Jesse Ballenger

Climate justice begins with recognition that responsibility for the climate crisis and the experience of its impacts are differentially distributed. This differential distribution reflects historical legacies of colonialism, racism, misogyny, and class conflict that have produced injustices in every area and at every level of human organization. From this recognition, it follows that climate action must focus on more than technical issues and take care to address and not deepen disparities of power and privilege. In terms of education, it means that teaching about climate change should be broadly interdisciplinary, with a vital role for the humanities and social sciences.

I am a historian of medicine, and my publications have been on the history of dementia and aging. I have taught bioethics and health humanities in the Health Administration Department for 10 years, and taught in Penn State University’s Science, Technology, and Society program for 10 years before that. For most of that time, my primary teaching responsibilities have been required courses in history, ethics, and the humanities for students in STEM or pre-clinical health profession majors. I have known many colleagues who complain about teaching such courses out of a belief that students are uninterested in the subject and uncommitted if not hostile to the enterprise of humanistic learning. But I have always viewed such courses as the most important and exciting to teach because they provide the opportunity to make the biggest difference in students’ lives.

Outside of the classroom, I have worked on a couple of educational initiatives in the College of Nursing and Health Professions related to global health and climate justice. In 2022, as a follow-up to Drexel’s climate action year, I helped to develop a discussion series on climate justice in short fiction that focused on global health and issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion for CNHP faculty, staff, and students. Last year, for CNHP’s global perspectives committee, I helped plan a series of four webinars on climate action for an audience of the CNHP community and its global partners. Beyond Drexel, I have been involved with the PA chapter of Interfaith Power and Light, a national network of faith communities committed to climate action and climate justice.