At Seattle University, Earth Month is not a passive mark on the calendar, but a month fueled by the opportunity to grow and educate one another about environmental justice and climate change. 

With multiple events throughout April, Seattle U offered a variety of platforms and experiences for students and faculty to take part in Earth Month. KXSU’s Earth Month e-waste drive, Earth Month at Redhawk Dining and PNW hikes with UREC Outdoors were some of the many opportunities to stay involved through the entire month. 

Earth Month at Seattle U is a time to foster the growth of student and faculty commitment to environmental awareness, action and justice. 

One key event was hosted by Law Professor Thomas Antkowiak. He hosted a Zoom webinar April 16 as part of the “Organizing and Advocacy for Justice” virtual speaker series. The panel included multiple guests, including Abby Reyes, the director of community resilience projects at UC Irvine, who just released “Truth Demands,” a book about the loss of her partner, Terence Freitas, when she was just out of college. Freitas and two others were supporting an Indigenous community resisting a U.S.-based oil company. This story, which took place 25 years ago, only recently gained an outcome of justice in the courts. 

Reyes expressed excitement in the opportunity to have this conversation in a student environment with Antkowiak’s webinar. 

“My main point in telling this story—especially in a student setting—is that if we follow the leadership of frontline communities, if we figure out how to be in right relationship with their visions of a collective future, even when we don’t yet know what strategies will lead to the outcomes we want, the journey is worth it,” Reyes said. “Especially when we get glimmers like this—of victory, even decades later.”

At first glance, Earth Month may seem a symbolic time to reflect on the planet and its resources, but Reyes takes it a step further. 

“We are in a call to action—collectively. The invitation, both in the book and here in this conversation, is to consider what it would really take to honor that connection we feel to the Earth. Even if it shows up in a thin way—like a photo of a hike—it’s still rooted in something real and essential about our reason for being here,” Reyes said.

“What does it take to move us into becoming the kind of people who understand that our role right now, as humans, is to act in defense of the Earth—because we are part of the Earth? We are the Earth defending itself,” Reyes shared. 

Antkowiak also expressed his belief in students’ role to be the voice of climate justice and all the other issues it bleeds into. 

“I believe that students need to become fully aware of the grave threats that transnational corporations pose to human rights and the environment,” Antkowiak said. “In my own work, I have seen such corporations form alliances with criminal organizations and kill indigenous leaders and rights advocates. Living in the U.S., we have more access to these powerful corporations, many of which have offices here. We need to raise our voices, exert our influence, and insist that they are held accountable.”  

Antkowiak believes that corporations can be held accountable in many ways, including through public shaming, social media, protest, divestment and criminal investigations. He explained that in order to make real change, the environmental justice movement relies on young people to carry on the work.

Events like this webinar help Seattle U go beyond just building an appreciation for the planet and address the larger climate and social issues that affect us all collectively. 

Another major event in Seattle U’s Earth Month celebrations is Earth Talks. Earth Talks is an annual collaborative effort between faculty and students that aims to enable people   to reflect on a “care for our common home.”

Jamie Cho, Seattle U’s director of public education in the Beloved Community Initiative, looked at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s idea of “Beloved Community,” which states that we belong to a “world house” as a counter-narrative to the isolation that makes it difficult to address social issues. Cho connected the idea to the struggle for climate and environmental justice.

“His message of beloved community centers care, connection and love as powerful forces. When we talk about Earth Day, we often focus on surface-level messages like ‘save the trees’ or ‘protect the polar bears,’ which are important. But I don’t see as much empathy for people, especially those most affected by climate change, like Black and brown communities in the Global South,” Cho said.  

Cho’s program—the Beloved Community Initiative, a three-year initiative funded by the Gates Foundation, has partnered with eight public and charter schools in the Seattle area.  

“We’re using Dr. King’s concept of beloved community and Shiree Teng’s dimensions of love—love for self, others, community and love infused with power—to guide professional development for educators,” Cho said.

Each of the eight schools will work with students and families to create their own beloved community project and in the end the program will host a festival with a documentary they will have produced and an art showcase. 

“It’s a creative project, but also a counter-narrative to the idea that public education is only struggling. We want to show that transformative, justice-driven education rooted in lived experiences is happening,” Cho said.

Jennifer Bodley, an assistant librarian at Seattle U, presented on how librarians’ roles help build students’ information literacy to help sift through misinformation in a climate crisis. 

Bodley shared her thoughts on information literacy and its connection to environmental justice awareness. 

“I think it’s super important to be an engaged, information consumer,” Bodley said. “I always use the metaphor of a baby bird with its mouth open, just accepting whatever is being fed to it. That’s what it’s like when we’re just consuming content without engagement… So I think information literacy is actually part of environmental activism. Being aware of how you consume and evaluate content is an active step in resisting misinformation and making informed choices.” 

Information and media literacy isn’t just a skill, but a vital tool in taking part in environmental activism. Bodley highlights how librarians at Seattle U empower students to navigate misinformation and take informed action in the face of any climate crisis. 

Earth Talks also featured student speakers, helping them find meaningful ways to participate in the conversation revolving around our climate. 

Jenikka Cruz, a third-year art and visual culture studies major at Seattle U, was one of the students involved in creating the animal sculptures outside of the 1103 building. The animal sculptures are a product of ecological art, which is all about using recycled and reclaimed materials and then the connection between the materials, changing seasons, people and nature. 

When it comes to her art in general, she always thinks about how the environment influences the materials used. 

“For our 3D sculptures, my professor, Trung Pham collaborated with mail services. They saved wood pallets, and he also went to construction sites to ask for unused materials. The idea is just using what you have and seeing what you can create—there’s no need to buy expensive supplies if it’s not necessary,” Cruz said.

Cruz’s artwork reflects a different approach to sustainability than your average recycling, and shows how art can creatively repurpose the materials we are surrounded by. 

Sophia Hampton, a fourth-year environmental studies and public affairs double major, has focused on rural communities in relation to the environmental policy conversation, as they are the least likely to support climate policy. 

“[Rural communities are] very overrepresented in our federal government due to the structure of the Electoral College and the Senate. So their opinions, their behavior on the ballot, really influence environmental policy in our country,” Hampton said.

Hampton is interested in learning how to better engage with rural communities as they are more vulnerable to extreme risks of the climate crisis due to the existing inequities around health, poverty rates, limited access to infrastructure and their reliance on agriculture for economic vitality. 

She discussed the importance of using language to frame environmental policy around financial benefits in conversation with rural communities that tend to be more Republican. 

“Republicans are generally more critical or disbelieving of the climate crisis, so using language they perceive as politically charged can actually be ineffective, even if the messaging seems apolitical,” Hampton said. “So, focusing more on financial and health benefits can be an effective way to still talk about a policy while also respecting how people frame and understand these issues. It’s about meeting them where they’re at, instead of coming solely from our own environmental perspective.” 

Hampton’s focus on bringing the conversation of climate to communities often left out reflects a commitment to empathy and open communication. The natural connection between nature and humans could be a foundation for building trust and bridging divides in the mission to address the climate crisis. 

While most of the month has passed, there is still time to actively be a part of Earth Month at Seattle U. Dr. Robert B. Bullard is giving a lecture Saturday, April 26 titled “Quest for Environmental Justice: The Challenge and Promise.” Some other upcoming events include the Cadence Festival, also on Saturday, as well as plant potting with the Bellarmine Hall resident assistants. 

Whether you’re looking to hear some inspirational words about environmental justice or actively get your hands in the dirt, there are many ways to still celebrate Earth Month.