There is no issue of greater overriding importance to humanity right now than the existential threat posed by climate change. During the Fall 2021 Semester, Baruch Weissman’s interdisciplinary lecture series, We Are Climate Action, brings together experts to offer their perspectives on three topics: climate change and health, climate change and NYC’s resiliency, and how climate change is being addressed by public art initiatives.
This impressive series of events is organized by WSAS Professor Mindy Engle-Friedman (Psychology).
Thursday, September 30, Climate Change: Health Impacts and Health Policy. Moderator: CUNY School of Public Health Professor Elizabeth Geltman, director of the Atlantic Emerging Technologies and Industrial Hygiene Training Center. Panelists: Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Shaman, director of CU Mailman School of Public Health’s Climate and Health Program; University of Washington Professor Jeremy J. Hess, director of UW’s Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHanGE); and Natural Resources Defense Council Senior Scientist Kim Knowlton. WATCH A RECORDING OF THIS EVENT ON YOUTUBE.
Thursday, October 7, 4-5:30 pm: Climate Change and Preparation for NYC Resilience. Moderator: Brooklyn College and Graduate Center Professor Brett Branco, director of the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay. Panelists: Jainey K. Bavishi, director of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate Resiliency; and Alice C. Hill, senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations. WATCH A RECORDING OF THIS EVENT ON YOUTUBE.
Thursday, November 18, 4-5:30 pm: Climate Change: Artists Respond. This panel brings together contemporary artists whose artwork contributes to a broader public understanding of the consequences of climate change for human and non-human existence, and the urgent need for action and mitigation. The seemingly overwhelming scale of the climate crisis is a recognized barrier to public participation in tackling the climate crisis. Art can overcome this resistance through a myriad of methods, from educating and raising awareness to modeling problem solving or giving voice and form to intangible forces. Xavier Cortada, Anina Gerchick, Mary Mattingly and Katherine Behar have created art that is both geographically specific and universally relevant, providing entry points around which people can coalesce.
Organizer and moderator: Art historian Julie Reiss, editor of Art, Theory and Practice in the Anthropocene
Co-moderator and panelist: Baruch and CUNY Graduate Center Professor Katherine Behar, interdisciplinary artist and director of the New Media Artspace.
Panelists: Visual artist Mary Mattingly, founder of Swale; University of Miami Professor Xavier Cortada, NSF Antarctic Artist and Writer’s Program Fellow; and Anina Gerchick, painter, landscape architect, public installation artist and founder of BirdLink.
Register here.
