Join Diana Hernández for a timely conversation at the intersection of
climate change, energy justice, and public health. Drawing on insights
from her new book, Powerless: The People’s Struggle for Energy (Russell
Sage, 2025), Hernández will reveal how everyday households — especially
in low-income, historically marginalized communities — are navigating
the compounding pressures of rising energy costs, inadequate housing,
and extreme weather.
Hernández’s research centers on the voices and experiences of those
on the frontlines: households enduring unaffordable bills, unreliable
utilities, and dangerous heat with limited protection. This lecture will
unpack how energy insecurity is both a cause and a consequence of
structural inequities and how the fight for energy justice is
inseparable from broader struggles for health, housing, and climate
resilience. Through compelling storytelling, original research, and a
call to action, Hernández will invite the audience to rethink power —
both electrical and political — as we confront rising temperatures and
deepening inequality and to reimagine what it means to build a just
energy future, starting not with technology, but with those most
affected- the people.