Disclaimer: Shejuti Wahed is an intern at the Climate Action Network

This year’s Climate Action Month has thus far been an incredible series of collaborations between different Case Western Reserve University organizations about how to address climate change on campus. While many events have involved community members, such as the “What We Do To Nature, We Do To Ourselves” film and discussion with local farmers and advocates, last Saturday’s “Developing People, Power, and Partnership: A Community and CWRU Conversation on Climate” was the first event to bring together the Cleveland community in the discussion of environmental injustice and its effects on Cleveland.

“Developing People, Power, and Partnership” was a collaboration hosted by the CWRU Climate Action Network to advance conversations beyond the CWRU academic bubble about the impacts of climate change on our community, particularly in surrounding neighborhoods and Black communities. As a student intern who has been working with the Climate Action Network for quite some time now, finally getting to see the culmination of months of hard work, focus group studies and community connections was incredible.

The event was held in the East Cleveland Public Library (ECPL), a beautiful facility that is definitely underappreciated by the CWRU community. Less than a 10-minute HealthLine ride down Euclid, the ECPL is an original Carnegie library and home to a lovely collection of print and digital media. From the start of the event, various community organizations were tabling in the Icabob Flewellen Room—a beautiful, open glass area featuring historical archives from Icabob Flewellen’s collections and his dream to build an Afro-American museum in Cleveland. Several groups spoke to event attendees about their environmental justice and/or community goals. Some, like the Cleveland Solar Cooperative, focus on helping groups of neighbors with their sustainability projects to support their mission of bringing energy back to the people. Others, like the Neighborhood Advisory Council, were CWRU organizations dedicated to bridging gaps between the university and Cleveland residents. Walking around, I was excited to see many high school students and children of all ages learning about Cleveland’s sustainability initiatives, and some were even there to represent organizations they also were involved in, such as the East Cleveland Parks Association. Around the room and downstairs were several activities for children who were attending, such as a solar powered car activity and spectrometer (that kept me occupied for a while) as well as a book reading for the younger children.

After some mingling throughout lunch and tabling, attendees were ushered into the auditorium to hear from speakers. The keynote guest speaker, Simone Lightfoot, spoke about the importance of developing partnerships with the community and how these relationships mutually benefit both the university and their community partners through achieving common goals. Her speech focused on her with the NAACP, the constant struggles and roadblocks they faced while organizing and the importance of consistent effort from both ends in advancing initiatives that support the Black community.

USG President Amman Spencer also attended the event, and I was happy to hear that this year, USG is also hoping to engage students more with the Greater Cleveland area. He told us, “I believe in the responsibility of higher education institutions such as Case Western not only to use our resources and expertise to forge connections with, uplift, and support their surrounding communities.” As time passes, hopefully there is a culture change on campus, and the days where students are told “don’t go past that bridge!” during Discover Week are over.

The last part of the event featured the Climate Action Network research team on a panel to describe the results of their “Culture Change for Climate Change” focus group studies. Associate Professor Cassi Pittman Claytor of the Department of Sociology provided valuable context of growing up in East Cleveland near the infamous “dump”—a mountain of toxic demolition debris that ended up in the backyards of East Cleveland residents. “One of those neighbors was my babysitter … who lived to be 105,” she recalled. “Can you imagine if you always had a garden, and you’re a 100-year-old woman, and then someone opens up this facility that has all types of construction debris, possibly asbestos, in your backyard?” Her point illustrates the environment’s early and extended ties to the well-being of residents. Dr. Ina Martin and Dr. Cyrus Taylor spoke to the fears and awareness of the impact of climate change that transcend age, gender and socioeconomic background, both from university representatives and community members.

The Q&A session was the most genuine part of the event for me. Residents and students alike engaged in the panel with personal thoughts and questions. One student commented, “It does feel a bit disingenuous to know the administration is supporting genocide that have a real lasting impact on the environment and generations to come … What is Case Western’s responsibility to take action?” Younger audience members asked how children and students still in middle school and high school could contribute to environmental efforts, while an older audience member asked how to bridge the divisions between younger and older generations in combating the climate crisis. All of the voices in the room were passionate and spoke to their lived experiences and desire for change—thus, even though many of these questions were difficult or even impossible to answer, it was reassuring to know that others were concerned and working on the same issues from the grassroots level.

Overall, the event successfully brought students and the off-campus CWRU community, fostering a sense of community in our shared goals of protecting the environment. Although I left feeling as though I still had so many questions to be answered, I was encouraged by the early signs of future partnerships taking shape. After speaking with East Cleveland residents, I have gathered that when the university tries to forget their history with surrounding Black communities, our shared goals will never be met. However, when the university is receptive to building trust and alliances with the community and recognizes the value of advancing the goals of local groups, we have a chance at getting somewhere and uniting together against the climate crisis.