Bradley students, faculty, and members of the community gathered in Bradley Hall last Wednesday to discuss climate change causes, effects, and solutions at “The Worldwide Teach-in on Climate and Justice: A Campus-Wide Call to Action,” an event organized by Bard College to combat feelings of helplessness and despair people feel when thinking about climate change.
The event lasted about three hours, and consisted of a short welcome video from the organizers at Bard College, eight panels covering topics including the causes of climate change, solutions to the problem, sustainability, and how to combat misinformation, and then ended with a student-led panel discussing what students can do.
Dr. Molly Gribb, dean of the Foster College of Business and Caterpillar College of Engineering and Technology, and Dr. Chris Jones, vice president for Strategy and Innovation, discussed how Bradley is furthering its sustainability goals with environment-focused academic programs to train future leaders.
Dr. Jeanie Bukowski, an Associate Professor in the Political Science and International Studies Department at Bradley University and one of the organizers of the event at Bradley, said she believed the event was a success.
“I think the event kind of surpassed my expectations, especially since it was not very nice out and rainy,” said Dr. Bukowski. “It came together because of everybody’s help in a way that I think really achieved the purpose of what we were trying to do, and I just find it amazing that all of the faculty and community folks would come together to discuss all of those things from different disciplinary perspectives. That to me was just amazing that we were able to showcase that.”
Student involvement was a key aspect of the teach-in. All of the expert panels were moderated by students, and the final panel consisted of student panelists. The students who participated in the final panel, Max Dieterich, Mitch Thiel, Elizabeth Nelson, Emma Finch, and Camille Sanders, received training from Bard College to ensure the event at Bradley was successful.
“And the student participation, oh my gosh, I’m so proud of every single one of them. It was amazing. They were so effective in their presentation on that final panel,” said Dr. Bukowski. “Everybody else was great too, in terms of the moderators, and running the microphones, and all of that. Our student leaders who had gone through that training were remarkable. There were a lot of good questions in the panels I was able to be in, a lot of good student questions from the audience. I hope it inspired them, because they certainly inspired me.”
Dr. Gribb, who has a background in environmental engineering, also praised the hard work of the students and other organizers.
“I was impressed by our students’ efforts to bring the Worldwide Teach-in on Climate and Justice to Bradley University last night,” wrote Dr. Gribb in an email. “The student panelists all participated in leadership training provided by Bard College, and they, and many other students, faculty, and staff spent many hours preparing to make the event a success. It was really informative, and really well done.”