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St. Ben's/St. John's climate teach-in

GLOBAL CLIMATE STRIKE SOLIDARITY EVENT
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20TH
DESCRIPTION: The Global Climate Strike is an international movement to publicly call on world leaders and, here in the US, elected officials to take the action needed to save our futures. On September 20, three days before the UN Climate Summit in NYC, young people and adults will strike all across the US and world to demand transformative action be taken to address the climate crisis.
We welcome members of the CSB/SJU community to join young people around the world in this global action for the climate crisis. Students and faculty are invited to: participate in small-group discussions on urgent topics related to the climate crisis, wear green or yellow attire and accessories in solidarity with the action, share perspectives and stories via an open-mic platform, and join us in co-creating a vision of our community’s perceptions of the climate crisis through visual art.
This strike is our opportunity to grow the climate movement in this country and to invite even more people to join us. We have just over ten years to turn things around and our world needs each of us to step up and take action to save our futures.
EVENT DETAILS:
SJU – Quad 264
Round-table Discussions (10:00am – 1:00pm)
  • Using the World Cafe Method, we invite participation in round-table discussions to stimulate dialogue within the community, to better understand the facets of the crisis we face. This is intended to be a space for learning and strengthening community ties to the movement.
  • Do four 30-minute sessions, different topics, post the schedule for students to pick what they can go to. This will also allow more flexibility for students to participate vs if it were a 2-hr-long event.
    • Session 1: Climate Justice (10-10:30am)
      • Gender and Climate Change
      • ‘Environmental justice’ communities
    • Session B: Politics (10:40-11:10am)
      • 2020 Election Candidates
      • Paris Climate Accord
      • Immigration & Climate Refugees
      • How do we build bipartisan coalitions around climate change? What kind of policy tools are necessary to get a price on carbon? - Matt Lindstrom
    • Session C: Impacts of the Climate Crisis (11:20-11:50am)
      • Mental health
      • Physical health
      • Environmental health
    • Session D: Living Practices (Imaging the Future) (12-12:30pm)
      • Artivism!: theater, music, etc.
      • Small solutions through living practices
      • How do we measure success? What are our goals?
  • Two facilitators per table (ideally a faculty member and a student). Have three tables (Subject to change)
  • Facilitators will guide questions on a more specific subject within the larger theme for that session
  • Have notepads at the tables for students to ideate. Potentially have large quilt squares to share learning outcomes that can be incorporated into the larger quilt.
  • Have a reflection at the end of every session/between rotations (Need to discuss further)
  • Set up the space! – Acknowledging that many of the topics will tap on various opinions on the subject, we want to establish ground rules to set an expectation for respect and constructive dialogue at the beginning of every session.
  • Occupy Wall Street hand signals – raise hand to speak, scribe takes notes of who speaks, etc. (Need to discuss further with facilitators)
  • Handouts at the end of the session: Create a resource document with tools for action and additional research for topics covered in the discussions.
CSB – Gorecki Fireside (3:30 - 5:30pm)
Community Quilt Squares (3:30 – 5:30pm)
  • Art is essential in manifesting our movement’s vision. We invite all to come and decorate a cloth square with their response to a question: Why is climate action important to you? After the event, squares will be sewn together and displayed for our community to observe and reflect on.
Songs of Healing (3:30 – 4:10pm)
  • Orchestra students have volunteered to perform music to support an environment of hope and healing for our brothers and sisters here and across the world that are suffering pain, loss, and exploitation from the climate crisis.
Statement of solidarity from CSB President Mary Dana Hinton (4:15-4:20pm)
Climate Stories Open Mic (4:30 – 5:30pm)

  • “To change everything, we need everyone.” A platform where we invite members of our community to share their testimonies, actions, worries, and sources of hope related to the climate crisis. Storytelling is a powerful way to personalize and reflect on our connections to the movement.

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