A campus-wide Teach-in on Climate Change will be held at Clark University on Thursday, March 26. The Teach-in is aimed at increasing awareness of what is taking place in the unfolding climate crisis, and deepening honest conversations about and creative responses to it.
Keynote talks will be given by climate change scientist Susi Moser, Ph.D. ’97, and ecologist Christopher Uhl of Penn State. Nearly 60 teach-in sessions (led by Clark faculty and others), a campus-wide Council session, and an evening film festival also are planned. Both plenaries and selected sessions of both the teach-in and the Council will be livestreamed.
The entire Clark community — faculty, staff and students — is encouraged to take part in the Teach-in. Faculty have been asked to release students to participate, bring their classes to event, or to focus on a related topic or a common reading in their class session. A group of common readings will be distributed to the faculty, and will be available online.
Teach-in sessions will be held concurrently in three periods over the course of the day, and will address one or more of the following questions:
- What is the nature of the climate-change crisis? What is happening to the biosphere of the Earth?
- Why is this happening, and what do these changes mean for different human populations and for all life on Earth?
- How do we wish to conduct ourselves in the face of danger, uncertainty, and a growing sense of urgency?
- What future do we want, and how can we act to influence the future?
Moser’s keynote will begin at 10:15 a.m. in Atwood Hall, after a welcome by University President David Angel. It will be followed by a Council session, in which members of the community will address one question in small group meetings all over campus. The afternoon plenary with Uhl will begin at 3 p.m. in Tilton Hall, with by a panel conversation with Moser and others to follow. The day will conclude with a 7 p.m. film festival in both Atwood and Razzo halls, featuring “Chasing Ice” and “The Age of Stupid,” along with several shorts.
Schedule details have been posted. For further information, contact Melat Seyoum (mseyoum@clarku.edu) or Gaia Khairina (gkhairina@clarku.edu).
The Teach-in on Climate Change is organized by Sarah Buie (senior associate, Higgins School of Humanities), Ellen Foley (interim director, IDCE), and Dianne Rocheleau (Geography), with the support of a steering committee from across the disciplines and the University. It is co-sponsored by the Dean of the College, the Student Council, IDCE, the Graduate School of Geography, the Department of Political Science, the Higgins School of Humanities, the Marsh Institute and the Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise.
Schedule of events
9-10 a.m.: Teach-in session 1 (What is happening with climate change?)
10:15-11:30 a.m.: Welcome and Susi Moser talk
11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m.: Campus-wide Council session
12:45-1:30 p.m.: Lunch break
1:45-2:45 p.m.: Teach-in session 2 (Why is it happening, and what does it mean?)
3-4:15 p.m.: Chris Uhl talk and panel conversation
4:30-5:30 p.m.: Teach-in session 3 (What do we choose to be/do? How do we take action?)
5:30-6:45 p.m.: Dinner break
7-11 p.m.: Film Festival