Clark community to host daylong climate conversation

Clark University will host “All Together Now,” a daylong, campuswide conversation on politics, economy, social justice, and the climate on Saturday, Sept. 29, in Dana Commons, 36 Maywood St. The event is sponsored by A new Earth conversation, a Clark initiative to transform the work of higher education given the unprecedented challenges of a changing climate. All events are free and open to the public.

The event opens on Friday, September 28, at 7 p.m. with a screening of “I Am Not Your Negro” (2016) in Dana Commons’ Fireside Lounge. A powerful observation of race relations in America, this 90-minute documentary film is based on an unfinished novel by playwright and poet James Baldwin. Dialogue circles will be held after the screening.

Conversations beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday will address the cascading challenges of politics, economy, social justice, and the climate, and how they can be understood as interdependent. The issues first will be addressed separately, as “What is Taking Place and Why?” (9 a.m.); then they will be considered as an interwoven whole, using several case studies (11 a.m.); and finally, conversations will take place on “Where We Go From Here” (3 p.m.).

Climate justice activist the Rev. Mariama White-Hammond and environmental attorney Melissa Hoffer will join Ellen Foley, associate professor of international development and social change, in a keynote conversation at 1:30 p.m. in the Jefferson Academic Center, Room 320. White-Hammond is minister for ecological justice at Bethel AME Church in Jamaica Plain; Hoffer is chief of the Energy and Environmental Bureau in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.

“A new Earth conversation re-envisions the work of higher education for these times,” says Ellen Foley, co-lead convener of the initiative. “Through curricular innovations and the practice of the Council on the Uncertain Human Future, we draw on and extend Clark’s history of integrative thinking on the human/nature relationship to address the unprecedented challenges we face.”

The day’s events are co-sponsored by Clark’s Center for Race, Gender and Area Studies (CGRAS). A detailed schedule of topics to be discussed and a list of discussants is available online, as is a preview of future events sponsored by A new Earth conversation.