For Our Common Home Lecture Series

Spring 2026

February 3 - Emergent Horizons: A Generational Strategy “At Work in the Ruins” of U.S. Democracy to Revitalize Environmental Law

Speaker: Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, Executive Director, Western Environmental Law Center

We are “at work in the ruins” of U.S. democracy. This is a provocative assertion. But it is one increasingly difficult to dispute given the collision of political, social, economic, and ecological crises that U.S. institutions and systems have helped accelerate and failed to remedy. Bedrock environmental laws have withered as a result, compelling us to now seek new paths that lead us away from the ruins of what was to the promise of what can be: A thriving western U.S., abundant with protected and interconnected ecosystems, powered by renewable energy, and cared for by communities brought together in an ecology of kinship. This effort—which we call Emergent Horizons—is our enduring commitment to serve as a pathfinder and spark a movement-wide effort to revitalize the domain of environmental law.

About the speaker: Erik Schlenker-Goodrich is the executive director of the Western Environmental Law Center, working from Taos, New Mexico. He is a seasoned litigator and policy advocate at the federal and state level whose work centers on the protection of ecological resilience and a just transition from fossil fuels. Erik is a graduate of Cornell University with a B.S. in natural resources and concentration in American Indian Studies. He earned his law degree and a certificate in environmental & natural resources law from the University of Oregon School of Law.

February 24 - Holding to our Values in a Changing Climate

Speaker: Dave Upthegrove, Commissioner of Public Lands, Washington Department of Natural Resources

As climate change accelerates, we must constantly adapt and re-evaluate our methods and practices. But what can't change is our commitment to our values—democracy, justice, and sustainability. In this lecture, Commissioner Upthegrove will discuss ways that the Department of Natural Resources is working to defend Washington's public lands, waters, and forests in the face of climate change and new threats from the other Washington.

About the speaker:  Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove has dedicated his career to serving the public and defending the lands, waters, and forests of Washington State. After studying environmental science and energy policy in college and graduate school, Dave began his career in public service by representing the working-class suburbs of South King County in the Washington House of Representatives. Following his time in the statehouse, Dave was elected to King County Council, where he served for 12 years, including three as Chair. In January, he made history, becoming the first out LGBTQ statewide executive in Washington's history.

March 3 - Environmental and Climate Law and Policy in the Inland Northwest

Speakers: Vanessa Waldref and Dan Fruchter

Two former leaders at the Department of Justice speak about their transition from public service to private practice and leading the Gonzaga’s newly established Environmental and Climate Law Clinic. Today, the need to use the full spectrum of available tools, to build partnerships amongst stakeholders, and to act on a community and local level is more important than ever. Drawing on decades of litigation and enforcement experience, Dan and Vanessa will speak to how the next generation of legal advocates can utilize the full spectrum of legal and advocacy tools—ranging from litigation and administrative law to community-based strategies and policy development—to protect the environment and public health.

About the Speakers: 

Vanessa Waldref is Co-Director of Gonzaga's Environmental and Climate Law Clinic and a partner and founding member of Singleton Schreiber’s Washington office, where she leads litigation on behalf of plaintiffs, focused on wildfire and environmental litigation and protecting whistleblowers and employees. In 2021, she was presidentially appointed as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, where she was the first woman to hold the role. During her tenure, she co-launched the region’s Environmental Task Force, led national efforts on environmental justice, built strong partnerships with federal, state, local, and Tribal law enforcement to make communities safer and more resilient. A leader within the Department of Justice on Native American issues, Vanessa worked closely with Tribal Nations to support Tribal sovereignty, protect treaty rights and Tribal lands, reduce violent crime on reservations, and address the crisis of Missing or Murdered Indigenous People. Passionate about mentoring the next generation of lawyers, she has taught Environmental Law, Labor and Employment Law, and Conflict of Laws at Gonzaga University School of Law. She is known for connecting legal education to lived experience and training students to use the law as a tool for social justice.

Dan Fruchter is Co-Director of Gonzaga's Environmental and Climate Law Clinic, and a founding member of Singleton Schreiber's Washington Office, as well as Managing Partner of the firm's Whistleblower & False Claims Act Practice Group. Dan focuses his work on representing and advocating on behalf of individuals and communities harmed by wildfires, environmental violations, and fraud against consumers and government programs. Dan joined Singleton Schreiber in 2025 after a 21-year career of public service, during which he prosecuted fraud, environmental violations, civil rights, and other complex civil and criminal matters with the United States Department of Justice. From 2021 to 2025, Dan served as the Chief of the Fraud & White-Collar Crime Section of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Washington, where he co-launched the first ever federal Environmental Enforcement Task Force in Eastern Washington, and built a nationally-recognized fraud practice focused on serving the community and holding powerful corporate and individual wrongdoers accountable. Dan has worked with law and undergraduate students for decades, including by co-leading the nationally-recognized law clerk program in Eastern Washington, which gives GU Law students the opportunity to investigate, litigate, and try felony and misdemeanor criminal cases and high-stakes civil matters alongside dedicated career AUSAs.

March 26 - Structural Design of Lightweight Architecture: Reimagining the Built Environment

Speaker: Dr. Joshua Schultz, Gonzaga University Associate Professor of Civil Engineering

Humans in the US spend approximately 90% of their lives in buildings. The building industry is considered one of the largest generators of solid waste globally (producing an estimated 1/3 of total global waste). Concrete production alone accounts for 8% of annual global CO₂ emissions. Clearly, the built environment plays a significant role in shaping our world, influencing not only how we live but also the health of our planet. In the face of climate change, resource scarcity, and rapid urbanization, the need for innovative, sustainable approaches to construction has never been more urgent. Lightweight architecture offers a transformative solution, emphasizing efficiency, adaptability, and environmental responsibility in structural design. This talk explores the impact of the built environment and role of design, architecture and engineering in developing sustainable solutions. Through case studies and emerging research, we will examine how these concepts are being applied to reimagine urban landscapes, reduce energy consumption, and promote circular economies in construction. By blending engineering ingenuity with environmental awareness, this talk invites students, architects, engineers, and policymakers to envision a future where our buildings are not only lighter on the earth but also catalysts for positive change.

About the speaker:  Joshua Schultz, PhD, PE, LEED AP is an associate professor at Gonzaga University. He specializes in structural optimization, façade design, mass timber and lightweight architecture. Joshua is a licensed engineer and holds bachelor, master and doctorate degrees in architectural and structural engineering. Prior to entering academia, Joshua worked at Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM) in the Chicago, IL. He maintains consulting activities as Technical Director at Vaagen Timbers and Senior Structural Engineer at Siegel Structural Engineers. Joshua also serves on PRG 320 North American Timber Committee, NA Mass Timber Technical Committee, WA Mass Timber Accelerator and ASTM Structural Use of Glass in Buildings. His forthcoming book, Structural Design of Lightweight Architecture, (Routledge 2026) focuses on the nexus of advanced structural design, lightweight architecture, and sustainability.

April 7 - A Conversation with Terry Tempest Williams

Speaker: Terry Tempest Williams

Join us as award-winning writer Terry Tempest Williams shares a short reading from her celebrated works, followed by an interview and moderated discussion. Engage with the community on the topics of climate change as a moral and social justice issue, the role of imagination and creativity in ecological restoration, the art and craft of writing and reading well, and how environmental stewardship intersects with human dignity and global solidarity.

About the speaker: Terry Tempest Williams is an award-winning author, environmentalist, and activist widely recognized for her eloquent advocacy on behalf of environmental justice and freedom of speech. Her work explores the intersection of ecological issues with social justice, ethics, and spirituality. Williams is the author of numerous influential books, including Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, The Hour of Land, and Erosion: Essays of Undoing. She currently serves as Writer-in-Residence at Harvard Divinity School and co-founded the Constellation Project, which promotes imagination and creativity in planetary health.

Williams has testified before Congress, collaborated with artists and photographers on projects addressing environmental and cultural resilience, and received prestigious honors such as the Sierra Club’s John Muir Award and the Thoreau Prize. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Orion Magazine, making her a leading voice for ecological consciousness and social change.

April 13 - Divestment as Mission Fidelity: Catholic Fossil Fuel Divestment

Speakers: Daniel Dileo and Erin Lothes

Catholic institutions are called to advance God's kingdom of justice, peace, and sustainability. To live this mission faithfully, the Catholic Church has recognized human-caused climate change as an urgent moral issue and repeatedly urged its institutions to divest from fossil fuels. Although the Vatican has divested to lead by example, many Catholic institutions are slow to take this action. This presentation will outline the theological foundations of fossil fuel divestment, address misperceptions about this commitment, and provide concrete strategies for those who feel called to organize and advocate for this action. The presentation will draw from the speakers' observations of successful Catholic divestment efforts at Creighton University and the Catholic Theological Society of America. It will also suggest that fossil fuel divestment should never occur in isolation, but always be complemented by institutional commitments to science-based greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

About the speakers: 

Daniel R. DiLeo, PhD is an assistant professor and director of the Justice and Peace Studies Program at Creighton University. He specializes in Catholic social teaching and climate change, with focus on Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’ and Laudate Deum. In 2022, he co-authored the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA) ad hoc Fossil Fuel Divestment Review Committee Report and chaired the Climate Justice Committee that enacted the CTSA’s divestment commitment. He is also a member of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities’ Laudato Si’ Commission and authored recommendations for how schools can take climate action aligned with their Catholic, Jesuit mission. Since 2009, Dr. DiLeo has served as consultant with Catholic Climate Covenant of which the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is a founding member. He earned his PhD in theological ethics and Master of Theological Studies from Boston College and his BA in sociology from Cornell University (magna cum laude).

Erin Lothes, Ph.D., is a Catholic theologian and author of Inspired Sustainability: Planting Seeds for Action (Orbis 2016) and The Paradox of Christian Sacrifice:The Loss of Self, The Gift of Self (2007), as well as many articles on faith-based environmentalism, divestment, and energy ethics.  Dr. Lothes was an associate professor of theology for ten years, and has been a long-time collaborator with many faith-based environmental coalitions such as the Catholic Climate Covenant, GreenFaith, the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale, and the Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary, where she is presently a visiting scholar. Most recently, she has written a commentary to introduce the Orbis Books paper publication of Pope Francis's apostolic exhortation, Laudate Deum. 

April 20 - AI, Climate Change, and Energy Demand

Speakers: David Sandalow and Joshua Basofin

The Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment and the Institute for Informatics and Applied Science will co-host a public panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities of addressing climate change in an era of rapid development and deployment of artificial intelligence. Is it possible to meet our decarbonization and renewable energy goals while satisfying the intense energy demands of AI data centers? Can we have responsible AI and address the climate crisis?

About the speakers: 

David Sandalow is the Inaugural Fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) and Co-Director of the Energy and Environment Concentration at the School of International and Public Affairs. He leads CGEP’s U.S.-China Program and chairs the ICEF Innovation Roadmap Project, guiding global strategies on topics such as artificial intelligence for climate mitigation, industrial decarbonization, and carbon removal. Sandalow is the lead author of the Artificial Intelligence for Climate Change Mitigation Roadmap (2024) and Guide to Chinese Climate Policy (2022), and writes extensively on energy and climate issues. Previously, he served in senior roles at the White House, State Department, and U.S. Department of Energy, including Acting Under Secretary and Assistant Secretary for Policy & International Affairs. He has been a Senior Fellow at Brookings and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University. Sandalow is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Zayed Sustainability Prize Selection Committee, and serves on corporate boards. He holds degrees from Yale College and the University of Michigan Law School.

Joshua Basofin works to advance clean energy policies in Oregon, including implementation of HB 2021, the state’s groundbreaking clean energy law. Joshua also works in coalitions to identify clean energy pathways for industry, seek consensus on siting and permitting of renewable energy facilities, and extend the benefits of our clean energy transition to rural parts of Oregon. Joshua has held many roles in the environmental field. He began his career working in conservation with a focus on freshwater fisheries, marine protected areas, deserts, and wetlands. He spent several years as a sustainability advisor for businesses. Joshua also served as the first Director of Climate Action for Parliament of the World’s Religions, the oldest interfaith organization in the US. Joshua is particularly interested in the intersections within the environmental movement where coalitions of advocates, businesses, faiths, and communities can be created. Joshua holds a BA in English and Environmental Studies and a JD with a concentration in environmental law. In his free time, Joshua enjoys backpacking, kayaking, cooking, gardening, and volunteering with organizations focused on sustainable food and access to nature.