How-to-Avoid-a-Climate-Crisis

You’re studying for finals, trying your best to concentrate on that psychology lecture you put off for two weeks and now have to watch on CourseWorks at double speed. Your pen is in your hand, your notebook in front of you, but your mind keeps drifting off to more mindless, visually gratifying ways to spend your afternoon: curating a Pinterest board for your picture-perfect summer plans in the city or watching those mesmerizing TikToks made by stunningly attractive friend groups on impossibly cool trips. It’s true that combining social media with your summer daydreams is a dangerous game when you have exams to study for and papers to write. Oh well, a few minutes on Instagram couldn’t possibly hurt, could they? And as long as you’re on your phone, you might as well check your For You page too.

After a cancelled 2020 festival, the Low Steps were replaced by the virtual world of Virbela for this year’s Bacchanal. Students chatted with each other over Zoom or wandered around as Virbela online personas. Attendees were welcomed by flashing DJ lights and 1920s-themed decor at the coveted Columbia event.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the music industry was left reeling. Live gigs were canceled, bands were wrenched apart by financial strain, and the industry’s future was as uncertain as the release date of Kanye’s next album. Ingenuity, both in music and business, was a must for all those who desired to stay afloat.

How can art inspire people to care about climate change? In the online panel “Actors from Witnesses,” two artists, one scientist, and an artist training to be a scientist hoped to answer this question.

In an apartment full of cinnamon candles and pill organizers, dementia carves a wide gulf between a mother and her daughter. In a shoeshine shop in 1944, an army volunteer stakes his life on an empty promise. Together, they tell a story of personal and historical erasure, 75 years apart.

“This is How to Read.” The episode begins with this simple phrase, coasting over smooth and bright music before diving into the episode’s topic. The music sets the tone for a conversation between the podcast’s  co-founder and host, Milan Terlunen, GSAS ’22, and associate professor Frank Guridy. The topic? Cheerleading. Though the topic may seem deceptively simple, Terlunen and Guridy guide the listener through various topics related to the sport such as Title IX, intersectionality, and exploitation in the sports industry. Even when discussing complex topics, the podcast maintains the tone it sets with the introductory music—warm and friendly.

With a new generation of athletes like Ada Hegerberg, Marta Vieira da Silva, and Naomi Osaka, activism in sports has shifted in a new direction. Female athletes have risen to the front lines of many protests, ranging from struggles for equal pay in sports to police brutality and racial injustice.

With the world keenly focused on tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s easy to forget other pressing issues at hand that need to be addressed. A Zoom webinar held by the Center on Global Energy Policy at the School of International and Public Affairs with Bill Gates on Feb. 23 brings our attention back to the climate crisis that is still ever-present.

One Instagram post, podcast, and TikTok, at a time, Lauren Ritchie, CC ’22, is on a mission to redefine sustainability, amplify marginalized voices, and gain traction for an inclusive climate action movement.