Recap: Climate Justice Week

Illustration by Lia Keener

As countries, industries, and people around the world transition into an eco-friendly economy, and as the climate crisis continues to adversely affect health, housing, and food security, it is vital to wrestle with the social impacts of such changes.

From Monday, October 25 to Friday, October 29 the Student Environmental Resource Center (SERC) hosted Climate Justice Week to educate students about the intersectionality of social justice and climate change. SERC was founded in 2012 to serve as a center for the UC Berkeley student environmental and sustainability community.

Climate Justice Week has been an annual event since 2018, and this year kicked off with a presentation about the social and environmental impact of lithium ion batteries. Lithium ion batteries are an important component of many technologies including phones, electric cars, and backup generators. Lithium ion batteries are constructed from lithium-ore mining and cobalt mining. They are faster to recharge and last longer than typical batteries, but their production also has devastating consequences on the communities who mine them and live near their disposal sites. The presenters shared that one man living in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a large amount of cobalt is mined, said that the pollution from the mines had polluted nearby waterways to such an extent that “when it rains, it hurts to breathe.”

On Tuesday, attendees of Climate Justice Week had the opportunity to volunteer with the Herbicide Free Berkeley club for weeding. Later in the day, the UC Green New Deal Coalition held an Anti-Cogeneration Power Plant Meeting from 5:30-6:30 in preparation for their march on Friday. The event was held in ASUC Student Union bNorth Building SERC Space.

Students continued to explore environmental justice on Wednesday. The Pour Out Pepsi club, a student effort to eliminate UC Berkeley’s contract with Pepsico, hosted a documentary viewing of “The Garden” from 5pm-7pm.

For those undergraduates interested in connecting with UC Berkeley alumni in the environmental field, an online “Fireside Chat” was held from 5:30-7:30pm. The chat began with a question-and-answer session. During the session, Louis Spanias ’14, a Society and Environment major, shared that there is “no one path to success” and to remember that “mental health comes first”. Gary Gao ’12, an Environmental Science major, who went on to complete a master’s program for Environmental management at Duke, assured attendees that life after graduating college “doesn’t mean you’re not learning.” You continue to learn from the subjects and people around you. The Q&A was followed by breakout rooms for more individualized questions and advice. 

The climate emergency is consistently on activists’ minds, and to address how the vast amounts of depressing news related to the crisis may be affecting people, an Eco Anxiety workshop was held 12-1pm on Wednesday in the ASUC Student Union bNorth Building Room 82D. 

Later in the day, people were encouraged to participate in another Herbicide Free Berkeley Weeding Day, from 1-4pm, where students weeded out the area near the Berkeley West building while listening to fun music and engaging in friendly conversation. The day continued with a ZeroWaste x Glad Rags Menstrual Products Event from 5:30-6:30pm on Zoom. 

Afterwards, the Green New Deal coalition at UC Berkeley held a poster-making session from 7pm to about 8:30, where people created signs protesting against the use of UC Berkeley’s cogeneration plant, a natural gas-based energy system, in preparation for the anti-cogen rally the next day. The ElectrifyUC website states that the activists are seeking the implementation of an electric boiler. This would entail the purchase of clean electricity “from PG&E both for use by buildings and to power the electric boiler, which would make steam to distribute through the existing steam lines.”

Friday was given a lively start with the UC Green New Deal March from 3-5PM at Upper Sproul Plaza. The week closed with a game night in the SERC space. Students enjoyed conversation, an environmental justice themed kahoot, and games of Scrabble and Clue in a light hearted atmosphere.