Five Faves — Students offer ideas for fighting

Five Faves Students offer ideas for fighting climate change

by DONNA MCCLURKAN

As a climate activist, I’m often asked: What one thing can we do that matters in regard to our climate crisis? My response is always, “Talk about it.” This helps spread awareness and normalizes talking about really hard things. Because young people are acutely aware of — and increasingly vocal about — the ways in which their lives are affected now and will continually be affected by the global climate crisis, I asked five students in our community the question that I am often asked. Here’s their responses:

Tyler Boes

Tyler is a senior at WMU. He’s pursuing a double major in applied mathematics and economics.

The truth is that most people do not understand the severity of the climate crisis. This enables corrupt politicians and corporations to get away with letting my generation’s future be destroyed. Those in power are not addressing these global problems. We need to organize in large numbers, nonviolently, to express how unacceptable this is. The No. 1 thing we can do is to engage in advocacy and activism and protest against the status quo.

Aida Amirul

Aida is a Western Michigan University undergraduate student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in environmental and sustainability studies and earth science. She is active in Students for a Sustainable Earth, the Sunrise Movement and the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. Aida is also an intern with the Kalamazoo Climate Crisis Coalition.

The author Jonathan Safran Foer, in We Are the Weather, writes that we can do our part in combating the climate crisis by cutting down on eating meat. Animal agriculture accounts for one-third of emissions worldwide, and we often underestimate the difference we can make with our choices as consumers. It’s a common misconception that eating mostly plant-based (food) is hard and unaffordable. Vegetables and fruits are affordable, especially when bought locally; beans or tofu can replace animal protein and cost much less than meat. Those of us that are able to choose what to put on our plates can make an impact by making conscious, sustainable food choices.

Simon Swager

Simon graduated from Climax-Scotts High School as valedictorian this year. He is heading to Northern Michigan University, in Marquette, to pursue a degree in elementary education, with a focus on science or music.

I live in a small farming town that is quite insulated, so often the grander scheme of climate change might not be as visible as in larger cities. However, this background, combined with high school environmental science education, provides me with a unique view, in that I can understand both the impact of climate change and the importance of farming and agriculture to our world. Every year Americans throw away nearly 40 million tons of food waste. This ends up in landfills, decomposes and turns into methane, a greenhouse gas that is at least 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. My favorite way to combat this is by composting. Organic matter is kept out of landfills and creates natural fertilizers for gardens. It’s a simple thing to start and makes a big difference.

Oceanne Glover

Oceanne, age 10, is a student at El Sol Elementary School. She helped start the school’s Climate Change Club in 2019.

What I think is the most important thing that people can do is reduce the amount of CO2 we humans put in the air. We can stop burning fossil fuels by not traveling as much, using hybrid cars, and turning off lights. During this COVID-19 virus, some factories closed and people are driving a lot less, so not as many fossil fuels are being burned and the air is cleaner in many places.

Andrew Laxton

Andrew is an activist with the youth-led Sunrise Movement, aimed at stopping climate change. He is majoring in English at Kalamazoo College and is scheduled to graduate in 2021.

Addressing racial injustices, particularly environmental racism, will go a long way in alleviating our climate crisis. So much pollution is allowed to occur because it happens in, and most directly affects, black and brown communities. If we, as a society, really valued all lives equally, it would be a lot harder for polluting corporations to get away with clouding our atmosphere with heat-trapping and other health-threatening particles.

About the Author

Donna McClurkan is a Kalamazoo-based climate activist and freelance writer.

It was a unique and creative assignment. Last January, at the start of the semester, Western Michigan University Professor Sue Ellen Christian gave students in her Specialized Reporting course a list of words and one phrase; they were to choose one of these and find an interesting local angle about it for a news enterprise story.

The options — “ally,” “borders,” “civility,” “digital native,” “equity,” “immigrant” and “influencer” — each opened the door to interesting reporting opportunities. But finding a local tie to a word or phrase was the easy part; in March, COVID-19 shut down WMU’s campus mid-semester, and students returned to their hometowns, leaving Christian’s students to conduct their reporting online.

“An aspect of reporting that we work on a lot at this level is observational reporting: What do you notice about a reporting scene or source and why did you notice that? What is relevant to the story at hand and why?” says Christian. “The virus shutdown curtailed that learning curve, forcing students into a different learning curve of developing reportorial resourcefulness: How do you find sources when you can't knock on doors or attend public meetings and chat with potential sources after it? Where do you find people when everyone is shut inside their homes?“

For one student, Qunicy Cox, whose reporting on the word ‘”ally” in relation to LGBTQ people appears in this issue, the disruption also brought growth.

“The world being on hold gave me the time I needed to delve into the project in a new way,” Cox says. “Editing at home became reflective for me, and I realized the importance of words like ‘ally,’ ‘advocate’ and ‘accomplice’ in my own life. I put my all into this story, and I hope readers will reflect on the words defining their lives.”

Christian says she was intrigued by how the students each approached the assignment. “Of course, they had to do evidencebased reporting and fact-based research to report their stories, but I think their reporting angles were initially informed by their individual backgrounds, age, academic and personal interests — so we ended up with a rich package of stories no single reporter could have produced,” she says.

Student Raine Kuch, whose reporting on the word “border” takes a look at how zoning creates borders on a local level, says that “to be given a word and told to find the story around it challenged my creativity and my understanding of this community.”

“This project challenged my idea of what is newsworthy,” she adds. “It doesn't have to be a breaking news event. It can be a topic or issue that affects the community, and be beneficial to draw attention to.”

Encore is proud to publish in this issue a number of the stories that resulted from the Reporting a Word Project. Readers will find stories on the words “ally,” “borders,” “civility” and “immigrant.” In addition, September’s issue of Encore will feature two additional stories from the project.

“Regrettably, there were more excellent stories produced in this project than we could accommodate in a single issue,” says Encore Editor Marie Lee. “We are thrilled, however, to bring the community the stories that we can and that Professor Christian and the students were willing to share their work. Readers will find that these stories provide new, fresh perspectives on many aspects of our community.”

WMU Professor Sue Ellen Christian speaks to journalism students.

Immigrant : Different backgrounds, different reasons: Immigrants share their stories 14 16 20 22 In this issue: Ally : ‘All About Love in the End’ Borders : Lines of Separation: How Zoning is Shaping Kalamazoo Civility : Incivility a big issue in online news environment www.encorekalamazoo.com | 13