TU Climate Action Week Reflection
This past Wednesday, I attended the campus and community action org fair in Pocket Park as a part of this year's Tulane Climate Action Week. Many organizations found both on and off campus were represented, including some we have discussed in class or read about in our readings such as 350, Sierra Club and Sunrise Movement. Lots of people seemed to stop by throughout the day as I passed by multiple more times after visiting on my way to and from class, but I was a little disappointed because at most times it did not seem super crowded aside from those running the booths and workshops during the earlier part of the day.
Some of the Tulane organizers representing Green Club and Divest, including some friends of mine that helped plan the event, felt that while the majority of people in our age group believe in climate change and its impacts, especially because our generation is a lot more liberal and progressive than those of the past, there still is not enough of a sense of urgency. We cannot ignore climate change even if we wanted to as articles and new studies and video testimonials pop up on our Twitters, Facebooks and other social media constantly. We also have to face the realities of planning our lives around the crisis, making choices about where to live and what field to work in based on the impacts of climate change on our individual lives as well as its impacts on entire job markets and communities. Some students felt that we as a generation, and specifically people who do spend a lot of time and energy on climate change, have become weary and overwhelmed by the issue and essentially have become too exhausted to be as urgent and active as we need to be, especially considering the fact that our generation is overwhelmed by so many other contemporary crises such as student debt, police brutality, rollbacks on reproductive and LGBTQ rights, and growing hostilities towards the US abroad. With the 24/7 news cycle, it is hard to sift through real news versus fake news and everything in between. One of the organizers in particular seemed to think that our generation really needs to make the most of our own news "channels" i.e. social media, to communicate directly to specific demographics to mobilize people. Green Club and Divest represent two different approaches to activism in my mind, as Green Club seemed to be more focused on individual lifestyle changes and education, while Divest has a specific goal of lobbying Tulane to divest away from fossil fuels. While in class I feel like we have emphasized that it is large corporations that hold most of the responsibility for climate change, I still think both of these kinds of activism are necessary to make lasting changes on both the individual and institutional level.
One of the older community organizers I spoke to who was representing the Sierra Club's delta chapter seemed to feel the opposite about their age group. They believed that many people in their age group simply aren't educated or don't believe in the urgency of climate change because the issue does not flood their nightly news or newspapers the way it floods our generation's social media feeds and inboxes. They did note, however, that people who do understand the urgency in their age group are aggressively fighting to organize and educate others, especially those with children and grandchildren who think about their climate justice efforts in terms of creating a better, more sustainable future for those they love and care about. It was interesting in the few conversations I had to notice this generational divide in terms of how often and in what way people are exposed to news and information about climate change and environmental justice.
I was impressed by the presence of the USG sustainability committee, but felt underwhelmed by some of their efforts and also based on past experience feel like many parts of USG are a bit inaccessible to the rest of the Tulane community. We never get public updates about what actually happens in these committee meetings, and I would not know even after four years here if there was a way for me to sit in on a meeting if I had an issue to raise or an idea to implement. One of their recent efforts that they were advertising was the implementation of a 15 cents fee for plastic bags in places like Mac Mart and the bookstore. While I think this is a good idea and it is cool that USG got the university on board with this, I feel like most students would rather pay the 15 cents for a plastic bag rather than remember to bring reusable bags when they're running to the bookstore or Mac Mart between classes. It is a step in the right direction but doesn't seem super realistic with student lifestyles. I think a better idea to get this particular initiative going would be to offer free reusable bags to students at a climate change event highlighting the amount of plastic waste that we produce as a campus to maybe jumpstart things.
Some of the Tulane organizers representing Green Club and Divest, including some friends of mine that helped plan the event, felt that while the majority of people in our age group believe in climate change and its impacts, especially because our generation is a lot more liberal and progressive than those of the past, there still is not enough of a sense of urgency. We cannot ignore climate change even if we wanted to as articles and new studies and video testimonials pop up on our Twitters, Facebooks and other social media constantly. We also have to face the realities of planning our lives around the crisis, making choices about where to live and what field to work in based on the impacts of climate change on our individual lives as well as its impacts on entire job markets and communities. Some students felt that we as a generation, and specifically people who do spend a lot of time and energy on climate change, have become weary and overwhelmed by the issue and essentially have become too exhausted to be as urgent and active as we need to be, especially considering the fact that our generation is overwhelmed by so many other contemporary crises such as student debt, police brutality, rollbacks on reproductive and LGBTQ rights, and growing hostilities towards the US abroad. With the 24/7 news cycle, it is hard to sift through real news versus fake news and everything in between. One of the organizers in particular seemed to think that our generation really needs to make the most of our own news "channels" i.e. social media, to communicate directly to specific demographics to mobilize people. Green Club and Divest represent two different approaches to activism in my mind, as Green Club seemed to be more focused on individual lifestyle changes and education, while Divest has a specific goal of lobbying Tulane to divest away from fossil fuels. While in class I feel like we have emphasized that it is large corporations that hold most of the responsibility for climate change, I still think both of these kinds of activism are necessary to make lasting changes on both the individual and institutional level.
One of the older community organizers I spoke to who was representing the Sierra Club's delta chapter seemed to feel the opposite about their age group. They believed that many people in their age group simply aren't educated or don't believe in the urgency of climate change because the issue does not flood their nightly news or newspapers the way it floods our generation's social media feeds and inboxes. They did note, however, that people who do understand the urgency in their age group are aggressively fighting to organize and educate others, especially those with children and grandchildren who think about their climate justice efforts in terms of creating a better, more sustainable future for those they love and care about. It was interesting in the few conversations I had to notice this generational divide in terms of how often and in what way people are exposed to news and information about climate change and environmental justice.
I was impressed by the presence of the USG sustainability committee, but felt underwhelmed by some of their efforts and also based on past experience feel like many parts of USG are a bit inaccessible to the rest of the Tulane community. We never get public updates about what actually happens in these committee meetings, and I would not know even after four years here if there was a way for me to sit in on a meeting if I had an issue to raise or an idea to implement. One of their recent efforts that they were advertising was the implementation of a 15 cents fee for plastic bags in places like Mac Mart and the bookstore. While I think this is a good idea and it is cool that USG got the university on board with this, I feel like most students would rather pay the 15 cents for a plastic bag rather than remember to bring reusable bags when they're running to the bookstore or Mac Mart between classes. It is a step in the right direction but doesn't seem super realistic with student lifestyles. I think a better idea to get this particular initiative going would be to offer free reusable bags to students at a climate change event highlighting the amount of plastic waste that we produce as a campus to maybe jumpstart things.
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