there we were, hiking through the vast wilderness, or standing on the shores of remote beaches, or floating near the bases of staggering glaciers — and, yet, we didn’t feel separate from these unfamiliar surroundings. humbled; inspired; overwhelmed? absolutely. but not separate.

on the final day of our expedition, lindblad naturalist tim martin led a hike into the old growth forest of chichagof island. throughout our time in alaska, i’d had a camera in hand, filming our adventures and interviewing our planet forward cohort about the experience, with the intention of editing this very film upon our return. yet, we were warned that this particular hike was for those looking for a challenge and, sure enough, i found myself tucking my camera away in my pack to free two hands to brace myself on treacherous terrain and uncleared trails.

i nervously climbed up a steep, soily incline, steadied by the reaching hands of my human companions and the strong roots of the trees above. once at the top, we embarked deeper into the forest and tim stumbled upon a small, yellowish-green animal on the mossy floor. never one to pass up a teaching moment, tim picked up the banana slug and, at my request, handed it to me.

at first coiled into itself, the slug began to unwind once in my palm, revealing its four sensing tentacles and angling them directly toward me. i looked into the face of this seemingly alien creature, startlingly aware that, as it oozed protective mucus onto my hand, it saw an equally alien face looking back.

i beamed with pure joy.

in a time when so much of my life has been mediated through screens and one way interactions, when so much of my attention is pulled away from reality and toward something else, someplace else, the glance of this tiny, slimy being delivered a message. it said, “you are not a spectator on this planet. you, too, are part of the show.”

throughout our time in alaska, i got the sense that each of the storyfest winners had had their own parallel experiences: interactions with the landscape, its non-human inhabitants, and our human guides and companions, that viscerally reminded them of the ways in which we are all connected — the ways in which all of our actions are never truly ours, as their impacts stretch outward in ways we as individuals can never comprehend.

this, of course, is why we tell stories. we share experiences through stories with a deep knowledge that, in fact, all experiences are already shared.

will these heightened moments of connection with the earth and with each other, shared through stories, save our planet? 

no — but they remind us we have no choice but to keep trying.

––

editor’s note: lindblad expeditions, our planet forward storyfest competition partner, made this series possible by providing winners with an experiential learning opportunity aboard one of their ships. all editorial content is created independently. we thank lindblad expeditions for their continued support of our project. read all the stories from the expedition in our astonishing alaska series.

during the week of oct. 11, 655 people were arrested in washington, d.c., while participating in indigenous-led “people vs. fossil fuels” demonstrations. organizers demanded that president biden declare a climate emergency and cease approvals of new fossil fuel projects. indigenous activists occupied the bureau of indian affairs, demanding 110 million acres of stolen land be restored to native nations. the d.c. chapter of the direct action group extinction rebellion tweeted footage of an activist spraying the stairs of the chamber of commerce with an oil-like substance, alleging that the institution “used its power for years to deny climate change.” and on oct. 20, five young people announced they were going on a hunger strike to demand that president biden meet his climate justice promises –– and that the reconciliation bill be passed with provisions to cut u.s. emissions in half by 2030.

as a young person working in climate communication, i hear a lot of thoughtful conversations about how to convert climate change deniers into science believers. yet, when i learn about mobilizations like these, i don’t see a cultural struggle for “hearts and minds,” but a material struggle for power. and i wonder if by emphasizing the beliefs of individuals, rather than the heft possessed by institutions, we overlook a different strain of mistrust.

the united states has a record of climate denial –– from the obvious (like president trump telling the secretary of california’s natural resources agency, “i don’t think science knows, actually.”) to the insidious (like big oil crafting curricula to be taught in k-12 schools). yet, even here, 70% of the population believes that climate change is happening, according to this year’s installment of “climate change in the american mind.” the survey even reports that a majority of americans, 60%, think that the trend of “global warming” is human caused! in 2020 the american people elected a president who avowed his belief in science on the campaign trail. he signified that belief by appointing a science advisor to his cabinet. he even had the u.s. rejoin the paris climate agreement –– the international agreement reached at the 2015 u.n. climate conference, which the u.s. pulled out from under president trump.

so, why do climate activists persist? hasn’t majority belief steered us away from the path of catastrophic warming? 

not quite.

in september, u.n. climate change published a nationally determined contributions (ndc) synthesis report; that is, a report that assessed the climate commitments of each of the 191 nations signed on to the paris agreement. when evaluated in conjunction, these plans suggest a path to a roughly 16% increase in greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 as compared to 2010. such a path leads to a global temperature increase of 2.7 degrees celsius by the end of the century –– nearly twice the agreement’s “ideal” goal of 1.5 degrees c.

but the u.s.’s science-believing leadership is holding the line to curb emissions, right? 

well.

this may, the international energy agency published a report finding that to travel the road toward net-zero emissions by 2050 –– the road on which we have a chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees c –– investment in “new fossil fuel supply projects” needs to end now. yet, two months later, the associated press reported that approvals for oil and gas permits on public lands were on track to reach year-end numbers unseen since george w. bush’s presidency. despite biden’s campaign promise to end new drilling on public land, the department of interior approved more than 2,100 permits to drill on public and tribal lands in the first six months of biden’s presidency.

protesting outside of the white house this month, veteran water protector joye braun of the indigenous environmental network let the president know that his actions have not gone unnoticed.

“you made promises to the indigenous communities across this land that you were going to uphold,” she said. “but you haven’t upheld those promises. you’ve been speaking with a forked tongue, just like that one that was before you.”

braun directed her words at president biden, but her meaning resonates beyond. nearly 70% of young people say that governments can’t be trusted, according to a recent survey of 10,000 16- to 25-year-olds in 10 countries. across populations, 65% of young people said that governments’ response to climate change is failing them. american youth’s trust in government is the lowest of all.

leaders may believe science, but my generation doesn’t believe leaders.

“build back better. blah, blah, blah. green economy. blah blah blah. net zero by 2050. blah, blah, blah,” greta thunberg said last month at the youth4climate summit in italy. “this is all we hear from our so-called leaders. words that sound great but so far have not led to action. our hopes and ambitions drown in their empty promises.”

these words may sound harsh, but to me they are a sign of optimism. climate organizers know that solutions exist, if those in power have the courage and creativity to implement them. progress is possible, but it’s not guaranteed. 

i am only 23, but i am old enough for the long line of inaction to hit me in cresting waves of deja vu. that tide engulfed me recently as i watched a clip of american student anjali appadurai addressing leaders at cop17 on behalf of youth non-governmental organizations in 2011. ten years ago appadurai told leaders, “you’ve been negotiating all my life.” ten years ago she said, “you’ve failed to meet pledges, you’ve missed targets, and you’ve broken promises.”

“the international energy agency tells us we have five years until the window to avoid irreversible climate change closes,” appadurai, then a student at the college of the atlantic, said. “the science tells us that we have five years maximum. you’re saying, ‘give us 10.’ the most stark betrayal of your generation’s responsibility to ours is that you call this ‘ambition.’”

those 10 years are up. the window to avoid irreversible damage has passed. the time for bold, decisive action has not. as i tune in to the events of cop26, i will be looking for something my peers and i can believe in. i’m not talking about science. i’m talking about leadership.

—

about the author:

victoria middleton is a writer, editor, and multimedia producer who serves as planet forward’s digital editor. victoria started at planet forward as an intern in the summer of 2019 –– a semester before she completed her b.a. in journalism and mass communication and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies –– and stuck around to become a full-time member of the team.  she’s most interested in stories that illuminate how climate connects to human elements of life, especially justice, labor, and food. though she loves doing media production work, her favorite part of working at planet forward is engaging with students, seeing them grow as storytellers, and growing along with them.

— 

editor’s note: please check back every day, leading up to the beginning of cop26 on oct. 31, for new pieces from climate leaders in the planet forward network.

in recent months, that gap in understanding has become increasingly apparent. twenty-one states, including arkansas, have introduced or passed legislation to ban “critical race theory” in public schools, according to the hill. this has corresponded with a ring-wing media fixation on the academic framework, which calls attention to the impacts of systemic racism. if enforced, these laws could discourage teachers from telling students about racial inequities in the united states, including in the distribution of environmental burdens.

for the predominantly indigenous attendees at the gathering, held digitally from may 20-21, knowledge of the continuing impact of colonization comes by lived experience. marty matlock, chair of the environmental protection commission of the cherokee nation, executive director of the university of arkansas resiliency center, professor, and cherokee citizen, and summer wilkie, university of arkansas indigenous student coordinator, arranged the gathering to discuss solutions to the ongoing challenges faced by native people in relationship to the environment and to academic institutions.

on land

the first of four sessions focused on environmental and land-based projects. moderated by matlock, the panel incorporated the environmental insights of osage citizen jann hayman, choctaw citizen ryan spring, and cherokee citizens rebecca jim and clint carroll. for the indigenous communities represented, the global challenge of climate change is amplified by the legacy of displacement by the u.s. government.

“two of our communities represented here — choctaw, cherokee — and many others — were relocated 150 years ago,” matlock said. “so we’re on new lands effectively for our communities and we’re trying to figure out how to live on those new lands and bring life from those new lands and put our life back into new lands.”

ryan spring, who works in the choctaw nation historic preservation department and specializes in gis geographic data, expanded on this point.

“from a traditional choctaw perspective, our people were to be stewards of the land and have a relationship with the flora and the fauna that we lived beside,” spring said. “and we’re not able to do that anymore, being removed from our lands, coming here to lands that were ancestral to other people.”

and, in addition to the challenges tied to relocation, over the past 150 years, climate change and environmental pollution have caused their new land, and the resources on it, to change.

matlock recalled the analogy, “if climate change is the shark, water is its teeth.” those teeth come in many shapes. according to spring, in choctaw nation in southeastern oklahoma, water can’t be absorbed by the degraded soil. in osage nation to choctaw’s north, hayman noted a lack of drinkable water. in ottawa county in northeastern oklahoma, jim has spent decades calling attention to the contamination of tar creek, where the lead-laden waters run orange due to the toxic remnants of ore mining.

“in the northeast tribes in ottawa county, when it floods, it floods toxic water,” said jim, who now serves as executive director of the environmental justice organization lead agency. “and as it spills over, it contaminates the land that could’ve been great gardens.”

tar creek is a federal superfund site, meaning it is recognized by the epa as contaminated land that their superfund program has the responsibility of cleaning up. hazardous contamination often comes from profitable manufacturing, mining, and extractive industries. yet, communities are left to bear the environmental and health burdens. as of 2014, nearly 25% of the 1,322 superfund sites were in lands occupied by indigenous people, according to indian country today.

“the challenges are: when can you garden? when can you gather, when you know, and we found out, that there’s not a single blackberry you should eat along that creek bed? not a single one on the spring river that you should eat. not a single wild onion,” jim continued. “and so, how do you learn and how do you go back to your culture when you’re not really sure where the boundaries of ‘safe’ are?”

the challenges of adapting to changing lands and shifting boundaries of safety could soon be universal. as the climate crisis continues, and more people are displaced by natural disasters and altered ecosystems, the knowledge developed by native communities could be integral to shaping a resilient future. to the speakers at the gathering, sharing that knowledge with younger generations is part of being a good ancestor.

“our future generations are going to have a huge responsibility ahead of them,” spring said. “and what we need to be doing now is doing the best job that we can to help give them the tools and to help try to… limit those effects.”

on knowledge

during the second session, which focused on health and wellness, knowledge of the past was raised as a relief to the challenges of the present and future. melissa lewis, assistant professor of family and community medicine at university of missouri and cherokee nation citizen, said she had co-authored a study that found that cherokee people who learned their “language, history, and culture had improved mental health.”

“some folks have already done some research demonstrating that people who speak their indigenous language have (fewer) chronic diseases, like diabetes or obesity or heart disease,” she continued. “and i think, again, our language… within it is healing and it guides us and how we see the world.”

lewis was joined by three other panelists: youth services director and choctaw nation citizen nancy mason, university of arkansas ph.d. student and pawnee nation of oklahoma citizen electa hare-redcorn, and haskell indian health center administrative officer and chickasaw nation citizen commander shannon lowe.

while many of the gathering’s panelists and guests are involved in higher education, and all shared an interest in stewarding younger generations of native americans, conversation never drifted from an awareness that educational systems have a history of harm toward native communities. michael durglo, confederated salish and kootenai citizen and historic preservation department head, remarked that, “we’re just like one generation after the boarding school era days,” during which native children in the united states were taken out of their homes and sent to residential schools to assimilate them to european american culture.

“my dad was a boarder,” durglo said. “my dad is no longer with us, but a lot of the elders that i know now basically were just pulled out of their home and beaten for speaking our language.”

now, native people in the academic world are moving forward from forced assimilation and, instead, working to “indigenize” education. doing so requires difficult conversations about ownership and belonging within the university. 

wilkie, from the university of arkansas, closed the health and wellness session, and opened the following session on identity and representation, with an acknowledgment that university of arkansas itself is a land-grant institution built on land taken from the osage people.

“our university would not exist (without), and still benefits from, the theft and coercion of indigenous land,” said wilkie, who has written about the need to go beyond land acknowledgements.

according to matlock, indigenous people are not only connected to the land at university of arkansas, they also helped to build it and were among the first students to attend the university.

“this is why i think the reframing of the 1619 project informs us so much,” matlock said, referring to the new york time’s long-form journalism project.

according to the site, the project “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black americans at the very center of our national narrative.”

“at our campuses, we’re trying to reframe this to our indigenous communities,” matlock continued. “you belong here because your ancestors helped build this place, but it goes beyond that. we have to have contemporary representation, contemporary presence, contemporary identity.”

sara barnett, university of arkansas ed.d. student and citizen of muscogee nation, said indigenizing education will benefit all.

“we need to make a real commitment to serving our native communities and to providing those spaces and creating a campus culture that really welcomes and appreciates diversity,” barnett said while on the identity and representation panel. “it’s not a process of just checking a box, or an afterthought, or having a certain position or taskforce on campus, but it’s really about that change in culture and creating those spaces so that it comes naturally.”

she was joined on the panel by university of arkansas professor of creative writing and indigenous studies, toni jensen, and fellow uark ph.d. student, andrea rogers. jensen’s memoir “carry: a memoir of survival on stolen land” is a new york times editors’ choice; rogers’ historical fiction novel “mary and the trail of tears: a cherokee removal survival story” was named one of the best books of 2020 by npr.

on the future

the idea of “indigenizing education” may seem vague, particularly to those who haven’t questioned the prevalence of western history and thought in our schools. in the closing general session of the gathering, anthropologist dr. robert franco gave one concrete model, titled “transcending barriers to success.” franco is director of the office for institutional effectiveness at university of hawaii and his research focuses primarily on the people of samoa. 

the four components of the transcending barriers to success model include making connections between western and indigenous knowledge in redesigned curriculum and supporting indigenus students in stem fields. yet, franco also emphasized a “need to humble the science and the academic perspective” and amplify community-based knowledge.

this point is informed by the “place-based” nature of franco’s recent work; he focuses on biocultural restoration, a concept that centers on healing the cultural, spiritual, and physical relationships between humans and nature. franco noticed a shift to this framing amongst his associates during the the university of hawaiʻi-west oʻahu’s 2019 grand challenges summer institute, which sought to address water issues through new academic approaches.

“the first thing we should do is restore those water systems,” franco said. “by restoring those water systems, we then are more resilient for the impacts that climate change will bring. so then you see a subtle shift from climate change to biocultural restoration.”

franco put an emphasis on active learning, through which students get outside and into ecosystems with the guidance of cultural specialists.

the final speaker of the gathering, durglo, already is putting these concepts into action on his ancestral lands in northwest montana. there, he started the environmental advocates for global and local environmental sustainability, or eagles. he said the youth program that began with 40 members now has 400. it’s his dream for it to go international.

in 2012, durglo developed a climate action plan for the confederated salish and kootenai tribes. he recorded visits with eight elders and incorporated their knowledge into the plan. now, as he’s empowering the next generation, it’s possible to see how the lessons of the past can be used to shape a more resilient, equitable future.

“we need to be mindful and pay attention and to plan and prepare,” durglo said. “we’re the caretakers of the environment and prepare a place better than how we found it for those yet to come.”

this decision marks the culmination of seven years of organizing by gw students and aligns with the recommendations from the university’s environmental, social, and governance (esg) responsibility task force.

“for nearly a decade, gw students and students across the country have been demanding that our universities take moral leadership and end their support for the fossil fuel industry,” said jeremy liskar, member of the student organization sunrise gw and a student representative on the esg task force. “our victory (this week) clearly shows that student organizing has changed the consensus on this issue. gw’s commitment will help move the ball for other institutions to take similar action.”

the task force, established earlier in 2020, included students, faculty, trustees, and alumni. together they recommended seven commitments to be incorporated into gw’s existing sustainability plan. in addition to divesting from all public and private companies that focus on fossil fuel extraction, they also recommend that the university commits to halting any new direct or indirect investments to businesses that reap the majority of their revenue from fossil fuel, including coal, oil, and natural gas.

“the covid-19 crisis has served to highlight the enormous impact humans have on the environment and the need for equitable access to healthy natural resources,” the task force wrote in a statement released monday. “the reduced burning of fossil fuels over the last few months has, in a short time, had a dramatically positive impact on the quality of the air we breathe and our waterways. simultaneously, the pressures of the pandemic alongside existing environmental, health, and economic disparities have laid bare the need for more inclusive and equitable structures in our institutions and society as a whole.”

gw joins 37 other u.s. educational institutions that have committed to or achieved full divestment, according to fossil free, including planet forward 2022年世界杯亚洲预选赛结果 schools middlebury college, suny-esf and the university of hawaii. other d.c. area schools are also part of the movement, as georgetown university made a pledge to divest completely within 10 years in february and american university announced the completion of their full divestment in april. university of maryland, located just outside of d.c., agreed to a full divestment plan in 2016.

this announcement comes at the culmination of an academic year saturated with advocacy by gw students demanding the university divest its roughly $1.78 billion endowment from businesses that profit from fossil fuel. currently, less than 3% of the endowment — or around $50 million — comes from fossil fuel investment, according to estimates. however, meghan chapple, director of gw’s office of sustainability, says divestment is more significant than that number may suggest.

“it’s important because it’s part of a larger movement and it sends a message about climate change … there is significant consensus that climate change is the big, pressing issue of our time,” chapple said.

the “larger movement” to urge institutions of higher education to commit to fossil fuel divestment began when unity college became the first to do so in 2012. the same year, the fossil free campaign — a branch of 350.org — was founded on student-led action to demand divestment. fossil free gw was formed in 2013.

in november 2019, fossil free gw announced they were transitioning to sunrise gw, to become a campus hub for the sunrise movement. as a chapter of the national youth-led group, sunrise gw organized art builds, protests, and petitions on campus urging the university to divest over the course of the 2019-2020 academic year.

this april, a referendum to divest the university’s holding from fossil fuel was included in gw’s student association election. it received approval from 85.66% of voters.

“i would like to acknowledge our student leaders who have — as representatives of their generation, of the generation that will inhabit the planet over the next 50 to 100 years, the generation that is going to be the future of this planet — i’d like to acknowledge them for all the work they have done to raise awareness of the importance of climate change to the leadership of the university,” chapple said.

two current undergraduate students, liskar and jillian weber, who has been involved in gw sustainability initiatives, were members of the 14-person task force.

“i think the student community can be confident that they were well represented in the voices that jillian and jeremy brought to the table,” chapple said.

liskar said sunrise gw is “ecstatic” about the divestment announcement.

since releasing their recommendations for the university sustainability plan in late may, the esg task force held two digital town halls, allowing students, staff, faculty, and alumni to provide feedback, and additionally received more than 100 submissions of “overwhelmingly positive” feedback via the task force website.

divestment strategies have been used in the past to invoke societal change, perhaps most notably in opposition to south african apartheid. in the mid-1980s, campuses around the world divested from companies doing business in south africa, ultimately helping to weaken the apartheid government.

chapple also drew attention to the university’s pledge to become carbon neutral by offsetting two centuries worth of greenhouse gas emissions dating back to the university’s charter in 1821. while gw had previously aimed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040, the university this week committed to an accelerated plan, aiming to reach neutrality by 2030. gw also signed on to plans to go beyond carbon neutrality in honor of the university’s bicentennial next year, a pledge chapple finds equally significant to that of divestment.

other additions to the university’s updated sustainability plan include goals to eliminate single-use plastic on campus, increase the amount of greenspace for biodiversity, conserve stormwater, and convert campus transportation to zero-emissions vehicles.

the sale of ivory and rhino horn endangers at-risk animal populations. an estimated 97 elephants are killed for their tusks daily. according to the great elephant census, there was a 30% loss of african savannah elephants over the seven-year period of 2007 to 2014. while rhinoceros populations have grown in the last decade due to the implementation of protections, the international rhino foundation estimates 900 rhinos, roughly 3% of the total population, were killed in 2018.

kate dylewsky, senior policy advisor at the animal welfare institute, suggests it was due time for the district to join the 11 states who previously have passed similar legislation to halt the sale of ivory goods.

“i think it has become increasingly apparent over these years that it is incumbent upon d.c., as a major metropolitan area, to act on this issue, particularly because other large markets for these wildlife products, like new york, for example, have been shut down due to successful legislation,” she said. “the ivory market has migrated to the remaining locations where it can flourish and that includes d.c. so, you know, it was the right moment for the council to say this is something we need to tackle.”

dylewsky also credits the investigatory work done in recent years for bringing details about the ivory market in the district to light. while the federal endangered species act protects from ivory sale and transport between states, a flourishing ivory market continued within the city. a 2017 report by the wildlife monitoring organization traffic reported that the city had more ivory for sale than the five other major cities surveyed, including new york and los angeles. 

in 2019, a humane society investigation found ivory for sale at several local antique stores and vendors at the georgetown flea market. these ivory goods included a full engraved task valued at $600,000 and a multi-figure game board valued at $48,000. yet, the true price of these products is actually far higher: the international rangers federation reports that 269 rangers were killed across africa between 2012 and 2018, primarily by poachers who profit off the sale of animal parts.

this passing of the elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn prohibition act is a long-sought victory for activists and environmentalists, such as dc voters for animals founder max broad. councilmember mary cheh introduced the bill for the first time in 2015.

“mary cheh is great on these issues, but she can’t do it alone,” broad said. “so, when nobody else is championing the policy, then the bill… even though it didn’t have any opposition… the bills couldn’t move forward. so that’s where getting up grassroots support really made a difference.”

for broad, amassing grassroots support included standing on the streets and collecting signatures in dc’s ward 6, the ward represented by judiciary committee chair councilmember charles allen. in previous proposals, the bill had been sent to the judiciary committee before dying in council sessions. in november of last year, broad and leaders of other animal rights ngos led a “tweetstorm” with the intent to further draw councilmember allen’s attention. supporters, including international nonprofits and d.c. residents, participated in the storm which received more than 11,000 twitter impressions, according to broad.

following the tweetstorm, representatives from organizations such as the animal welfare institute, humane society, and dc environmental network met with judiciary committee staff to address technical aspects of the legislation. 

“when it came down to it, it was really just about grassroots support of individual volunteers in the district that care about these issues tweeting about it and writing their councilmember that they care about these issues and then it was a matter of the coalition of ngos coming together and unifying our voice in support of this,” broad said.

when asked whether the presence of this legislation in the district will simply push the ivory and rhino horn market elsewhere, dylewsky said this fear is not worth the risk of stalling progress.

“i think it certainly has impetus for us to continue this work elsewhere and for us to continue to do that research and analysis to identify other hotspots that may emerge for sales,” she said. “but at a certain point, i think, you reach this tipping point where sellers of these wildlife products no longer find it profitable, or find it too much trouble to continue, to keep them in stock, to continue to offer them to buyers. and i think the combination of the federal regulations from 2016 that prevent nearly all import, export, and interstate commerce of ivory, combined with the 11 states and now the district of columbia that have now passed state-level legislation restricting these sales — i would like to believe that we are very close to that tipping point.”

dylewsky is hopeful that the passage of the bill will set a precedent for action on similar issues within the district in the future.

“i think there’s a lot of appetite for expanding upon humane legislation and i think the more bills, like this one, that pass and are implemented successfully and produce good results, the easier it is to make an argument that d.c. should be emerging as a leader in humane legislation and that this is something that really fits with the culture of our city,” she said.

the elephant ivory and rhinocerous horn prohibition act was signed by mayor muriel bowser on april 27, 2020. it has been sent to congress for final approval, with a projected law date of september 10, 2020.

i gotta say, this all sounded pretty enticing to me and my own newborn b.a., but sydney was adamant that she doesn’t have all the answers (dang it!). yet, as i enter the workforce, during the second unprecedented economic crash i’ve seen since learning long division, i’m satisfied with any study guide i can get.

sydney said it herself: “a lot of millennials and older gen-z people, we’ve been through two recessions, which is not easy at all, and i kind of always knew that when i was in school that, first off, i was in a field where getting a job is extremely competitive. it’s very hard to find a full-time journalism job right when you’re out of college. that’s just, like, bottom line. no matter how good you are, no matter how many experiences you have or whatever, it’s hard.”

you can find my entire conversation with sydney on planet forward’s instagram tv and, for those anxious about their own futures in media, freelancing, or advocacy, i’m more than happy to let you copy my notes. 

1. get to know your values.

when searching for opportunities, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the different avenues available, and the possibilities of where they might lead you geographically, professionally, or personally. when navigating these intersections, it’s good to use your own values as a compass. however, finding these values can often be an adventure all its own.

“when you’re transitioning into adulthood, it’s kind of hard for a lot of us to detach, like, the feelings, the expectations that have been put on us by the people that have raised us,” syndey said.

take time to pin down what success looks like to you, rather than to others (even those who matter most!). once you know what drives you, the destination is easier to find. be patient with yourself as your goalposts are likely to change.

“that was something that i’m still dealing with today,” sydney said, “… is figuring out who am i truly and what are my values as sydney greene, not as my parents, not as my friends, not as my grandparents.”

2. get to know your niche.

beyond knowing what you value, you should also pin down what others value you for (and this is certainly the part that brings me the most anxiety). however, it’s helpful to shift the thought process from a question of, “what are my skills?” to, “what are my interests? what subject do i feel most at home covering? what do people associate with me?” sydney said she finds knowing her “brand” especially helpful when reaching out to editors to pitch ideas.

“i think knowing the stories that you’re passionate about, knowing the issues that you’re passionate about, and then creating a niche inside the passions is really important because when you are pitching something to someone or you’re just reaching out to an editor you can say, like, ‘hey!’ instead of doing a general pitch or hello, you can let them know, ‘here’s what i do. here’s the work that i’m interested in. if you need any gaps filled in your coverage that include these topic areas, i’m here for you,’” she said.

when you have an understanding of the specific knowledge and skillsets you possess, own them.

“do not be afraid to promote yourself, y’all,” syndey said. “like, do it. run with it. be proud of the work that you do, be proud of who you are, and promote yourself.”

3. don’t be afraid to change course.

as important as it is to know yourself, it’s just as important to understand that who you are, what you want, and what you’re interested in are always changing. even if you’ve dreamed of something since elementary school, it might not be the right choice for you now. sydney experienced this firsthand when she shifted from her dream of being a full-time reporter to pursue advocacy work. yet, she made this transition by reassessing her values and, from there, breaking down what drew her to journalism in order to steer her toward her next move.

sydney said, “when i knew i was not going to be doing [journalism] full time, i had to peel back the layers and think, ‘ok, what about journalism really interested me from a young age and how can i still maintain that passion into a different role?’ and that was storytelling, at the bottom of it, it was storytelling. luckily, i was able to take that storytelling into the different jobs i do now.”

your skills and interests can translate into a variety of different roles and industries, and there is no shame in switching things up.

4. you’re not in it alone.

graduating from college, especially into the current state of the world, might feel a bit like free-falling from the nest and hoping that you can figure out how to use your wings before reaching the ground. while you likely do have more responsibilities and less structure than you’re used to, you also have support systems to turn to. 

for sydney, mentors have helped guide the way. she recommends seeking mentorship from people in different professions and across different age groups who will each be able to relate to you and speak to your experiences in different ways.

“i think it’s really important to have a lot of mentors across the board, whether that’s professional or whether that’s personal,” she said. “having allies in general that advocate for you, whether that’s inside the workplace or outside the workplace, is incredibly important.”

also, remember that wherever you are now, you have learned lessons that can benefit someone else.

“i always say, you know, pay it forward,” sydney said. “even if you’re two or three years older than someone and you don’t think that you have something to offer, you absolutely have something to offer. so, make sure just as you’re getting that advice from mentors, make sure you’re paying it forward and helping the people who are also up and coming like you were at some point.”
 

to keep up with sydney, check out her website here.

here are our key takeaways from cbs news meteorologist and climate specialist jeff berardelli, cnn health and science unit producer jen christensen, and wnet executive producer eugenia harvey on how to create lasting climate communication that won’t get washed away in the rising tides.

1. value visuals.

when addressing any story as rich in data as climate change, it’s easy to get lost in the numbers. in 2018, berardelli quit his job as a chief meteorologist in south florida to study this data at columbia university’s earth institute. however, when asked about the role of complex science in climate reporting, berardelli said,“i don’t think there needs to be much.” he recommends finding visual, rather than numerical, means of depicting the changes our planet faces. 

in support of this point, berardelli wore a rectangular, blue, white and orange striped pin on his lapel. this graphic, known as the “warming stripe,” clearly and effectively communicates the rate of increase in global temperatures from 1850-2018, without any need for numbers.

2. appeal to your audience.

everyone has a reason to care about climate change. the key is figuring out which reasons are most compelling to your audience. while certain audiences might be alarmed to hear about the rapid rate of species decline, others might be more interested if the issue was framed as an economic one. in that case, the challenges of climate change can be framed as an opportunity for new industry, innovation, and growth.

“everyone cares about money, unfortunately,” berardelli said. “that’s just the reality.”

ultimately, the key to good communication is empathy and the ability to meet people where they are.

“we have to deal with it with kindness and, i think, a lot of compassion,” harvey said.

3. create connections.

a crisis of the environment naturally affects everything in it. a climate story is never just about the environment but stories of all sorts can somehow be brought back to the environment.

“there’s so much intersectionality,” harvey said.

harvey produced the series “freedom to breathe” for pbs in collaboration with climate nexus. according to pbs, the series chronicles the impact of climate change on the daily lives of residents of the southern and southwestern united states “through health, housing and the economy.” harvey was drawn to the project as an opportunity to show the real people impacted by environmental racism.

“i saw black and brown faces that are often not shown in these stories,” harvey said.

climate change can be used as a frame to discuss systemic social issues relating to race and class that often aren’t given — or can’t be given — a place in fast paced news cycles. additionally, a climate-conscious angle can be woven into stories that are primarily about other issues such as medicine, infrastructure, and business. the more climate is discussed in the context of other stories, the more prevalent it becomes in popular consciousness.

“essentially, we have to normalize it,” christensen said.

4. hone in on humanity.

the story of climate change is one of humanity and the most effective stories are the ones that center on people.

christensen, who served as the national president of nlgja, the association of lgbtq journalists, compared the need to represent those suffering from climate change to queer people “coming out” to advocate for gay marriage. once those not affected by the issue realized that people they know and love were being affected, they were likely to experience a shift in perspective. by making audiences aware of the ways those in their community are already impacted by climate change, communicators can accelerate the push for action.

“you have to help people to understand why the rest of the world matters,” christensen said.

christensen, harvey, and berardelli all warned against getting caught up in jargon and terminology that might alienate audiences from the heart of the matter.

“(climate change) is now an entity that is not just being studied, it is being lived. it is being experienced,” harvey said. “we need to stop squabbling over terminology.”

5. root it in reality.

while it might be tempting to get swept up in long-term projections and doomsday scenarios, the most effective climate stories are the ones that are unfolding as we speak. audiences are less likely to question science when they see it in real-time.

the negative impacts of climate change are tangible in health, agriculture, natural disasters, and more. at the same time, realistic climate solutions and innovations are coming out of communities across the country. by demonstrating practical climate cures, storytellers can create hope and empower audiences to play a positive role. 

“life can be better than it is,” berardelli said. “we don’t think about that.”

tanden believes what’s best for the environment can also be best for the economy, so long as we begin to think about issue as a job creator. she pushed for an optimistic look at our future, one she hopes will be defined by a large-scale shift to renewable energy and infrastructure that helps the country move away from a carbon intense economy. tanden and sesno discussed how a reframing of the climate crisis as an economic opportunity, rather than simply a doomsday scenario, can create more interest in solutions.

“climate (action) can be a win-win for the country,” tanden said.

click through the slideshow above to read more about the event.

selker discusses the citizens’ climate lobby’s support of the carbon fee and dividend act, the intersections of art and advocacy, and how she’s seen the effects of climate change in her own life.

fast fashion / slow art, showcased at the corcoran school of art & design, was co-curated by bibiana obler, associate professor of art history at the corcoran, and phyllis rosenzweig, curator emerita at the hirshhorn museum and sculpture garden. the film-centric exhibition features pieces from an international pool of artists such as german filmmaker hito steyerl and chinese director wang bing.

“one might think, given the title, that’s a very didactic exhibition saying, ‘fast fashion is bad! lets fight it,’” obler says. “but, that’s not actually the message we want to convey. we want to start a conversation, especially because these issues are so complicated.”

the wasteful nature of the clothing industry has come to the forefront of fashion conversation in recent years. brands that built empires on cheap, trendy clothing, such as the international retail giant zara, are even promising to change their ways.

just this summer, zara’s parent company inditex announced their plan to make their brands more sustainable by converting to 90% organic, recycled, or sustainable raw materials by 2025. however, these steps are not getting to the heart of the problem: the immense amount of clothing that is made from these or other materials. the amount of clothing produced each year doubled from 2000 to 2014 and the amount of clothing purchased by an average consumer rose 60%.

while it is easy to think of sustainable fashion as a consumer issue, fast fashion / slow art forces audiences to face the opposite side of the coin and consider how the garments that line our closets were made in the first place.

the exhibition depicts the issues as largely cultural. martin de thurah’s film “stories,” for instance, plays with the concept of disposability as it shows a model taking off t-shirt after t-shirt and tossing each on the ground as she walks down a city street.

according to obler, the lack of value we place in our clothing is central to the problem.

“i have a certain relationship to shopping and it turns out it’s very different than people of your generation,” obler says. “while i, personally, do shop fast fashion because it’s cheap, i then expect to keep (the clothing) forever. the whole notion that you can buy a t-shirt and only wear it once is totally alien to me. that doesn’t make sense. in talking to my students, who are increasingly conscientious consumers and are increasingly thinking about these issues while they shop, they have a certain expectation of the amount of shopping that they will do in a year that is just completely different than mine.”

zara and many other brands that line our shopping malls and retail streets maintain their low prices by outsourcing to poor countries where sweatshop workers earn as little as 1 u.s. cent an hour. exploitative labor allows clothing items to be sold at the same price as a cup of coffee. as a result, consumers toss their clothing more freely. the average american throws out 81 pounds of clothing each year.

fast fashion / slow art brings the hidden costs of fashion to the forefront with pieces such as “15 hours,” an uncut film by wang bing that shows the grueling 15-hour day of one garment worker in huzhou, china.

other works beg the onlooker to consider the relationship between laborer and machine in modern manufacturing. american textile artist cat mazza created one of the few non-video pieces in the show. in her work, “electroknit dymaxion,” mazza replicates the most popular traditional weaving styles from each continent using software called knitpro, which digitally translates images into textile patterns. the patterns were then knit in cotton by machine.

the result is a massive patchwork that speaks to something beyond the technological age: the timeless similarities and connectedness of humans across continents.

“the goal is that these are not simply things that you can kind of go in and look out and think, ‘oh, what shame that fast fashion is such a problem,’ and then leave again,” obler says. “the idea is that you stay awhile and that you don’t just have an aesthetic experience and that you also really are compelled to think a little further, even if you’ve thought a lot about these issues.”

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fast fashion / slow art is showing at the luther w. brady art gallery at the corcoran school of art & design through dec. 15. the exhibition is open tuesday through sunday, 1-5 p.m. it will reopen at the bowdoin college museum of art in maine in spring 2020.