Cooper Union x Climate Week 2020
I co-organized the second Cooper Union x Climate Week series in September 2020. The virtual series included lectures and events that addressed our shared future through the lens of global Green New Deals, environmental racism, and community action.
I researched potential speakers and coordinated a virtual series of events that consisted of seven public programs and five community events. These events drew over 2,500 viewers and were shared through articles and newsletters to reach a combined audience of over 52 million people. The series as a whole aimed to promote curiosity, interdisciplinary dialogue, and sustained engagement with the climate crisis. A selection of the public programs organized as part of Cooper Union x Climate Week 2020 can be found below.
Carbon Fictions with Rania Ghosn and Elisa Iturbe
September 21, 2020
Elisa Iturbe, a critic at the Yale School of Architecture and Associate Professor at The Cooper Union, will be in conversation with Rania Ghosn, a founding partner of Design Earth and Assistant Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Architecture + Planning. They will explore the role of representation and speculative futures in architecture’s relationship to the climate crisis.
Future Harvests with Pamela Ronald, Raoul Adamchak, and Emma Marris September 23, 2020
Pamela Ronald, a plant pathologist and geneticist, in conversation with Raoul Adamchak, author, organic farmer and former manager at the University of California at Davis student farm. This conversation was moderated by science writer and environmentalist, Emma Marris. Through the lens of climate mitigation, this talk explores the science behind genetic modification of plants, new techniques in organic farming, and how these new technologies will have to be applied in the coming decades.
Global Green New Deals with Mary Robinson, Rhiana Gunn-Wright, and Osita Nwanevu
September 24, 2020
The first female President of Ireland, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Chair of The Elders Mary Robinson and Director of Climate Policy at the Roosevelt Institute and Green New Deal collaborator Rhiana Gunn-Wright will be discussing the future of international climate policy in the wake of ever-accelerating ecological timelines. This conversation will be moderated by Osita Nwanevu, Staff Writer of The New Republic.
Science for Liberation with Omar Gowayed and Kendra Krueger September 28, 2020
Omar Gowayed, activist, PhD candidate in Materials Chemistry at NYU Tandon and co-chair of March for Science NYC, will be in conversation with Kendra Krueger, the founder of 4Love and Science and The Community Sensor Lab at CUNY's Advanced Science Research Center. They will discuss their experiences as science activists and how the four zones of liberation ie ideological, institutional, interpersonal and internal, can be different entry points for using science and engineering as a tool for climate and social justice.
Ways of Seeing Green with Nick Lutsko, Michael Wang, and Gillian Shaffer September 29, 2020
Michael Wang, an artist exploring ecologies and economies, will be in dialogue with Gillian Shaffer, an architect investigating the impacts of new technologies on cities and visual media, and Nick Lutsko a climate scientist working on climate change and the large-scale dynamics on Earth's atmosphere. Together, they will discuss how the intersection of their professional practices in tandem with other disciplines will be crucial in rendering a livable and just future.
veroír // Seehear the Unseen with Suzanne Dhaliwal & Cecilia Vicuña
September 30, 2020
Poet, filmmaker, and artist Cecilia Vicuña will be in conversation with activist and artist Suzanne Dhaliwal. The duo will utilize their respective experiences in artmaking and political campaigning to frame ecological disaster and decolonization, and to examine Indigeneity as it relates to activism, climate humanitarianism, and creative practices. Along the way, the conversation will draw relations between institutional, archival, and ecological memories, as well as disparate knowledge systems and ecosystems, in order to present their interdisciplinary visions for the vital next steps towards taking care of our collective world.
In addition to the event series, I helped develop the website and platform to host this virtual event series. The website includes documentation of all previous events as well as ongoing student projects. The full website can be viewed at climate.cooper.edu.