Collective Imagination A Hopeful Force at the Center of Climate Justice

BY ANNA DEL CASTILLO, MDIV ’21 AND CLIMATE JUSTICE WEEK LEAD ORGANIZER

Climate Justice Week was the first of its kind at Harvard Divinity School. The week presented a mosaic of wisdom from across the divinity school. Led by a coalition of 11 partner offices, Climate Justice Week exemplified the power of collective imagination.

While Climate Justice Week took place on campus, Jackson, Mississippi, my hometown, experienced an environmental emergency. The city was without trash service. “What do you mean?” I asked my mom on a phone call before facilitating Friday’s keynote conversation. “I mean that the trash is piling up on the streets again.” She replied. “No one has picked up the trash for days and we’re not hopeful.” Jackson’s trash crisis comes months after the city made national news for a water crisis that kept 150,000 residents, including my parents and loved ones, from safe drinking water. The city issues a boil-water notice almost every other day.

As we engage in discussions around climate justice at Harvard University, one of the most powerful institutions on the planet, many of the communities that our students call home are experiencing the realities of systemic racism and environmental injustice. The issues plaguing my community in Jackson, the Blackest city in America, illustrate why the conversations at the center of Climate Justice Week are critical. HDS community members are looking for spaces to process, witness and leave activated and inspired to engage in solution work locally.

A key takeaway from the week is that climate justice is racial justice, and that the climate crisis is a spiritual crisis. The work we are doing at HDS is examining the root causes of the contaminated water, the red skies, and the drying lakes. We are creating spiritual interventions to push for change and highlight that planetary health and spiritual wellbeing are deeply interconnected.

Read Anna Del Castillo’s full reflection at rpl.hds.harvard. edu/news.

“The land is part of us and we’re part of the land. All we’re doing is borrowing the energy of the body of the earth that we have right now, then we’ll be returning it back. In the grand scheme of things, we’re not here for very long, so what is the work that you’re going to do, the stuff that you’re going to leave behind for future generations?” —

HDS students, faculty, and staff organized Climate Justice Week—an initiative consisting of nine events, a trash audit, and a photography exhibit to build connections and inspire action. RPL sponsored “Climate Justice as Racial Justice: Student Panel,” “Art and Activism workshop with Angelo Baca,” “Religious Literacy and Climate Justice: RPL Fellows Panel,” and “Keynote Conversation: Examining the Religious and Spiritual Implications of Climate Change.”