Teach-in on Sustainability 2023

2023 Teach-in on Sustainability

Welcome to the 2023 Teach-in on Sustainability Virtual Salon! Use the navigation on the left to find books, ebooks, DVDs, and streaming video related to each of this semesters' panels and presentations. Visit the official Teach-in on Sustainability website for links to the sessions. 

Our Work Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow

March 27-30, 2023

In 2015, the United Nations introduced 17 Sustainable Development Goals as a blueprint for a better, more sustainable future for all. 

Here at Emerson, we’re on it. Across the College and around the world, Emersonians are contributing to a better future in many ways, big and small, because we all have a stake in what’s ahead.

The 2023 Teach-In on Sustainability (March 27-30) will feature a dynamic, interdisciplinary, and interactive exploration of how we advance, create, and communicate toward a sustainable tomorrow.

Monday, March 27

• 4:00 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. EST | Reading and Writing the Environment: Write It!--Global Warming | In Professor Casson’s class, students read contemporary texts and address current environmental issues such as landscape sustainability, overpopulation, environmental justice and sociology, farming practices, climate change, environmental degradation, environmental health, energy sustainability, pollution, waste and recycling, resource depletion, and conservation. This class features renowned conservation biologist Richard Primack, author of Walden Warming, who discusses how our warming climate comes to be revealed in the interchange of science and literature.
   Sustainable Development Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
   
• 6:00 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. EST | Green Production and Harnessing Storytelling for Sustainability |  Green Production practices are being embraced by media making at all levels – from students to the industry. As artists and independent filmmakers have committed to sustainable production practices, they have provided viable models for environmentally conscious approaches and increasingly the media industry is stepping up. Emerson is in a unique position to train the next generation of media makers towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. This panel explores a broad philosophy of practice that embraces sustainability in production, creative form, and content – all harnessing storytelling and artistic expression as compelling spaces to envision solutions to the climate crisis and making work that is a call for collective action.
  Sustainable Development Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

Tuesday, March 28 

• 12:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. EST | Energy and Sustainability: Action Plans | Teams of students in Jon Honea's SC220 Energy and Sustainability course present their action plans for their projects to reduce the energy and material footprint of Emerson College.
  Sustainable Development Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.
   
• 12:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. EST | Advanced Topics in Global Diversity Studies: Postcolonial and Indigenous Environments | Imagining climate change and more-than-human kin through world games and collaborative story-telling: Never Alone/Kisima Ingitchuna.
  Sustainable Development Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.
   
• 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. EST | Decolonizing the Arts | So many of the structures in which we work are a legacy of colonization-power structures, artistic structures, aesthetic structures and even our understanding of the natural world. Understanding this and moving away from these structures is crucial. Decolonization as a practice and vision for society is increasingly entering conversations of how we build a more just world. But what exactly is decolonization, and where do we begin? Join us for an engaging workshop that illuminates how decolonization is key to sustainability efforts, providing pathways for those completely new to, or actively involved in, decolonization efforts.

  Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries.

• 6:00 p.m. to 8:50 p.m. EST | How to Calm your Nervous System in These Trying Times | Sustainability is hard. Working to ensure fair treatment of all organisms can take a toll on you. Combine that with the ambient anxiety of a post-COVID, high-anxiety news cycle and all the pressures of work or school can result in an overactive fear response, and a keyed-up parasympathetic nervous system. Fortunately there are ways to ease that struggle. In this workshop, Emerson alum Shekinah-Glory Beepat ’16 will take you through some guided movements and processes to help take your nervous system off guard, and to relax you in a profound and lasting way. Come prepared to lie on the floor if you’re able, and wear loose-fitting clothes suitable for gentle movements.
  Sustainable Development Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

Wednesday, March 29

• 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. EST | Introduction to Research Writing | Students in Mary Mangual’s Introduction to Research Writing course explore the interdisciplinarity of the framework for sustainability outlined in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and discuss how U.S. college students can hone the skills they’ll need to collaborate across fields to address problems that require expertise from multiple discourse communities.

  Sustainable Development Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

• 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. EST | The EcoTok Strikes Back | This session begins with an informal chat with Kristy and Isaias—two climate educators/activists/entrepreneurs who are making an impact and their own careers in the fight for a sustainable tomorrow. They’ll discuss their best practices, challenges, and pathways for bringing environmental education to wider audiences online. They will also discuss the Ecotok collective, an online community space of emerging creators who are making sustainability accessible, inclusive, and trendy. The second part will focus on “Mapping Your Climate Career”—a hands-on workshop where participants break down and demystify their climate career pathway.
  Sustainable Development Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

• 4:00 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. EST | Emerson's Transforming Narratives for Climate Justice Initiative | 

  Come and learn about a new initiative at the Engagement Lab!. Local activists and practitioners will join Emerson faculty and students to create art, media, and storytelling projects to advance climate justice in the Boston area. This workshop will highlight the work of GreenRoots, one of our Environmental Justice partner organizations, and will feature a workshop by their Environmental Chelsea Organizers (ECO) group. This is a team of 6 teens that work on projects important to youth in Chelsea. They lead campaigns, run community-wide surveys, and undertake other actions envisioned by youth. This event requires an RSVP.
  Sustainable Development Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

Thursday, March 30 

• 12:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. EST | Parables for Change | In this first-year interdisciplinary seminar, students explore the ways in which the stories we tell shape our ideas on what is possible in a climate changing world. With paired readings from Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler; All We Can Save, edited by Ayana E, Johnson and Katherine Wilkinson; and other works, students engage with the pressing environmental and social issues of the day and cultivate the courage needed to creatively shape change.

  Sustainable Development Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

• 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. EST | The Importance of Communication and the Arts in Science, Government, and Higher Education | Communication and the Arts are essential in motivating pro-environmental and pro-social behavior, translating the work of science and policy to a broader public, and explaining that public’s need to scientists and policy makers. In this panel we will hear from high-level staff and faculty from a range of Federal and State agencies as well as from higher education about the importance of the work we do at Emerson to the broader sustainability effort.
  Sustainable Development Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

• 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. EST | Alumni Panel | Emerson alumni end up in all kinds of positions. This group of alumni  all work in the field of sustainability in one way or another. From news reporting to sustainability marketing for Google, from science writing to podcasting, these Emersonians will share their stories and journeys.
  Sustainable Development Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

• 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. EST | Emerson Green Collective Open House and 5th year Anniversary Event| Catered vegan food and a presentation of the work EGC has done in the past year. We will also have a lesson on sustainability and an environmentally-focused community art project for participants to take part in.
  Sustainable Development Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.