and the Tribe as subawards of the University of Washington’s Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative. In May of 2025, UW was notified that NOAA had abruptly terminated that funding agreement, jeopardizing the continuation of this work.
Participants at the East Central Community Resilience Symposium on October 15, 2024, discuss the impact of wildfire smoke in the East Central Spokane neighborhood.
Confidence in public cleaner air spaces
Increase indoor air confidence
While most indoor spaces have a thermostat indicating the indoor temperature, relatively few have air quality sensors and the means to display the information. This lack of information about the quality of indoor air makes it challenging to know whether the air in a particular indoor space is safer than the outdoor air. To address this gap in information and to improve public confidence in public safer air spaces, the Gonzaga Climate Institute and its partners in the Gonzaga School of Engineering and Applied Sciences created a realtime air quality dashboard to visualize and compare the indoor and outdoor air quality at a site.
Developing the dashboads
Gonzaga professors in the School for Engineering and Applied Science, Dr. Marc Baumgardner and Dr. Aaron Crandall, provided their expertise in Engineering and Computer Science to help this project become a reality. Dr. Baumgardner oversaw the installation of the AQI sensors and dashboard hardware, including the development of a custom 3D-printed mount and screen cover for the monitors. Dr. Crandall, working with two Gonzaga students, oversaw the software development of the user interface.
Where you can find them
This year, real-time air quality dashboards were installed in the following locations: Gonzaga Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment
Dr. Marc Baumgartner's Office, Bollier Center, Gonzaga University
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Family Outreach Center
West Central Community Center
Northeast Community Center Carl Maxey Center
Community-engaged research Partners
As an academic university center, we support community-engaged research & scholarship on climate, water, and the environment in service of helping the Inland Northwest understand and respond to the climate crisis In partnership with our colleagues at the University of Washington’s Collaborative for Extreme Event Resilience, the Institute published two peer-reviewed articles:
“Beat the Heat: Community Perspectives Around Extreme Heat in Spokane, WA, Post-2021 Northwest Heat Dome, ” was published in the Journal of Community Medical Public Health. The article presents the analysis of the 2023 community-wide survey, revealing community perceptions and experiences of extreme heat. “Building Community Resilience to extreme heat: Lessons learned from Spokane, WA community conversations” was published in Environmental Research: Health. The article presents the analysis of the Institute’s 2023 extreme heat community symposium, revealing key opportunities, including risk communication, intervention, collaboration, policy, and research.
The Climate Institute also worked with partners to publish two special reports. The covers are below.
Findings from all of our research provide vital information informing how we pursue our work in the community, especially related to extreme heat and wildfire smoke resilience planning. Find more at: http://repository.gonzaga.edu/climateresearch.
350 Spokane
Americorps CivicSpark
Avista
Carl Maxey Center
CHAS
City of Spokane
ClimeTime
Climate Teacher Ed Collaborative
Cool Spokane
Coeur d’Alene Tribe
The Lands Council
Latinos en Spokane
MLK Community Center
Northeast Community Center
Northeast Washington Educational Service
District 101
Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative
Spokane Neighborhood Action Partners (SNAP)
Spokane Public Library
Spokane Public Schools
Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency
Spokane Regional Health District
Urbanova
University of Washington Collaborative for Extreme Event Resilience
University of Washington Institute for Science and Mathematics Education
West Central Community Center
Washington Climate Corps Network
Washington State Department of Ecology
Washington State Department of Health
Washington State Office of Equity
Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI)
Yoyot Sp’q’n’i
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