Unequal Impact: Climate and Environmental Racism in a Warming World

As climate change continues to increase in intensity, the economic and health disparities are being born by poor and marginalized communities, both globally and locally. Join us for a 90-minute webinar featuring the Rev. Dr. Gerald Durley, civil rights activist, former pastor, and current Chairperson for Interfaith Power & Light, and Jehann El-Bisi, a Black indigenous climate activist working to fight Line 3, an oil tar sands pipeline. Rev. Durley and Ms. El-Bisi will discuss the disparate impact and unique experiences of Black and indigenous communities in the climate crisis. This free webinar is co-sponsored by Interreligious Eco-Justice Network and Hartford Seminary.

About the Speakers

REV. DR. GERALD DURLEY was born in Wichita, Kansas. He grew up in California and graduated from high school in Denver, Colorado. Being endowed with exceptional basketball skills and a deep interest in improving the civil and human rights of African Americans, Dr. Durley chose to leave the west and venture south to Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee.

While earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology, playing on a championship basketball team, and serving as student government president, he became very active in the civil rights movement. After graduating, Dr. Durley became one of the first Peace Corp volunteers to enter Nigeria, West Africa. From Africa he ventured to Switzerland where he enrolled in postgraduate studies at the University of Neuchantel. While there, he was invited to play for one of the Swiss National basketball teams.

When he returned to the United States, Dr. Durley enrolled in Northern Illinois University where he again became intensely involved in the struggle for human dignity, and earned one of the first Master’s Degrees in Community Mental Health. He earned a Doctorate in Urban Education and Psychology from University of Massachusetts and a Master of Divinity from Howard University.

Dr. Durley is the former Pastor of Providence Missionary Baptist Church, where he served for 25 years. Currently the Chairperson of Interfaith Power & Light, Rev. Durley is a highly sought speaker on civil and human rights issues. He and his wife, Muriel, have 2 children and 4 grandchildren.

JEHANN EL-BISI has an earned doctorate from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and an advanced graduate summer program certificate in the study of conflict zones, and transformation, from SIT Graduate School in Brattleboro, VT. She served on the faculty as an adjunct professor, teaching Multicultural Education at the Neag Graduate School of Education, at the University of Connecticut, at Storrs. Jehann completed her first 30 min documentary film, The River Cried, “Mni W’Coni!”- Service and Solidarity in Standing Rock, a personal reflection in 2017, and has been giving talks related to climate justice, from an indigenous perspective, using the film as an educational tool. Her second film, Reflections: An Interview with Lenny Foster, is currently airing on San Francisco public television.