The University of Hawaiʻi Office of Sustainability will present in October Climate Education Month 2021, a series of interactive online public forums exploring sustainability and resilience. Register online for the series and receive more information.
Anya Benavides, a UH Hilo alumna and current Johnson Controls International Americorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) Fellow at UH Hilo curates a series of Lunch and Learn events each Friday at 12 p.m. throughout the month of October for students and community members interested in exploring sustainability through campus and community voices.
“For me, the climate crisis needs to be addressed from an intersectional perspective. For too long, the ever-connecting, root causes for the climate crisis have been left out of discussion.” said Benavides. “When I think of the climate crisis, I think of colonialism, capitalistic structures exploiting land and people for profit, racism, patriarchy, homophobia, transphobia. My vision for this event series was to create a space where these discussions could be had, and led by those serving as stewards to this land.”
Krista Hiser, director of the UH Center for Sustainability Across Curriculum, hosts two professional development sessions for faculty interested in building their skills to teach the climate crisis affectively.
“The dominant messaging around climate change mitigation efforts in Hawaiʻi often ignores the innovation and efforts happening on the ground in our communities through the practice of aloha ʻāina,” said Navin Tagore, VISTA program manager. “This series aims to help bridge that gap, open dialogue and share stories about how communities in Hawaiʻi are responding, growing, and healing in these times of great uncertainty.”
“Within this vision to host an honest space, interwoven were also the stories of healing, learning and adapting,” said Benavides.
Most sessions will be recorded and available for later viewing. Follow @sustainableuh on Instagram and Facebook for more updates.
Event information
Climate Education month kicks off Friday, October 1, at 12 p.m. with “Re-envisioning Education” with UH Mānoa Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language lecturer Presley Keʻalaanuhea Ah Mook Sang. Hear her perspectives, learn from her experiences creating a Native Hawaiian place of learning at Puʻuhuluhulu University, and reflect on emergent community responses to bring forth (k)new formats of education.
Other upcoming sessions include: “The Council in This Time of Reckoning” with Wendy Miles (Science collaboration coordinator for the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Science Applications program in the Pacific Islands and an adjunct research fellow at the East-West Center), and Krista Hiser (sustainability-focused english professor, Kapiʻolani Community College) on October 8, and “Exploring the intersectionality of queerness, women and environmental oppression” with UH Mānoa alumna Mariana Monasi, Lala Nuss and UH Mānoa lecturer Tatiana Kalani Young on October 22.
Visit the Climate Education Month page for session information, speaker bios and to RSVP.
