Wawa Gatheru, a Kenyan-American climate activist dedicated to making the climate movement more empathetic, inclusive and accessible, kicked off U-M’s inaugural Climate Week on Sept. 29 with a keynote address about creating equitable climate solutions together. 

Gatheru argues that the climate crisis is not an equal opportunity stressor, but rather a threat multiplier that amplifies existing inequities based on race, class and gender. She emphasizes the need to center the voices and experiences of the most vulnerable communities in developing climate solutions.

“Whether it’s education, housing or labor, they’re all climate issues, and climate change is a threat multiplier,” said Gatheru. “It’s a mirror reflecting back all the fractures in our society. What that means is that solving climate change requires us to address the root causes of inequity across systems.”

Gatheru is the founder and executive director of Black Girl Environmentalist (BGE), a national organization empowering Black girls, women and gender expansive people in the climate sector. With over 2,500 members, BGE has been recognized by Forbes as one of the largest Black youth-led organizations in the country. In 2019, Gatheru became the first Black person in history to receive the prestigious Rhodes, Truman and Udall scholarships for her environmental scholarship and activism.

Gatheru’s own personal story and connection to the environment through her family’s farming background shaped her path toward environmental justice work. She highlights the legacy of leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who saw the intersections between racial and environmental justice and provided blueprints for today’s climate work.

To build a more just and equitable climate future, Gatheru said, we must draw on the blueprints and wisdom of past movements and empower the next generation of diverse climate leaders and activists. “The question is, what will we do with the blueprints that we’ve been graciously given?” she asked. “How do we take the torch in ways to sustain the planet and also reimagine what it can eliminate?” 

Gatheru advocates for a concept called “rehearsing revolution” that uses theater, visual arts and storytelling to imagine radical change and prepare for the futures we want to create. This involves embracing narrative change, acknowledging complicated emotions, finding our lanes of impact and practicing daily acts of courage and care.

“I first encountered this idea of rehearsing revolution when I read a book about labor colleges in the early 20th century when I was an undergraduate at the University of Connecticut,” said Gatheru. “These schools funded by unions offered adult education while also preparing workers for activism. They used theater and drama programs as training grounds for students to rehearse scenarios that they would later face in real life. These stages became sites of political imagination. 

“I’ve asked myself since I read that book, what if we treated our own lives this way? What if we used our classrooms, our relationships, our friendships, even our community spaces as rehearsal spaces for the futures that we dream of and that we believe that we deserve?”

Following her talk, Gatheru answered questions from the audience, then joined other members of the U-M community for a Climate Week kickoff event in Ingalls Mall, which included remarks from university, student and community leaders, as well as a clothing swap and brief performances from the Michigan Fanfare Band.