Climate storyteller makes climate justice accessible

As the celebration of Women’s History Month comes to a close at CSB+SJU, climate justice and its accessiblity to everyone was the topic of the Institute for Women Leadership’s (IWL) keynote speaker Wanjiku “Wawa” Gatheru on March 28.

The IWL’s core mission is to empower women to become local and global leaders by engaging them in inclusive dialogue, reflective thinking and value-based leadership that celebrates and recognizes women as shapers of our world. Bringing Gatheru as a speaker does just that. Gatheru is a Kenyan-American climate storyteller passionate about making the climate movement relevant and accessible to everyone. With her background as a Rhodes Scholar and youth climate activist, Gatheru works to bring the topic of climate justice to the mainstream. Gatheru’s goal is to be an effective communicator to a generation of “unlikely” environmentalists and to inspire those frustrated by the lack of intersectionality and climate narratives.

Along with speaking at the IWL event, Gatheru’s visit to CSB included a dinner with campus leaders, classroom visits and engagements with small groups where her goals, ideals, passion and advice were given to students.

“All of these values were really, really ingrained, but the representations of what environmentalism looked like, what you had to do to almost buy your way into it, didn’t align with my experiences,” Gatheru said.

She expressed how she became able to understand the long tradition of Black women and Black friends in the environmental space and in the climate movement around the world having such a unique contribution, but also simultaneously excluded that gave her this inertia into her work and passion. Not only did Gatheru touch on the topic of climate justice and activism, but she also shared her experiences as a first-generation college student and a woman of color.

“It was all a learning process for sure,” Gatheru said. “I would totally burn out but not realize that I was burning out. I wasn’t necessarily taking the time to rest when I should have been prioritizing that. I’ve really had to remind myself to slow down sometimes and remember that it’s important to have community and people who support you.”

Choosing a keynote speaker was no easy task for the IWL, but together the team came to a conclusion as to why Gatheru would be a great fit.

“We had two really important criteria that I saw were really beneficial, even last year. The first one is that she is young, and she resonated with students for that reason. Another was that she had a good social media presence and we could use that to showcase her to students. We wanted these things, and we also wanted someone with intersectional identities, which I think she really demonstrates,” said Julia Geller, IWL student director.

Gatheru fit as a perfect match to speak at the event given what the IWL team was looking for, and she did not disappoint. Her resonation with young students drew them in to find out more about her and encouraged their attendance at this event.

“I had never followed her previously on social media before, but then once they announced the speaker, I wanted to know more about who she was. Wawa stood out to me and seemed interesting, especially with all of her achievements. She was someone I just wanted to get to know,” said Kate Estrada, CSB senior and AIM student director.

The inspiring nature of Gatheru’s personality was reflected strongly in response to what she had to share.

“I got to learn about her through a different context and was able to appreciate and see what she was really passionate about,” SJU sophomore Aubrey Sherman said. “Just hearing the level of passion in her voice and the love for what she does. I think that’s something that is dying, but it’s something really special.”

Sherman also noted how hearing about her experiences and about her intersectional identities was something that he related to.

“Hearing about the ways that she was pushed beyond her boundaries, I related very heavily to that,” Sherman said.

Another key point Gatheru shared was the importance of creating and experiencing joy in your life and the work that you are doing.

“Prioritizing joy isn’t just something to do, you know. Be happy for the sake of it; there is nothing wrong with that. I actually think that should be a requirement. We’re trying to build more opportunities for people to engage in joy,” Gatheru said.

The event was closed out by retouching her goals of advocating for climate justice, women’s empowerment and communication to a generation that is ready to inspire. She reminds us the movements are there and are happening, and that the journey is far from over.

“We will never give up; that’s not our nature,” Gatheru said.