Cara Scharf

To me, climate justice is about being in “right relationship” with the Earth, with nature, and with each other. That relationship is one where each entity is valued equally—where we don’t extract from or deplete each other for our own needs, but instead collaborate to ensure that all beings have what they need to live in harmony. In the climate realm, that looks like using the Earth’s resources just enough to sustain us—food, shelter, water—and doing so in a way that honors and preserves the planet. The work of climate justice is to make sure that our awareness, our attitudes, and our actions all support that vision.

I subscribe to a pedagogy of liberation. I believe that the purpose of education is to raise people’s awareness of injustice and to build the knowledge, skills, values, and motivations needed to make change and create a just world. In the classes I teach, I work to build equitable environments that promote collective learning and community engagement beyond the university. I hope students discover new things about the world from diverse sources—especially from one another—and that these transformative experiences inspire them to take action.

My home office is the Lindy Center for Civic Engagement, where our mission is to support students in learning about, engaging with, and reflecting on social issues to bring about a more just world. While our work isn’t centered on climate justice specifically, we offer general frameworks and skills that help students pursue that work if it aligns with their passions. We also support direct connections to climate justice, like hosting Climate Cafes, partnering with student-led campaigns like Sustainable and Just Futures, and working with groups like Drexel Urban Growers and Engineers Without Borders. Our doors are always open to students, faculty, and staff who care about social change.