The Queen's Journal, Volume 148, Issue 7

the journal Queen’s University

dining hall Take-out option creates excess waste

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Climate activism needs to acknowledge racism exists

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Corporations need climate accountabilty

Vol. 148, Issue 7

Friday, September 25, 2020

Situated on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples.

Since 1873

T he C limate I ssue In this week’s video, The Journal heads across the Lake to learn about the Wolfe Island windmills and how they impact the environment

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Queen’s must consult AMS during pandemic

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role of sports in combating climate change

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Music creates climate consciousness

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Choosing a plant-based milk alternative

Page 15

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The testing centre is located in Mitchell Hall.

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

Queen’s tests 400 students at COVID-19 testing centre in first week Centre meets demand, gets mixed reviews from students Julia Harmsworth Assistant News Editor After its first week of operations, the Queen’s COVID-19 testing centre is provoking mixed responses from student users.

The centre opened in Mitchell Hall on Sept. 15 for pre-booked appointments Monday to Friday from 5 to 8 p.m.

According to Cynthia Gibney, executive director of Student Wellness Services (SWS), about 400 students were tested at the centre last week.

Three students have tested

positive for COVID-19, with the University confirming the latest case on Thursday. The students have followed the necessary Public Health protocols and are self-isolating.

Madeleine Prins-Gervais, ArtSci ’21, was tested at Mitchell Hall on Monday. She said the whole process took approximately 30 minutes.

“It was a very easy and

seamless process,” she told The Journal. “Everything was very well organized.”

Upon arriving at the centre, she waited outside to be called in.

At the time of her appointment, the centre was running about 20 minutes late.

“I think they did a really good job, and it’s a great option for the Queen’s community and just the general public,” Prins-Gervais said.

Friday, September 25, 2020

The centre opened on Sept. 15.

Brett Scott, ArtSci ’21, said he went to the Leon’s Centre to get tested on the morning of Sept. 15.

He told The Journal he wanted to get tested as soon as possible—he works in a hospital—and didn’t want to wait for the Queen’s testing centre to open.

After waiting for five hours in line, he was informed they wouldn’t test Queen’s students.

Scott called SWS and—after being on hold for an hour—was able to get an appointment at the Queen’s testing centre that evening.

He showed up for his scheduled appointment and waited for over an hour before he was tested.

“My experience actually in the testing centre, getting tested, was good and the nurse was really helpful,” Scott said. “But getting set up and actually trying to get into the centre was a little frustrating.”

Queen’s alumni partner with University to launch NetZero Gabrielle Cotton Contributor

In the Queen’s University Climate Action Plan, Queen’s committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2040.

The app NetZero hopes to help the University and its students achieve this goal.

NetZero is an app that will allow Queen’s students to track their carbon footprint by logging the food they purchase. They hope to partner with student-run food providers to indicate the most sustainable menu options, allowing students to make educated choices in real-time.

NetZero was started in May 2019 and developed by Queen’s students and faculty over the past year. Now, it’s set to launch in early October.

“The app is for Queen’s students

by Queen’s students,” Jennifer Bunning, a graduate of Queen’s Masters of Public Administration program and CEO of NetZero, said in an interview with The Journal. “Convenience is a really big barrier for a lot of people, they want to be sustainable but don’t know how.”

The app creators are planning to partner with Queen’s Hospitality Services.

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

Reducing the campus carbon footprint: new app will help students make sustainable food choices

The app’s partnerships with the University will provide a comfortable and manageable way of measuring one’s carbon footprint right at their doorstep.

For example, the app creators are planning to partner with Queen’s Hospitality Services and student-run food providers on campus to get the NetZero logo on their menus, identifying

low-carbon items.

“Right now, it will be a log of sustainable food items that you purchase,” Bunning said, adding that she hopes the app will get people in the habit of tracking and reducing their carbon.

The measurement of sustainable food and food products is done by measuring food products’ value through a

life cycle analysis. The NetZero team looks at everything in the cycle of a food product, including transportation, water used to grow the crop, and packaging.

They have been working closely with Warren Mabee, associate dean and director of the School of Policy Studies, to ensure the life cycle analysis is correct.

“We know that cost and

PHOTO BY MATT SCACE

According Gibney, demand for the centre is being met so far—all testing requests have been booked and hours of operation are being monitored to ensure demand will continue to be met.

“This clinic’s mandate remains prioritizing students that screen positive—that is: they have symptoms, they have travelled outside Canada, or they been in direct contact with a positive case,” she wrote in a statement to The Journal. “We may be able to book additional students, but only if the clinic is not full with priority tests.”

Students receive their test results within three to five days.

“Regretfully we have seen several no-shows at the testing centre,” Gibney added. “It is important that students make every effort to keep their booked appointments or advise us if they cannot make it so that we can ensure we are able to complete as many tests as possible.”

Students can call 613-533-2506 to book an appointment at the centre. convenience are two of the biggest barriers, and if we can educate [the students] and also reward them, then we think this is the magic that will really get people to reduce their carbon,” Bunning said, noting that the app and its website have a variety of resources that will help do both.

NetZero also aims to educate students about how they can be more sustainable.

“Education is a really big pillar of what we want to do,” Bunning said.

On their website, a blog provides readers with tips about being more sustainable, as well as lists of stores and resources in Kingston where readers can shop to further reduce their carbon footprint.

While this is only the first edition of the app, the creators plan to release updates that would include incentives for students to reduce their carbon footprint.

The rewards may include redeeming the carbon saved from their food choices for a free coffee or a discount on food at one of the University’s student-run restaurants.

“If we can incentivize Queen’s students to choose more sustainable options, we can help Queen’s reduce their footprint,” Bunning said.

However, sustainable food choices aren’t where the creators want the app development to stop.

“Eventually, we want to bring in things like transportation or even electricity.”

Friday, September 25, 2020

New dining hall take-out option creates additional waste Increased packaging includes take-out container, beverage cup, and cutlery/napkin set

Julia Harmsworth Assistant News Editor

As Queen’s adapts to the “new normal” in residence, sustainability has taken a back seat to health and safety.

Residence dining halls opened in September with a new feature: meals to-go. Students are encouraged to use this option to minimize the number of students in the dining halls and to increase physical distancing efforts.

“Sustainability is complex and requires everyone to do their part. Hospitality Services remains committed to minimizing waste as much as possible,” Jessica Bertrand, wellness and sustainability manager for Hospitality Services, wrote in a statement to The Journal.

“While COVID-19 has required the use of more meals to-go, and a resulting increase in the use of packaging, we are working hard to keep sustainability top of mind.”

News

Reusable containers aren’t permitted by Public Health.

Limited dine-in capacity is still available in the dining halls, but chairs are spaced two metres apart to maintain physical distancing.

Students who choose the take-out option receive one compostable to-go container, plastic cutlery with a napkin in a plastic bag, a paper beverage cup with a plastic lid, and a paper straw.

Items like fruit cups and desserts are also available, pre-packaged in plastic containers.

Students collect their food from the dining hall as usual, and then use the designated tables to

Queen’s Black Academic Society offers first-year mentorship program

Program aims to help Black first-year students navigate transition to University Julia Stratton Contributor Queen’s Black Academic Society (QBAS) is launching a remote mentorship program to pair self-identifying Black first-year students with an upper year mentor who can help them navigate the transition to Queen’s.

“Our mentorship program’s focus on linking self-identified first year students and upper year students is especially important because it offers a welcoming hand and support in navigating experiences specific to BIPOC students at a predominantly white institution,” Michaela Patterson, leader of the QBAS mentorship program, wrote in a statement to The Journal.

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Though the Black Lives Matter can recount a time where they Movement has been prevalent in experienced microaggressions, the media over the last few months, discomfort, felt unsafe, or were Patterson said the need for a targets of hate speech.” program that allows self-identified Since the University confirmed Black students to connect the majority of classes will be and support each other held remotely in the 2020-21 year, stretches far beyond the more QBAS transferred its program to recent surge of consciousness an online setting. about the Black Lives Although the remote setting Matter Movement. has its challenges, Patterson Racism is still a problem at said the mentorship program Queen’s, said Patterson, and QBAS is important for creating a provides a strong community safe community, especially for for Black individuals so they students feeling isolated. can combat discrimination and “The remote setting of the prejudice as a group rather than program this year also makes standing alone. it more convenient to facilitate Mentors in the program provide communication and interaction resources, advice, and empathy between the mentee and to ensure a smooth transition mentors because they don’t have to Queen’s both academically to rely on physical proximity,” and socially.

Patterson wrote.

“The ongoing Black Lives QBAS facilitates many academic Matter Movement emphasizes and professional opportunities community strengthening, a focus for students. Patterson said one on the advancement of black advantage of the program being populations, and resisting anti- held remotely is that it fosters even black racism—all goals of our more networking opportunities program,” Patterson wrote. to members beyond the scope of “It’s disheartening to say, but the club’s events. many Black students at Queen’s “We hope that the remote

PHOTO BY RAECHEL HUIZINGA

transfer their food from the plate into the to-go container.

The to-go container is compostable, the cutlery and beverage cup are garbage, and the plastic containers are recyclable.

“Wherever possible, we are using fibre containers that are compostable,” Bertrand wrote.

Hospitality Services developed the take-out option in collaboration with Kingston, Frontenac, and Lennox and Addington (KFL&A) and the University’s Senior Leadership team.

With help from the Sustainability Office, Hospitality Services also updated its recycling signage with images of the packaging available to make the sorting process easier.

Hospitality Services implemented a one-compostable container system on Sept. 17 to reduce the amount of packaging being used and increase ease of transportation.

“With reusable containers currently not permitted as per

Public Health recommendations, the amount of packaging has increased with the shift of meals to-go on campus,” Bertrand wrote.

“While we expected the increase, we noticed quickly that it was resulting in waste that wasn’t being sorted properly.

We also saw that students were having difficulty carrying multiple items.”

In the past year, Hospitality Services and the Sustainability Office reviewed the packaging to make necessary changes, like using compostable alternatives for as much of it as possible.

“It is important to know that recycling and organics bins contaminated with garbage are to be disposed of as waste,” Bertrand wrote. “It is important for students to take the time to sort their waste and packaging into the proper receptacles to ensure they are composted or recycled.”

setting of our mentorship program will encourage students to see that sites, like LinkedIn and social media, offer a vast networking pool that they can tap into outside of organized events and programs,” she wrote.

Patterson added that QBAS’ mentorship program is “especially important” this year because it’s

designed to help participants overcome feelings of isolation and disconnection.

“We want first-year students to know that there is a community here that will support and guide them,” she said.

Applications to participate in the program are due Oct. 11.

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Friday, September 25, 2020

Advocacy Coalition hopes to improve communication between students and University administration QBACC partners with clubs, Undergraduate Trustee to advocate for intersectional policy reform Megan Fanjoy Contributor Queen’s Backing Action on Climate Change (QBACC) and the Undergraduate Trustee have partnered to form an Advocacy Coalition addressing systemic inequities on Queen’s campus.

After attending the Queen’s Student Diversity Project June event, “Join the Discussion,” QBACC reached out to Undergraduate Trustee Shoshannah Bennett-Dwara to facilitate a consultation process for some of QBACC’s Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigeneity (EDII) initiatives and discuss the possibility of an advocacy coalition.

“After we watched the Diversity Project’s event, it became really clear to me that for a lot of non-white people at Queen’s, their experience is defined by a feeling like the other,” QBACC Co-President Nick Lorraway said in an interview with The Journal.

QBACC and the Undergraduate Trustee formed the coalition

with Queen’s Indian Student To ensure it’s representing Association (QISA), Queen’s Black everyone at Queen’s and taking Pre-Medical Society (QBPMS), a holistic view, Bennet-Dwara Queen’s Women of Colour said the Coalition has taken an Collective (QWCC), Queen’s Hallah intersectional approach to its Group, Queen’s Black Academic advocacy work.

Society (QBAS), and Queen’s “The importance of Student Diversity Project (QSDP). intersectionality can literally not Bennett-Dwara told The be overlooked in any scenario Journal the Coalition hopes to where you are working on policy collect opinions and information and legislation,” she said. “You about issues of shared interest and can’t make effective policy without “lobby and advocate for changes intersectionality, they literally go in policy that then best reflect hand in hand.” the interests of the QTBIPOC Regarding the types of policy community at Queen’s.” changes they’ll be advocating for She emphasized the University in the future, both Bennett-Dwara has paths of communication in and Lorraway explained the place that students can leverage direction the Coalition takes is up to share their concerns, but these to the member clubs. existing channels also pose a “It really depends on the variety of accessibility issues. interest and priorities of the “Sometimes there’s a huge group members,” Lorraway said. barrier to students within Queen’s “We have quite a few ideas we’re who are directly experiencing interested in pursuing, but at the Queen’s campus culture and the end of the day it’s going to everything that comes along with be the people that make up the that to getting their message all committee that will decide what the way to the highest level of the committee does.” government,” Bennett-Dwara said.

Bennett-Dwara added that As a member of the University’s she has mentioned the Advocacy Board of Trustees, Bennett-Dwara Coalition to some members of said her position will enable the University administration, her to create an effective line of including the Secretariat, who communication between students suggested the group may play a and University administration. role in the consultation process With this form of for the new harassment policy the communication, she said the University is developing.

Coalition will be able to funnel “Because we are a group of the concerns of the QTBIPOC equity seeking students [...] there community at Queen’s in a more is also a possibility of us being effective manner. used as a means of consultation for clubs that are now just starting to enhance their EDII frameworks and mandates,” Bennett-Dwara said.

“We’re just starting up, but I really do see the Coalition as a force to be reckoned with on the Queen’s campus.”

SGPS petitions against ARC fee for graduate students

Amidst the pandemic, the Society of Graduate and Professional Students (SGPS) is advocating for the University to grant refunds to graduate students who request their ARC fee back.

The Fair Fees for Students campaign comes months after the SGPS’ call to have summer tuition fees suspended or reduced was denied by the University.

According to the campaign, the decision resulted in “graduate students facing economic hardship due to summer job

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences hangs Pride and Indigenous flags School hopes flags will create a welcoming space Claudia Rupnik News Editor Months after the flags at the Four Directions Indigenous Student Centre were vandalized, the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies (SKHS) hung Pride and Indigenous flags in the windows of its building.

SKHS hung an Anishinaabe flag, a Haudenosaunee Two Row Wampum, a Haudenosaunee Confederacy flag, a Métis Nation flag, an LGBTQ+ Pride flag, and a Trans+ Pride flag on Sept. 17.

“As a School, we were distressed by the acts of vandalism directed at the Four Directions Indigenous Student Centre over the summer and, more broadly, we’ve been seeking ways to reflect our School values in our physical

increased financial hardship that could be eased by a waived ARC fee on behalf of the University. has resulted in conversation Bannerman explained that with various members of an ARC refund will directly lead administration about the need and to increased student financial logistics surrounding a refund. support and hopes it would “An ideal outcome for our Fair encourage more responsible Fees petition would be for the and transparent spending of ARC to offer a refund for the student fees by Queen’s and students who request it. This other services. would allow for a financial burden According to the SGPS, graduate to be relieved from students students are only guaranteed a loss and considerable future who are in greatest need, who certain number of years of funding: employment uncertainty.” may not be living in Kingston, two for Master’s and four for Ph.D. “We request that fees be or are immunocompromised students. Many research labs have adjusted based on the services or live with someone who is,” been closed since March or have that will be offered, not the Bannerman wrote. had restricted access in recent services wished to be provided,” The campaign states that months, with special collections the campaign states. “We request upwards of 25 per cent of the or archives still not running at that the ARC provide refunds to international graduate student full capacity. the students who request it, as population has returned home and “Although the School of Graduate Queen’s has encouraged students are unable to access the ARC, with Studies put protocols in place to not to return to campus this fall, the majority of students extending allow for extended funding, this and many students will be unable their semesters due to restricted was for one additional semester to do so due to health, travel, and access to libraries and laboratories for students graduating in August financial restrictions.” and medical students seeing an 2020,” Bannerman wrote.

Courtney Bannerman, SGPS outright ban on ARC access as they “Many graduate students who vice-president (Graduate), told prepare for clinical classes. were not graduating in August The Journal the petition currently According to the campaign, are worried about how months has over 1,000 signatures and these factors are creating of restricted access to their

Campaign calls on University to waive fees, ease financial burdens Simone Manning Assistant News Editor

The flags are hanging in the building’s windows.

environment,” Kyra Pykek, director of the SKHS, wrote in a statement to The Journal.

Pykek said the School of Kinesiology decided to hang the flags to show its support and solidarity with Four Directions and make a visible statement against acts of hatred and violence directed toward Indigenous and LGBTQ+ communities.

“We are committed to fostering a sense of belonging in SKHS for Indigenous, racialized, and LGBTQ+ students,” Pykek said. “It is our hope that the flags in our foyer will create a welcoming space in the School.”

Read more at queensujournal.ca

research space will affect their ability to complete their degree within the 2 or 4 years. This level of stress has affected students’ [abilities] to work as well as their personal lives.”

Regarding future initiatives for graduate student support, Bannerman detailed an alliance between the SGPS and the International Student Working Group campaigning for domestic tuition rates for research-based graduate students.

“Queen’s international graduate students work in the same research groups as domestic students producing the same level of high-quality research,” Bannerman wrote. “Unfortunately, due to high tuition rates, they often find themselves in financially challenging places and under a great deal of stress. Lowering tuition rates for research-based graduate students will not only allow students to devote more energy to their work but will also enable Queen’s to continue to attract top research talent.”

Friday, September 25, 2020

News

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Queen’s to install free menstrual product dispensers next week The University isn’t sharing how many students have been in an isolation residence since they opened up earlier this month.

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

‘I got my test results seven days after I showed symptoms’: Students worried the University can’t stop an outbreak

One first-year student calls isolation residences “an extreme quarantine” Claudia Rupnik News Editor Nick, whose name has been changed for safety reasons, is a first-year engineering student living in residence who developed COVID-19 symptoms on Sept. 14. He was moved into the isolation residence at David C. Smith Hall the next day.

To prevent the spread of the virus, students living in residence who self-identify as having symptoms of COVID-19 or test positive for the virus are moved to an isolation space until they receive direction from a healthcare professional to cease isolation.

The University has allocated 136 beds in Smith and 90 in the JDUC for isolation requirements.

“On Monday night, I felt like I had a sore throat and a cough—the symptoms of COVID-19, but no fever,” Nick told The Journal. “The next day, I called to find out where to get tested.”

“They told me I had to go to an isolation residence because I was showing symptoms.”

He moved that night and tried to book an appointment for a COVID-19 test at the University’s satellite testing centre in Mitchell Hall. The next available appointment was on Thursday.

“I called Tuesday and the earliest appointment was Thursday—which is concerning,” Nick said, adding that all of his symptoms went away on Wednesday before he was able to get tested.

He described the testing centre as “disorganized,” though he acknowledged it was only its second day of operation when he visited the centre.

“We were placed in a room where we’re all waiting, not really spaced out a full two-metres,” Nick said. “Some of the staff weren’t wearing proper PPE, just a face mask.”

As an out of province student, he was instructed to call back two days later to get his results.

“I called Saturday, and there was no one answering the phones,” Nick said. “They’re all closed during the weekends. I couldn’t

get my results on the weekend and that’s concerning in the sense where if someone tests positive they can’t find out until the weekend is over.”

“The virus doesn’t take breaks on the weekends. You’re trying to stop an ongoing pandemic, an outbreak at Queen’s.”

He spent the rest of the weekend in isolation, which he said operates on an “honour system.”

Students who arrive at Smith House are given a code via email to open a lockbox and get a fob for entering the building. Then, they are asked to take the elevator upstairs to their assigned room and open another lockbox with a fob for the building and their room.

Nick added there’s “no security in any sense” in the isolation residences that would prevent someone from leaving the building.

“If someone had COVID-19, they could leave, party all night, and come back,” Nick said.

He noticed there were three or four other people in his wing of the building and said there were “probably” 12 people in total on his floor.

When The Journal asked the University how many students had been placed in isolation residences since they opened, Leah Wales, executive director of Housing and Ancillary Services, said it’s not sharing the numbers with the public.

“We are not reporting the numbers of students doing this as some people may conflate these figures with positive COVID-19 results,” Wales wrote. “The University will report on positive cases.”

The University confirmed one student living in residence tested positive for COVID-19 on Sept. 24.

She added that “affected students, Dons and staff” will be contacted about known positive cases. “[T]he ability to isolate those feeling unwell, during testing or following a positive test is a critical part of the residence occupancy plan developed with advice from KFL&A Public Health,” Wales wrote.

Nick said food was delivered once a day at 5 p.m., which included one hot meal and some sandwiches and snacks to last until

Period products will be available in the JDUC, Queen’s Centre, and Stauffer Claudia Rupnik News Editor After COVID-19 related delays, the University shared it will be installing dispensers for free menstrual products on Sept. 28.

Samuel Whyte, director of Quality and Service Excellence (Custodial), told The Journal that the University is “kicking off [the project] with the JDUC, Stauffer, and Queen’s Centre.”

The AMS announced on April 30 that the University had committed to installing and stocking free menstrual products in high-traffic buildings on campus. However, the University was unable to provide a timeline for when the project would be implemented because of the pandemic’s impact on operations.

The initiative, funded by Vice-Principal (Finance and Administration) Donna Janiec, was spearheaded by the 2019-20 AMS executive to make pads and tampons more physically accessible in the Queen’s community.

The Engineering Society (EngSoc) is also looking into the possibility of implementing menstrual product stations in the Integrated Learning Centre (ILC).

EngSoc President Spencer Lee said the project was “inspired” by the AMS’s initiative.

“Depending on the success of these trials, we would love to see this initiative continue on into the ILC where there is traditionally a high traffic volume for engineering students,” Lee wrote in a statement to The Journal.

Lee added the Society is unable to provide a timeline for the project because the ILC is currently closed to the public due to physical-distancing guidelines.

the next day. He said it was “a lot of junk food,” but “you could get all your nutrients” from the selection.

“With the isolation residences, they’re doing the best they can, but it’s kind of designed in a way where students won’t be honest about if they have symptoms after hearing about all of the situations—how people are getting locked up for six days in a small room,” Nick said.

Wales told The Journal that students in isolation are “contacted daily” as part of a protocol to ensure their welfare and all feedback that can help “make things better” is taken into consideration.

Nick said first-year students could see isolation residences as “a big waste of time” because the process of getting test results back is slow and inefficient.

“It’s mentally very numbing because you’re alone and it’s an extreme quarantine because you can’t see [anyone while you’re there,]” Nick said. “They’d rather just isolate in their own residence and wait it out.”

He said he knows three other students who have chosen to isolate in their own rooms until their symptoms went away because “they’d rather have their friends order them food.”

On Monday, Nick was informed that his test results were negative and moved out of isolation.

“I got my test results seven days after I showed symptoms,” Nick said. “It was a bad storm—not getting tested right away, getting tested close to a weekend—but still quite concerning to be seven days after [portraying] symptoms.”

“The point is to stop people from spreading it, to stop the chain—how do you stop the chain after seven days? […] I don’t see Queen’s stopping [an outbreak in residence] because of the rate [at which] people are getting tested.”

He said the friends he’d been in close contact with also developed symptoms during the week he was in isolation.

“By then, all of my friends, ones I shared joints with, they were sharing symptoms and they weren’t sure if it was COVID-19 or not. They didn’t want to get put in isolation so they didn’t say anything.”

Period products.

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

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Friday, September 25, 2020

The Queen’s community discusses the connections between climate activism, capitalism, and anti-racism Aysha Tabassum Features Editor

Gender Studies, said “[t]he contributions of Black, Brown, and POC are erased by whiteness, and by the white academy.”

BIPOC in climate activism can be subject to harsh criticism, alienation, and even violence. In 2019, a record number of environmentalists were executed globally. Indigenous people made up 40 per cent of the deaths, despite making up five per cent of the global population.

This piece uses “Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC)” to refer to the experiences of racialized students. We acknowledge this term is not universal.

Shoshannah Bennett-Dwara, undergraduate student trustee, knows the fight for climate justice goes hand in hand with fighting racism.

“Environmental justice means not only are we advocating for the betterment of the planet, but we have to make sure that we’re advocating for Black lives and POC,” she said in an interview with The Journal.

We’re in a climate crisis, and it’s going to impact BIPOC in vulnerable communities more harshly than it will privileged white Canadians. Whether it be here in Canada, where Indigenous ways of living are being threatened, or abroad, where a migrant crisis is brewing, it’s time for climate action to include environmental justice.

Bennett-Dwara explained that, in addition to not having their needs considered in addressing the climate crisis, BIPOC can also be ignored in activist spaces.

“There are a lot of Black environmentalists, but they are also, at the same time, advocating for their own existence, and it’s hard for them to make time for both things.”

Queen’s Backing Action on Climate Change (QBACC) executive member Jadyn Kuah described environmental justice as “taking an intersectional approach to environmentalism and its issues.”

Kuah recognized how climate activism has historically alienated BIPOC and lowincome communities, using white veganism as an example.

“While we all want to make more sustainable decisions in our own individual lives, we have to recognize that that’s not possible for everyone,” she said.

David McDonald, professor in Global Development Studies, said, “Environmental injustice is the maldistribution of environmental bads as well as access to environmental goods.”

According to McDonald, environmental goods—like clean air and peaceful spaces—are often distributed only to certain communities, while ‘bads’ may manifest themselves more in racialized and Indigenous communities.

As much as McDonald focuses on environmental injustice, he also tries to focus on creating opportunities around environmental goods. For example, McDonald is camping this weekend, but acknowledges that activity as inaccessible to those outside of the white middle class.

Karen Lawford, assistant professor in

For Indigenous folks, the Climate Crisis is already here Indigenous communities in Canada and abroad will be affected by the impending climate crisis in devastating ways—including, but not limited to, disruptions to the food sources of those dependant on hunting, deforestation driving Indigenous folks out of their own land, and glacial melts reducing long-term water supplies.

“It’s impacting [Indigenous communities] already,” Sharon Clarke, associate director at the Office of Indigenous Initiatives, told The Journal.

“Inuit elders in the North tell us that [climate change] is changing food supply, changing the migration of Caribou. The melting sea ice and permafrost is changing the ability of Inuit to go on the ice.”

elders in the North tell “ Inuit us that [climate change] is

changing food supply, changing the migration of Caribou. The melting sea ice and permafrost is changing the ability of Inuit to go on the ice.

The hunting practices, culture, and economic viability of Inuit communities are already being threatened by rapidly melting ice sheets.

McDonald also said that, in Indigenous communities, tens of thousands of people are still under boil water advisories.

“It’s shocking that Canada cannot address something as simple as clean, affordable water.”

It’s shocking that Canada cannot “address something as simple as clean, affordable water.

The reason for this imbalance, according to McDonald, may lie in the foundations of global capitalism.

“The challenges around global inequality and how people are faced with these kinds of environmental injustices on a daily basis […] is a bigger structural problem around power relationships and big global capital, and who’s calling the shots.”

Eleanor MacDonald, department head of Political Studies, said that in the West, a dominant paradigm of property ownership allows people to presume they can take ownership of most things around us—including land and natural resources—which isn’t sustainable.

“This use of the planet as if it was there for us to make profit from, and in a way that requires for our economy to continue that there be a constant expansion of the use of resources, is going to run up against the limits of the planet’s capacity,” she said.

Features Protecting the planet includes protecting the most vulnerable

ILLUSTRATION BY TESSA WARBURTON

use of the planet “asThis if it was there for us

to make profit from [...] is going to run up against the limits of the planet’s capacity.

MacDonald knows that short-term solutions like buying green or locally

Friday, September 25, 2020 aren’t adequate in addressing the climate crisis.

“We’re not [going to] save the world by shopping.

We’re [going to] have to actually take a serious look at our own value system and at the longevity of capitalism given the likelihood that it is running into its limits.”

Creating climate solutions may have to involve addressing the structures which are preventing the preservation of communities who will be most impacted by the climate crisis. That will require a significant shift in mindset.

Clarke also said that, to address the climate crisis in a way that will protect all communities, and not just non-Indigenous ones, “we need to refocus and transform our thinking to one of stewardship.”

When we think about the environment, we should be thinking seven generations ahead, and I think that’s what people are missing. They’re just thinking about now and taking as much oil or gas or diamonds as they can out of the earth without thinking of what’s [going to] be there seven generations down.”

Climate activism needs to acknowledge racism exists In 2014, Greenpeace issued an official apology to Inuit for their seal campaigns, which painted the hunting of seals as an inherently evil practice without considering the role and sustainability of seal hunting in the lives of Canada’s Indigenous peoples.

“I think climate activism needs to acknowledge racism exists. That’s part of the work,” MacDonald said.

“We are not all in this together. Yes, all of us are affected by planetary damage […] but we know who is more affected, who is more vulnerable.”

are not all in this together. “ We Yes, all ofus are affected by

planetary damage [...] but we know who is more affected, who is more vulnerable.

Nick Lorraway, QBACC president, recognizes the presence of racism in Canadian activism, particularly with the tokenization of Indigenous folks, pointing to the common practice of Canadian climate activists using Indigenous rights as a “third point to helping support their arguments.”

Lorraway saw this during protests against the construction of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, a project which many Indigenous communities across Canada supported.

Arguments made about pipelines built on Indigenous lands are varied. Projects may bring a loss of sovereignty for Indigenous folks, but they may also bring short-term economic prospects, causing some to believe that the fossil fuel industry is a key part of reconciliation.

Theissueismorecomplexthanthatand,forMacDonald, it appears that “Indigenous peoples are being encouraged [by the fossil fuel industry] to begin to look at their land as resources to be exploited and as ways of advancing themselves economically.”

When multinational companies want to build pipelines, they often do so on Indigenous land. Clarke said this practice, which may take advantage of low-income people, threatens Indigenous sovereignty.

“The destruction of lands results in a loss of our ability to steward the land […] The system has been working to tie our hands in many ways, to devalue our contributions, to disconnect us from the land.”

destruction of lands results “inThea loss of our ability to steward the land [...] The system has been working to tie our hands in many ways, to devalue our contributions.

Clarke feels that we should all be wary of how oil and gas companies are actually treating the communities where they carry out their work.

“When a company comes by and waves money in their faces […] what usually happens is we get the lowerlevel jobs and the impact on the community is on our health. If there’s going to be [economic] development, we have to do it in a different way.”

Lorraway acknowledged that, on campus, QBACC hasn’t done enough to amplify Indigenous voices or address the needs of Indigenous communities already

queensjournal.ca • 7

feeling the impacts of the climate crisis.

“We definitely had a bit of a tunnel vision on divestment. […] We should’ve done more consultation and we should’ve had more BIPOC voices involved in our activism,” he said.

In an effort to change that, he consulted with BennettDwara early this summer to reform QBACC’s mandate. Those interactions resulted in the creation of the Diversity Advocacy Coalition—a collection of equity-seeking student groups at Queen’s. “[T]he purpose of undertaking the creation of the advocacy coalition was to […] lobby and advocate for the changes in policy that best reflect the interests of the QTBIPOC community at Queen’s,” Bennett-Dwara said.

QBACC will act as a facilitator for the group, offering up guidance. Lorraway would like to apply how QBACC operates in other areas of policy to where it may benefit BIPOC-focused initiatives.

“Resilience and adaptation are always asked of people who are the most impacted but have the least resources. Why can’t we adapt ourselves here instead?”

Resilience and adaptation are always “ asked of people who are the most impacted but have the least resources. Why can’t we adapt ourselves here instead?

McDonald said the consumption model in the West would benefit from such adaptation.

“We are massive consumers internationally of things where we’ve put production offshore. We think we don’t produce much pollution through industry but, in fact, we’ve just relocated that industrial pollution.”

Moving forward How the Global South pays for western consumerism North Americans are driving the climate crisis, but that doesn’t mean only vulnerable North American communities will be devastated by it. In the Global South, a term encapsulating developing nations located mostly near the tropics, rising sea levels are leading to deadly floods, famine, and storms—all of which are driving a migrant crisis.

“It’s obviously forced people to move—drought, loss of biodiversity, loss of access to food sources, and incomes,” McDonald said. “Environmental change has altered people’s ability to make a living and produce and reproduce themselves. It’s been a major driver of forced migration.”

obviously forced people to move— “It’sdrought, loss of biodiversty, loss of

access to food sources, and incomes [...]

Environmental change has altered people’s ability to make a living and produce and reproduce themselves. It’s been a major driver of forced migrations.

Reena Kukreja, assistant professor in Global Development Studies, has been studying the migrant patterns of Bangladeshi men and women. Many in this region of the world are being displaced from their homes as land becomes increasingly unlivable.

“Displacement happens at multiple levels—displacement happens from their land that’s historically belonged to them, displacement happens from livelihood resources, but it also happens from their culture. […] That’s a sense of loss which is irreparable,” she said.

“

Displacement happens at multiple levels—displacement happens from their land that’s historically belonged to them, displacement happens from livelihood resources, but it also happens from their culture [...] That’s a sense of loss which is irreparable.

Migrant workers moving within the Global South, as well as to Europe, are more vulnerable to having their labour exploited.

Many are undocumented and, as a result, likely to work in subpar conditions.

Many of the Bangladeshi men Kukreja has spoken to leave their homes due to increased flooding, salination of soil, or unsustainable agriculture, stating that they “wouldn’t have left [their] homes if [their] land were able to sustain [them].”

Women and girls are uniquely impacted, especially those who are married off after having to leave their communities.

Kukreja recounted meeting a marriage broker who specifically sought out women and girls from families impacted by cyclones.

“People were able to prey on these women and their families and compromise them into accepting such marriages, which displace them totally from their community and support structures.”

able to prey on these women “People wereand their families

Despite making up only eight per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions, the Global South has been pressured to adapt to the effects of climate change through means like changing their agricultural practices or moving away from their native regions. Kukreja would like to see North Americans take more responsibility.

“I’m sorry that this is your role at all,” Lawford said, addressing the young people engaging in climate activism.

“I hope as professors we’re trusting and encouraging the youth enough to do the work that they want to do so when they say ‘this system’s crap’ we go […] ‘Okay, how can we, with our power and knowledge, assist you and work together?’”

I hope that as professors we’re trusting “and encouraging the youth enough to do the work they want to do.

Students at Queen’s looking to engage in climate activism have a daunting task in front of them. From here onward, true environmental justice will have to incorporate anti-racism, stewardship, and anti-colonialism.

Before educating, Lorraway said it’s important for students to understand their own positionality—their status and privilege in relation to the systems around them—before they can advocate solutions that help everyone.

“It’s easy to get really defensive in this sort of area, because it feels very accusatory a lot of time, but it’s about understanding that it’s about moving forward and making it better for tomorrow.”

Bennett-Dwara suggested students start with learning about the connections between racism, environmental justice, and climate change. She recommended first taking a look at the intersectional environmentalist pledge.

Kuah added there are plenty of available courses on campus—like Introduction to Indigenous Studies, for example—that clarify the context of environmental justice.

Lawford emphasized this is an effective way to not only get educated but support Black and Indigenous academics.

“Don’t expect individual people to sit with you and teach you. Pay them, honour their work, and take their courses.”

Don’t expect individual people to sit with “you and teach you. Pay them, honour their ILLUSTRATION BY TESSA WARBURTON

work, and take their courses.

MacDonald encouraged doing as much self-study as possible, whether it be through reading, attending speaker series, or volunteering. As a starting point, she recommended reading the works of environmentalists such as Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Val Plumwood, and Leanna Betasamosake Simpson.

She warned, however, that this shouldn’t keep students from placing high value on the lived experiences of BIPOC. “If you are a white student and you are fortunate enough to have been exposed to the powerful and important words of people like James Baldwin or Angela Davis or Martin Luther King Jr., that doesn’t make you the expert on racism. Somebody who’s a racialized person who hasn’t had the benefit of your education doesn’t need you to become the expert on their lives.”

If you are a white student and you are “fortunate enough to have been exposed

to the powerful and important works of people like James Baldwin or Angela Davis or Martin Luther King Jr. that doesn’t make you the expert on racism. Somebody who’s a racialized person [...] doesn’t need you to become the expert on their lives.

For students looking to educate themselves on anti-colonialism, and practices like thinking ahead seven generations, Clarke recommended looking at the contributions of Indigenous people, rather than just how they’ve been impacted by settlers.

“Recognize and acknowledge them for showing the way.

Despite all the barriers that face Indigenous people, they are stepping forward.”

8 • queensjournal.ca

Friday, September 25, 2020

EDITORIALS

THE QUEEN’S JOURNAL

The Journal’s Perspective

Facebook’s environmental groups suspension error proves onus to fact-check is on us

As social media sites boom, online misinformation is becoming more prevalent—and harmful. Facebook has vowed to fight “fake news” on countless occasions, yet continually fails to target the right people. As social media consumers, we need to stop relying on businesses like Facebook to point out misinformation and take fact-checking into our own hands.

Last week, Facebook launched a new initiative to promote climate science.

Days later it suspended numerous environmentalist groups from the platform, including activists opposing the Coastal GasLink pipeline cutting through Wet’suwet’en land. The suspensions were later chalked up to error.

This isn’t the first time Facebook has vowed to fight misinformation, before royally failing at the task. While its efforts to fight misinformation are admirable, its review system doesn’t work nearly as well as it should.

Large climate activist groups like Greenpeace USA have the resources to fight Facebook’s suspension, but smaller activists, especially Indigenous ones, rely on social platforms to mobilize and might not have PR watching their backs.

Facebook’s suspension-spree wasn’t just a mistake—it was actively harmful to these groups.

Weeding out misinformation should theoretically be straight-forward, yet

some anti-climate action posts can be deemed an opinion and spared the fact-check.

Facebook needs to decide what kind of company it wants to be: either it commits whole-heartedly to fighting fake news, or it abandons the responsibility all together. If it wants to fact-check, it needs to do so in a way that doesn’t harm smaller activists like the environmentalist ones impacted last weekend and doesn’t let false information off on the guise of opinion.

Facebook could rectify this by following in Twitter’s footsteps and targeting larger accounts and government leaders, like US President Donald Trump. With large followings, these accounts are most responsible for the spread of fake news. Paying special attention to the information shared by these accounts would have the most significant effect and might prevent smaller activists from getting caught in the fake news crossfire.

On the other hand, Facebook is a business and our trust of it should only go so far.

At a certain point, we—as social media users—need to take matters into our own hands and be diligent about what we’re reading.

We can start by giving people the tools to fact-check from a young age. In school, we’re taught how to find reliable

daily lives were for the climate crisis.

A huge success, the marketing campaign shifted the responsibility of fossil fuel emissions away from large corporations themselves and onto the individual.

But individual environmental accountability alone won’t end climate change as long as the world’s top polluters continue their actions.

T

Editor in Chief Managing Editor Production Manager

Raechel Huizinga matt scace tessa warburton

News Editor Assistant News Edtors

claudia rupnik Julia Harmsworth Simone Manning

Features Editors

Carolyn Svonkin Aysha Tabassum

Editorials Editor

Chloe Sarrazin Ben Wrixon Nathan Gallagher

Arts Editor

Alysha Mohamed

Assistant Arts Editor

Matt Funk

Sports Editor Lifestyle Editor

Shelby Talbot

Assistant Lifestyle Editor

Kirby Harris

Photo Editor

Jodie Grieve

Video Editor

Lauren Thomas Francesca Lim

Assistant Video Editor

Ryland Piche Hannah Strasdin

Copy Editors

Contributing Staff Contributors Gabrielle Cotton Megan Fanjoy Jared den Otter Jenna Ryan Julia Stratton

ILLUSTRATION BY TESSA WARBURTON

sources, but these sources are most always scholarly. The online world is constantly changing; we need to adapt with it and recognize that social media—with all its misinformation—inevitably plays a role in today’s children’s lives. Navigating it should be taught as such.

Facebook needs to sort out its misinformation policy. In the meantime, we must become better fact-checkers and stop relying on social media platforms to do the work for us.

—Journal Editorial Board

personal responsibility in creating a better world for all, climate action must be reformed from the top down.

Calculating schoolchildren’s carbon footprints and buying ‘green’ products on Amazon does nothing more than promote psychologically manipulative propaganda.

Members of the public have been deceived and distracted from channeling efforts into the climate action that matters: advocating for government change and auren homas accountability. A vote for green energy will do more to save the planet than any attempts to reduce one’s singular footprint ever could.

Litterbugs will be eradicated once all single-use plastics are federally banned.

Individual carbon footprints will be legitimate once renewable energy powers our cities.

Meaningful climate action will be an accessibly PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE attainable goal once we clear the air of While a hundred companies slyly produce maliciously confusing tactics created by 71 per cent of the world’s pollution each year, the fossil fuel industry and start holding average citizens have no choice but to survive them responsible. by living in homes largely powered by coal and gas-generated electricity and commuting Lauren Thomas is a third-year Film and Media to work in gas-powered cars. major and The Journal’s Video Editor.

While it’s vitally important to assume

L

Editorial Board

Opinions Editor

Stop the narrative that climate change is caused by you and me

Personal accountability for the climate crisis isn’t just irrelevant; it was designed and implemented by the world’s biggest polluters. If we want to save our planet, we need to stop blaming everyday people for the declining environment and start holding the real culprit responsible: the fossil fuel industry.

Thanks to brilliant marketing schemes over the past several decades, blaming ourselves and our neighbours for the doom of environmental destruction has become a cultural norm.

The image of litterbugs tossing plastic bags out of car windows is the face of the earth’s environmental crisis and has been ingrained in us for the past five decades.

Energy used to blame average citizens would be better spent taking concrete action and holding the world’s top polluters accountable for their actions.

British Petroleum is one such polluter that has infiltrated our thinking and speech surrounding climate change with their expert marketing campaigns. The company successfully popularized the term “carbon footprint” in 2004, promoting their “carbon footprint calculator” online so individuals could assess how responsible their

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OPINIONS

Friday, September 25, 2020

OPINIONS

queensjournal.ca • 9

Your Perspective

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

Den Otter believes the University needs to better utilize its student leaders.

Queen’s has failed to take advantage of its student leaders during COVID-19.

This can’t continue.

Student leaders are the University's biggest asset while navigating the pandemic This year has been a challenging time for the Queen's community. Adapting to the pandemic has tested staff, students, faculty, and University employees.

The AMS serves and represents the diversity of students at Queen's, but the switch to a remote setting has complicated things. With the University’s worrisome lack of communication regarding COVID-19 and both the student and academic experiences in jeopardy, Queen’s must involve the AMS in the crucial conversations that will affect this community’s well-being.

Throughout the summer, the AMS tried to work with the University to plan for the Fall Semester—questions and concerns about the student experience, health, and safety were often ignored.

Queen’s must understand its student leaders are passionate about supporting the University and its student body during this time.

Student leaders tried to convey that more than 6,600 students would be returning to Kingston for the fall semester, even with remote delivery. The AMS communicated this across several meetings with administration, yet Queen’s did little to prepare.

Despite being the body tasked with representing undergraduate students, much of the information related to COVID-19 has been counterintuitively relayed to the AMS in conjunction with the general public. In the

future, proactive communication between the University and its student leaders could better facilitate essential information. As it stands, there remains plenty of confusion surrounding COVID-19 itself, testing, and safety among the student body.

“Firstly, it isn't clear enough that the campus COVID-19 testing centre is accessible to students, rather than the soon-to-be relocated public centre.”

Firstly, it isn’t clear enough that the campus COVID-19 testing centre is accessible to students, rather than the soon-to-be relocated public centre. Some of the anxiety attributable to COVID-19 and testing could be alleviated with clearer messaging regarding the available options.

With Queen’s students justifiably concerned about their health during COVID-19, the University must do everything within reason to improve the accessibility of its on-campus testing centre.

There needs to be a larger capacity and clearer communication about booking appointments.

The threat posed by COVID-19 to student mental health must also be taken seriously. There is a pressing need for safe social and study opportunities on campus. Offering spaces to study and socialize safely are imperative to ensuring the mental well-being of students—this must become part of campus health and safety protocols.

When the University announced the Fall semester would be remote, it committed to creating an environment where the student

experience wouldn't be forgotten. While students are paying normal tuition fees on top of new financial burdens, it has fallen on student leaders to create this experience without genuine support from Queen’s itself.

These barriers to student success could be remedied by offering accessible study spaces. A task force including students should be implemented to ensure successful remote delivery and to provide a platform for students to voice major concerns to University administration.

Remote learning places undeniable stress on academic life. Many student homes don't offer environments conducive to learning, be it from unstable internet connections or a general lack of private study space.

Student leaders are listening to their peers’ concerns and are able to consult with the University. This one-sided conversation cannot continue.

The Campus Operations Group (COG), the University body overseeing strategies for a phased return to campus, has been adapting to the pandemic, but there's a need to be more open-minded when considering safe ways to unite the Queen's community. Its current protocol is inefficient—in leaving our questions unanswered and ignoring our opening proposals, COG fails to meet the requests of student leaders.

The University and COG should allow club space to be accessed through coordination with the Clubs Commission and the Student Life Centre—together, they could outline a planned safety and cleaning protocol. Our students require safe and accessible ways to experience a sense of community.

Operating a university campus during

a pandemic is admittedly a thankless challenge with innumerable obstacles.

However, even with a second wave lurking, Queen’s has a responsibility to ensure its students receive the best version of the education they pay for.

Queen’s announced on Tuesday that the winter term will be remote, following the precedent set by other universities across Canada. However, Queen’s owes its paying students a commitment to a better academic experience. They deserve a level of interactivity and depth in their courses some students feel aren't being met.

Considering this remote version of the undergraduate experience likely reflects the new normal going forward, transparency is imperative. Students deserve better than subpar communication from the University administration.

To ensure the interest of its tuition payers are being taken into consideration, Queen’s University must consult with the AMS, include its voices in their conversations, and make good of their network to communicate effectively with the student body. Student leaders are an untapped resource during this pandemic.

None of this will be easy. Student leaders and the University can work together to deliver a rewarding academic year, but the merits of having a student government are lost when the institution keeps them in the dark.

COVID-19 isn’t going anywhere. Neither is the AMS.

Jared den Otter is a fifth-year Physical Health Education student and is the President of the AMS.

Arts

10 • queensjournal.ca

Arts

Friday, September 25, 2020

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

The Screening Room resumed business in July.

CURRENT EVENTS

‘A weird, uncanny thing’: Wendy Huot talks The Screening Room going dark during quarantine Indie theatre owner discusses business amidst COVID-19 Nathan Gallagher Arts Editor Wendy Huot was fulfilling a life-long dream when she bought the popular indie theatre, The Screening Room. Now, in the face of the pandemic, it faces its greatest challenge.

In an interview with The Journal, Huot talked about her love of movies, why buying The Screening Room was a dream come true, and measures she and her staff have taken to improve the theatre and keep the public safe.

“I’ve always been a film buff, and in particular, I liked watching movies in the movie theatre,” Huot said. “When I was working at the library I had a bit of a daydream about starting my own movie theatre.”

Huot moved to Kingston in 2006 and worked as a librarian for five years until the previous owner of The Screening Room put the property up for sale.

“As soon as I saw the opportunity I was like, ‘this is my fate’ and I jumped at the chance,” Huot said with a laugh. “I’ve been doing this […] nine years.”

In all that time, the theatre has been running practically

non-stop, closing only two days a year on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day—that is, until the pandemic forced Huot to close her doors to the public for about four and a half months.

“When the pandemic first broke we shut down […] I was reading different sources online and I saw that this was going to be big so I did shut down the theatre a day before we were required to shut down by the government,” Huot said.

When quarantine measures went into effect the next day, Huot’s fear for the public’s safety was confirmed, but she was surprised by how long quarantine measures lasted.

“When we closed our doors, I knew it could last for a while, but I didn’t think it would last that long […] part of the business of a movie theatre is you’re just open all the time, you’re always playing films, you’re always available to people through good weather and bad.”

Despite the quarantine being a sensible move, Huot described how wrong it felt to power down her projectors.

“Up until the shutdown, it always felt weird to me whether it was a technical issue or some reason why we weren’t playing movies […] it felt viscerally wrong for me to see—the expression of having your screen go dark—toseethemovietheatreinthe evening not playing a movie was always a weird, uncanny thing.”

One upside, she said, is that

she used the four and a half months of quarantine to spruce up the theatre in several ways.

“We’ve added some more décor to our lobby. We have almost like an art installation where we’ve put in some wood paneling, and we’ve installed this display of old laserdiscs, film books, and old 8-milimetre film projectors, and some other movie memorabilia,” Huot said.

Now that the theatre is up-and-running again at reduced capacity, Huot says the normal

I was working at “theWhen library I had a bit of a

daydream about starting my own movie theatre.

release schedule for new movies is out of whack. For example, the acclaimed French film Portrait of a Lady on Fire had just opened before quarantine, and when the theatre started operating again at the end July, they resumed screenings long after the film would’ve run its course.

“The first few weeks of our reopening we were largely playing things that were actually more like spring films.”

Some other examples are Emma, The Trip to Greece, and Booksellers—all spring releases that were pushed to the final weeks of summer. With those screenings over, Huot says

there aren’t many new films to replace them.

“You see it more obviously at the multiplexes. They have the film Tenet to play and not much else[…]the studios and distributors just don’t want to release movies right now because they know not a lot of people are going to the movie theatre and so the potential to make money is very limited.”

While Tenet is still turning a profit for Warner Bros, it’s made substantially less money than Nolan’s past blockbusters.

The director tested the waters on whether audiences would float the film through a pandemic.

Now, other major studios, and Huot herself, view it as a bit of a failed experiment.

According to Huot, the pandemic is posing an existential threat to big chain theatres. Despite this, she has faith that smaller independent theatres like The Screening Room will weather the storm thanks to local regulars who love movies and believe in the cultural significance of seeing them on the silver screen.

Typically, The Screening Room shies away from blockbuster action movies like your tent-pole Marvel and Star Wars flicks because the audience for those films prefers to see them in IMAX. But with her eye on Tenet’’s performance at Cineplex, she plans to make an exception.

“Normally, we’re more focused on character and story-driven films rather than big spectacle

movies—superhero films or blockbuster spectacles get to play exclusively at the multiplexes first, and then we can only play them once the multiplexes are done showing them, but usually by the time they finish showing the film, the theatrical life of the movie has run out.”

But with Tenet underperforming at the big theatres, Huot says she’ll play it as soon as it becomes available to her. She’s made other exceptions in the past like playing Wonder Woman after it finished in the multiplexes because positive word-of-mouth swept up non-DC fans and kept interest in the film alive long after its initial release.

She expects there’ll be an audience for Tenet who may feel more comfortable seeing it at The Screening Room rather than making the trek out to the Cineplex on Gardiners Road.

With studios holding on to their latest films, there’s nothing to replace Tenet, meaning it may be some time before The Screening Room can play it, but Huot still has some new character dramas and old cult classics to rely on.

Although the pandemic might turn out to be a turning point in speeding up the death of big theatres, Huot is confident that public interest in independent theatres will remain alive.

“I don’t think cinema will die, but in the long run I do see it becoming more and more of a niche experience.”

Friday, September 25, 2020

ART REVIEW

Arts

queensjournal.ca • 11

Immersive exhibit brings Van Gogh to life in Toronto Exhibit combines fine arts with cinema

Cassidy McMackon Staff Writer With Toronto in phase three of reopening, the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit offers a breathtaking new approach to the painter’s famous works.

The exhibit is located at 1 Yonge Street, along Toronto’s industrial waterfront. As visitors enter, they walk down a dark corridor that leads into a large room which, aside from a few fellow visitors and the odd bench, is completely empty.

Here, attendants are transported into the works of Vincent Van Gogh, a Dutch painter who lived from 1853 to 1890. During his lifetime, Van Gogh contributed greatly to post-Impressionism, an art movement centred on abstract and symbolic images rather than realistic depictions of life. He created several paintings ranging from somber scenes depicting rural life to vibrantly coloured florals, as

well as a number of self-portraits.

The paintings are projected onto both the walls and the floor at an impressive scale. Visitors, who stand in socially-distanced circles on the floor, look onto the walls of the room as several of Van Gogh’s works appear, showing off his every brush stroke in a level of detail never seen before.

The exhibit features famous works, including Sunflowers (1888), Starry Night (1889), and several of Van Gogh’s self-portraits.

Select paintings have been partially animated, whether that be flowers lightly rustling in the wind or starlight shimmering over the waves—where Van Gogh’s work suggested movement, here it is brought to life.

In typical art galleries, the works themselves remain stationary while visitors wander through the exhibit, spending as much time with each work as they like. Visitors of the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit, by contrast, are stationary

COMMENTARY

while living artworks move around them.

Although tickets are sold in time slots and viewers are given one hour to view the exhibit, the pace doesn’t feel rushed. Instead, the exhibit engulfs viewers into a tightly-composed narrative of Van Gogh’s works.

An accompanying soundtrack allows visitors to further engage themselves. Beginning with a chilling introduction and flowing into peaceful, scenic melodies and operatic vocals, the score of the exhibit brings further dimension to Van Gogh’s works. The music creates feelings of fear and joy—a bizarre yet intriguing juxtaposition of peace and chaos.

The animation of each work allows them to seamlessly blend together. When combined with the soundtrack, the exhibition has a cinematic feel, which contributes to an overall cohesive narrative.

The score combined with the varying pace of images

Music has the capacity to make climate resistance feel more personal Artists connect the climate crisis to meaningful lyrics

Alysha Mohamed Assistant Arts Editor

As individuals around the world gra pple with the realities of the climate crisis, some artists are addressing it in a more emotionally charged manner—through music.

Songs about climate resistance differ from news headlines because information or anxiety is relayed through an artistic medium.

Because of this, listeners can relate to the lyrics on multiple levels, often having a more personal experience with the issue.

Even if it isn’t the main focus of their songs, singers and songwriters have been weaving environmental imagery into their music for years.

Childish Gambino’s 70s-inspired track “Feels like Summer” brings

the beat back to the present with the climate-centred lyrics: “Each day gets hotter than the one before/ Running out of water. It’s about to go down.” Billie Eilish draws attention to her home state of California in “All the Good Girls Go to Hell,” singing: “Hills burn in California/ My turn to ignore ya.”

These references are subtle and nuanced; I usually don’t pick up on politically charged lyrics unless I analyze them as text.

However, knowing they’re present in the creative vision of so many singers makes me perceive music through a different lens—as something that’s not only enjoyable, but laced with important environmental messages.

Local band Funeral Lakes, a musical duo of Sam Mishos,

ArtSci ’17 and Chris Hemer, ArtSci ’17, have been at the forefront of creating music inspired by the climate crisis.

This year, they released EP Golden Season following their 2019 debut album. In these tracks, the duo continued to reflect on the impending destruction of the world around them, while balancing their fear with images of the beautiful outdoors.

“We first started this project as a medium to express our fears and frustrations,” the band wrote in a statement to The Journal. “Most of our songs are political, and it just so happens that the climate crisis is one of the most pressing issues of our time, so it comes up quite often in our songs.”

Funeral Lakes often bridges the

Step inside the works of Van Gogh.

ILLUSTRATION BY TESSA WARBURTON

directs the viewer to a powerful emotional response to each painting.

In a period when several museums have taken to creating virtual exhibits to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, the

Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit offers a dynamic alternative to viewing art safely. Despite its industrial setting, it creates a new environment to view art in ways that neither virtual nor traditional museums could.

realms of art and advocacy. Upon the release of their first album, the band teamed up with RAVEN Trust to raise funds for the Pull Together campaign. “Supporting and respecting Indigenous sovereignty is an essential part of climate justice,” Funeral Lakes wrote.

The band said their anxiety and frustration manifests not only in their lyrics, but also sonically.

This elevates the emotional experience for listeners, allowing them to feel the tone and rhythm of the band’s fear rather than just hearing their words.

“Music can be a powerful tool for communication and disseminating information,” the duo said. “Music and other forms of art also provide an emotional rallying point,

capturing what we are collectively seeing and feeling.”

Creative individuals arguably gravitate to art for comfort and guidance when faced with external struggles. Whether it confronts romantic heartbreak or more serious societal issues like the environment, music can, as the band described, act as a mirror for collective human emotions.

Regarding the role students play in the climate crisis, the band said our generation is more tuned into the realities of climate change.

“The existence of groups on campus and in the community advocating for climate justice, such as OPIRG, QBACC, or the work of Divest Queen’s, are sources of hope and inspiration.”

Music is the heart of climate action.

ILLUSTRATION BY LUBNAA HOSSENBACCUS

Sports

12 • queensjournal.ca

Friday, September 25, 2020

SPORTS

Dr. Mary Louise Adams said sport organizations need to mobilize their influence into initiating discussions on climate change.

Matt Funk Sports Editor Climate change poses a major threat to all aspects of human life, and sports are no exception.

Increasing temperatures and more frequent extreme weather events are threatening ability to play sports across the globe.

While winters are getting shorter, summers are hotter, which places undue strain on athletes.

Before being postponed due to COVID19, organizers for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were fretting over the logistics of hosting the marathon in scorching summer heat that’s known to exceed 40 degrees Celsius.

Organizers were exploring pushing the marathon as early as 3 a.m. to avoid the heat and repave the roads with heat shielding material. Instead, the decision was made to simply move the competition 800 kilometers north to the city of Sapporo.

However, where moving competitions isn’t a viable option, some countries are considering rescheduling their summer sports seasons to cooler months.

Climate scientists are now saying Melbourne is becoming dangerously hot

Are outdoor sports facing elimination? for tennis players and that the Australian Open should be moved to the spring or fall instead.

The 2020 Australian Open served as a grim beacon of what the future could hold for summer competitions, as temperatures reached a sweltering 43 degrees Celsius.

This was coupled with smoke from Australia’s bushfires, causing athletes to choke on the air and resulted in matches being postponed.

Similarly, the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar has been moved to November rather than the traditional summer schedule, due to unbearable heat on the Arab Peninsula over the summer months.

While rescheduling seasons may be a long-term solution for summer sports, it’s

Third-party department review to begin in October for Athletics & Recreation Matt Funk Sports Editor A third-party department review of Queen’s Athletics & Recreation (A&R) will begin next month as part of a routine University initiative to evaluate its various departments.

about the relationship of parks and recreation to environmental issues like biodiversity loss and climate change, thinks a big step forward for the sporting industry would be to curb new stadium construction and make existing facilities more eco-friendly.

“One of the [ways sports can be more ecofriendly] is trying to curb the development, like not always needing a bigger, newer kind of stadium, you know; reduce, reuse, recycle, that kind of thing. A lot of habitat destruction comes from building,” Adams said. not a luxury available to winter events that “[T]he environmental impact of sports require snow and sub-zero temperatures. is massive, and we don’t pay enough Climate researchers at the University of attention to that. And, it would be easier, of Waterloo now say that of the 21 venues that course, for the public to pay attention to it, have hosted the winter Olympics in the past, if athletes themselves were bringing it to only 10 will have suitable climates for the people’s attention.” event by 2050, and as little as four by 2080.

Ideally, Adams thinks the task should Despite these threats, little is being fall to sport organizations, but doesn’t see done across sports leagues to adopt green this happening. initiatives and curb climate change.

“It really should be the organizations Dr. Mary Louise Adams, a professor at that should bring attention [to climate Queen’s School of Kinesiology and Health change]. The IOC (International Olympic Studies, said sports’ general unwillingness to Committee) is a massive, powerful take climate action seriously is unfortunate, organization, it certainly has resources at its particularly given its ability to promote disposal to communicate important global important social change. messages. But it doesn’t tend to do that “[Climate change] is going to affect every ever,” she said. single aspect of our society, and so pointing To see a real attitude shift in the sports, at things like sports is a way of kind of Adams believes the change will need to start bringing it home to people who are maybe with grassroots movements among athletes feeling a little bit too comfortable or thinking before becoming a central issue that’s taken it’s not going to happen,” Adams told seriously by sports organizations.

The Journal. “[Change] starts outside of sport but sport While sports’ impact on climate change can be a very powerful vehicle to spread may seem innocuous, the industry amasses messages and to communicate the need for a sizeable carbon footprint. New research change,” she said. estimates the global sporting industry “I think what you see, and certainly contributes as much to climate change as a what you’re seeing now in the Black Lives country like Bolivia. Critics of the study were Matter movement, is that there are big quick to point out that this is likely too low social movements going on in society, and an estimate, as the impact of sportswear periodically we see sport connecting with wasn’t considered. them in really beneficial ways.”

Adams, who’s currently doing research

Queen’s professor talks the effects of climate change on sports—and what needs to happen next

ATHLETICS

University retains services of Sport Law & Strategy Group

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

The University believes there have been recent developments in post-secondary athletics that may require a shift in standards and approaches.

“In recent years, there have been several issues in collegiate athletics and recreation across North America, including those relating to safe sport policy, athlete wellness, gender inclusion, complaints processes and coach/athlete power dynamic,” the University wrote in a statement in the Queen’s Gazette.

The University has hired Sport Law & Strategy Group (SLSG) to conduct the review, a sport management company that A&R has retained in the past, and is currently conducting an independent review on the department’s decision to fire former Queen’s cross country coach, Steve Boyd.

“We retained the SLSG back in June and due to COVID-19, we felt it was important to launch the review after we had solidified our return to sport and activity protocols for the start of the academic year. We are eager to hear from student-athletes, our staff, coaches,

and other stakeholders such as OUA and USPORTS to reflect an inclusive and transparent process,” Leslie Dal Cin, executive director of A&R, said in the statement.

“Our goal is a collaborative approach to ensure our programs and services reflect leading practices and that we remain one of the most progressive collegiate athletics and recreation departments in Canada.” journal_sports@ams.queensu.ca

LIFESTYLE

friday, September 25, 2020

STUDENT LIFE

My failure to go zero waste

queensjournal.ca •13

Lifestyle

Striving to live waste-free as a student often isn’t realistic

Personal garbage adds up.

Gabrielle Cotton Contributor Three years ago, I tried to go ‘zero waste’ and failed. Miserably.

I remember sitting in class, scrolling through Facebook and seeing a video about the pile of trash in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean, the one that is twice the size of Texas. I wanted to help—but being an undergrad student with little income, there was no way I was going to be able to go to the Pacific and fish for garbage.

That was when I decided I was going to reduce my garbage at a personal level.

The first thing I did was buy a new travel mug to replace disposable cups when I went out for coffee. This was my first milestone on the path to becoming zero waste—a process which started out small but escalated quickly.

My second goal was to stop using straws and plastic cutlery.

This task was particularly challenging given I worked at a

grocery store where I often ate lunch from our hot bar or diner.

After a week, I still felt as if I wasn’t doing enough. I decided that I wasn't just going to slowly transition to a zero waste lifestyle—I was going all in. I’d done my research and watched a video on Buzzfeed of a girl proudly presenting a jar of garbage that represented all the trash she’d produced over a few years. Feeling inspired, I went out and bought more supplies.

I started with making homemade soap. Sitting on my kitchen floor, ignoring my midterm prep, I concocted a soap mixture and proudly put it in my bathroom for myself and all future guests to use. I ordered a compost bin and bought compostable bags.

I ordered reusable cotton period pads, my most extreme purchase.

They were gross. I don’t recommend going this route unless you want to carry around a used pad all day until you can get home to wash it.

My favourite purchase was the matching mason jars I bought for my cupboards to give the impression that all of my dry food came without plastic or cardboard packaging.

Things were going well until I forgot to bring my reusable bags grocery shopping. Next, I forgot my travel mug while getting coffee.

From that point on, things began to spiral.

The zero-waste grocery store was an hour away from me by subway, and after a day at school or work, I didn’t have the energy to make the round trip.

The waste began piling up.

Whether it was a chip bag from a late-night snack binge or an old essay that had been returned to me, it seemed like I couldn’t avoid garbage no matter how hard I tried.

There were a handful of barriers in my way too. I have a number of allergies and therefore specific dietary restrictions. My food doesn’t come packaged nicely in beeswax and most times, unless I wanted to

We need to plant the seeds for a more sustainable cannabis industry Advocating for environmentally friendly changes to how marijuana is cultivated must be a joint effort Jenna Ryan Contributor Since its legalization, marijuana has become a big industry in Canada, and like most industries of its size, it comes with a substantial environmental impact—but it doesn’t have to.

Marijuana requires specific temperature and humidity levels to grow efficiently, and growing marijuana indoors requires a huge amount of energy consumption. If you were to

walk into a flowering room at most of Canada’s legal cannabis producers, you’d be immediately immersed in the orange glow of high-pressure sodium lamps and hear the whirring of HVAC systems and fans. All these things require energy to keep them running—and they need a lot of it.

Marijuana grown in greenhouses is slightly better for the environment. However, with Canada’s cold climate and limited sunlight for most of the year, powerful, artificial lighting is still necessary to supplement the sun for some seasons. Heating in the winter and air conditioning in the summer is also necessary, which still requires a lot of energy.

The production of a single joint creates approximately 1.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide. To put this in perspective, that’s the same amount of carbon dioxide produced by running a 60 watt LED lamp for 200 hours.

Growing marijuana outdoors is obviously more energy efficient, but growing outdoors reveals its own set of problems.

Obtaining a patch of land to plant weed can require cutting down entire forests, diverting rivers, and disrupting ecosystems. The pesticides used on marijuana farms also pose risks to the surrounding environment.

Cannabis cultivation also requires a large amount of water consumption. A thirsty pot plant is estimated to consume six gallons of water a day—in comparison, a commercial dishwasher uses about four gallons of water per load. A sizable marijuana operation could use close to one billion litres of water per acre over a growing season.

Waste management is also a problem in the marijuana industry.

The plants don’t have a very long life, and after they’re harvested and the buds are removed, most of the

ILLUSTRATION BY SHELBY TALBOT

make everything from scratch, it had an outrageous amount of plastic packaging.

I’m also on thyroid medication, meaning every few months, I get a new orange plastic pill bottle, not to mention the supplements I take when I’m not feeling well. The waste added up.

About a month after I started on my zero waste journey, when I had full kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom garbage, I realized there was going to be no little jar of garbage for me at the end of two years. I’d put so much pressure on myself to be zero waste that I stopped going out for fear of using plastic.

I had to come to terms with the fact that becoming zero waste was going to be an impossible feat, at least for me.

That’s when I made a pact with myself: I’ll do what I can for the environment without pushing myself too hard to be perfect. I still use reusable bags when I can, bring my own travel mug for

coffee, buy low-waste shampoo and conditioner bars, and, in general, shop for sustainable items. But I don’t guilt myself if I have to occasionally throw something away.

The reality is, unless you have a lot of time and money, becoming entirely zero waste is unrealistic.

I put myself out over $500 just to assemble my zero waste starting kit.

It’s important to be conscious of our choices when it comes to the environment—the things we use and buy play a big part in the size of our personal impact. However, although we all have a responsibility to make sustainable choices, it’s important do so within reason.

Advocating for big companies to reduce their emissions can do more for the climate than making the switch to paper straws.

Don't worry if you failed at being zero waste. I did. What matters is we still try our best to do our part to decrease our waste and protect the environment.

plant is thrown away. Extraction chemicals and sample testings are also discarded, and if not properly disposed of, could cause serious environmental problems.

However, this problem can be mitigated if marijuana growers move toward composting the plant matter and safely disposing of any leftover chemicals.

It’s true: marijuana plants consume a lot of energy, require a lot of water, and create a lot of waste. However, none of this is to say that you shouldn’t responsibly consume marijuana if you’re of age.

There are environmentally friendly ways to improve the cannabis industry, and not all of them are exclusive to the weed industry—they extend to other

farming practices as well. Energy efficient standards could help guarantee less wasteful production.

A cleaner energy mix could mean fewer emissions from growing weed. Encouraging composting in the business could help get rid of some of the waste produced by cultivation. If we want to get serious about climate change and protecting the environment, a more sustainable marijuana industry is possible.

If you purchase cannabis that comes from commercial growers, consider making advocating for more sustainable cultivation practices part of your environmental agenda.

Demanding changes in the face of the climate crisis is vital, and it can start with your weed.

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

LIFESTYLE

14• queensjournal.ca

COMMENTARY

Disposable masks are often littered.

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

Will the pandemic’s blue skies last?

A look into whether COVID-19 is helping or hurting the climate crisis Gabrielle Cotton Contributor When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March, the resulting international

shutdown brought clearer skies, sparking hope in humanity’s fight against climate change—but that hope might be misplaced.

Shuttered workplaces and travel restrictions meant fewer commuters taking polluting vehicles to work. Factory shutdowns in China, a country where energy is overwhelmingly sourced from coal, resulted in a 25 per cent reduction in its carbon emissions.

At a time when death tolls, postponed

Everyone's a sinner in ‘The Devil All the Time’

Netflix’s new exclusive film is a sinister take on the small town Cassidy McMackon Staff Writer In The Devil All the Time, nobody is without sin— and some characters have sinned a lot more than they let on.

Netflix’s new exclusive film follows Arvin, played by Tom Holland, a young man who’s grappling with tragic circumstances and his own inner demons.

T he v iol e n t tone for the film is established at

The film boasts an impressive cast.

its outset: Arvin’s father, a World War II veteran played by Bill Skarsgard, is plagued by horrific sights from his time overseas. When he returns home, he settles in Knockemstiff, Ohio with his new wife and young son Arvin.

As Arvin grows older, Willard teaches his son, who’s being bullied at school, that the best way to get back at people who do him wrong is to use physical violence. When Arvin’s mother is diagnosed with cancer, she soon dies from the disease.

Willard takes his own life, leaving an orphaned Arvin to be sent away to Coal Creek, West Virginia, and raised by his grandmother and uncle alongside Lenore, another orphan.

The film fast-forwards to Arvin’s teenage years where

Friday, September 25, 2020

celebrations, and unease about the future dominated the minds of many, media outlets were quick to pick up these inspiring images of unpolluted city skylines and happy animals reclaiming their habitats.

“Humans are the real virus,” was a frequent response to this type of imagery.

While quarantine has reduced emissions worldwide and improved air quality in big cities, it turns out many of those cute animal stories had nothing to do with the shutdown.

Is the same true for the virus as a whole—are we putting its environmental impact in too positive of a light?

At the start of the pandemic, uncertainty in the mechanisms of the virus’s transmission lead to unforeseen measures that have set back a sustainable future.

Coffee chains like Starbucks banned reusable cups, fearing they were a vector for the spread of COVID-19. Plastic bags made a comeback as grocery stores stopped charging customers fees for their use. Reusable bags were banned without concrete evidence that they’d contribute to virus transmission.

We now know there isn’t a substantial difference between reusable materials like steel and disposable materials like plastic when it comes to the virus lingering on surfaces.

Social distancing, wearing masks, and washing our hands with soap do more to protect us than the illusion of safety offered by single-use plastic. Besides, you’re going to wash your reusable cups and bags more than your disposables.

Some disposables are necessary, though.

Medical waste has soared as frontline workers use protective equipment that needs to be disposed after a single use.

Lit tering , however, is less understandable. People have taken to dropping used gloves—which you don’t really need—single-use masks, and sanitizing wipes on the ground, contributing to even more pollution than usual.

There’s also the issue of what happens after the pandemic ends.

Without restructuring our post-COVID society, the rush to boost the economy might increase polluting activities to levels higher than before the pandemic. China’s pollution has already returned to where it was pre-shutdown, and the rest of the world is well on its way. Governments may be less willing to invest in sustainability, seen as a risk, at a time when the economy is sensitive.

Still, there’s some hope. Just a year ago, the thought of shutting down societies worldwide was unthinkable. The pandemic has showed us that the world’s nations are capable of working together to combat a global threat.

On an individual level, some of us have changed our habits for the better, like learning to grow and make our own food instead of getting takeout and purchasing produce flown halfway around the world.

Here in Canada, the government has committed to a climate-focused economic recovery, which includes banning single-use plastics, funding clean technology, and modernizing the Environmental Protection Act. If world leaders see the climate crisis for what it is—a global crisis—and commit to bettering our systems instead of falling back into unsustainable patterns, we could come out on the other side of this pandemic with hope for the future of our planet.

he continues to uphold his father’s philosophy about getting back at people who do him wrong. While this endeavour initially seems as simple as defending his adoptive sister from bullies at school, Arvin’s actions soon become motivated by even more sinister threats when a new preacher, played by Robert Pattinson, arrives in town.

The Devil All the Time runs a total of two hours and 18 minutes and doesn’t fail to pack that run time with action. Along with Arvin’s fascination with revenge, there’s a subplot that follows two serial killers, married couple Carl and Sandy Henderson, played by Jason Clarke and Riley Keogh. Robert Pattinson’s character, Reverend Preston Teagardin, is a villainous preacher who uses his position as a way to exploit young girls to act in his favour.

A r v i n emerges as the true anti-hero of the film, and his seemingly omniscient p r e s e n c e throughout Coal Creek allows

him to take justice into his own hands and punish the evil individuals around him.

The film overall is entertaining—it features horrific violence, exposes twists and secrets, and showcases several British actors’ takes on an old-timey Southern accent.

However, despite the film’s substantial run-time, the story manages to fall flat at its climax.

A flurry of violence at the end of the film brings a rather abrupt end to several storylines that had been cultivated throughout its run time. The deaths, while impactful, appear less in line with the story’s vengeful undertones and more as random acts of violence that allow guilty parties to escape unpunished for their crimes and innocent to the public eye.

With much of the knowledge of the abhorrent actions in the film dying with the characters that committed them, the film ends on a bittersweet note— viewers can’t help but be dissatisfied with many shocking secrets that are taken to the grave.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SHELBY TALBOT

Friday, September 25, 2020

queensjournal.ca • 15

STUDENT LIFE

The spill on plant-based milk There are numerous options for dairy alternatives, but which one is right for you?

Kirby Harris Assistant Lifestyle Editor Looking to lessen your environmental impact can be a daunting task—it’s hard to know what power you have to make a positive impact on the climate.

One of the simplest things you can do is limit your consumption of animal products. You don’t have to go full vegan or even vegetarian to make a big difference, even refraining from eating meat 1 to 2 days a week can be a huge benefit to the global environment.

Limiting dairy products is a simple way to approach this change. Producing a glass of dairy milk results in almost three times the greenhouse gas emissions of plant-based alternatives. Making a plant-based option instead of regular cow’s milk is an easy way to promote environmentalism.

With the popularity of plant-based diets exploding in the 2010s, alternatives to dairy milk have flooded grocery store shelves. With so many options, making the switch can be daunting. To combat some of that dietary anxiety, I’ve gathered all of the information you might want to know before venturing into the plant-based aisle.

Nutrition From a dietary standpoint, there is a huge range of nutritional values that different milks boast. When comparing plant-based options to cow’s milk, it’s difficult to find an option that matches up.

Soy milk comes out as a top contender, with the most similar nutrition to dairy milk.

Although lower in every macronutrient than cow’s milk, soy milk is higher in fats

and proteins than other plant-based milks.

Soy is naturally high in estrogen, which can sway some people away from the protein.

However, recent studies have confirmed that consuming soy multiple times a week is perfectly safe.

Almond milk is arguably the most popular dairy alternative, but nutritionally weak in proteins and carbs. Almond milk maintains its appeal through its high percentage of calcium, an even greater amount than cow’s milk.

If you prefer a milk that’s heavy in carbs, rice milk is excellent at boosting carbohydrates, but also is fairly high in sugars and low in protein.

Most plant-based milks will be found at the store in both sweetened and unsweetened versions, which will change their nutritional value. Micro and macro nutrients can also vary by brand, so if you’re looking for specific health benefits, it’s always a good idea to check the back of the box before you make your purchase.

Environmental impact Environmentally, some milks fare better than others. Although almond milk is popular, it has been slammed in recent years for the large quantity of water needed to produce it.

Producing just one glass of almond milk requires 74 litres of water. While the nutty beverage is still more environmentally conscious than a glass of cow’s milk, there are other options that have much less of an environmental impact.

Oat milk’s rise to fame in the past two years has coincided with the publicization of almond milk’s negative impact. Although oat milk produces slightly higher emissions than almond, it requires significantly less water and land use.

Soy milk usually comes out on top when ranking which milk boasts the lowest environmental impact. The alternative produces higher emissions than oat milk but makes up for it in more sustainable farming practices. Overall, the two are

There are plenty of milk alternatives to choose from.

fairly comparable and both make for great environmentally conscious options.

Taste When it comes to pure taste, people have different opinions for what makes the best cold glass of milk or addition to your morning coffee. If you’re looking for the option that has the most similar taste to cow’s milk, there’s a long-standing debate with no clear answer.

Rice milk has stuck around for decades, possibly due to its largely inoffensive taste.

An unsweetened cup of rice milk doesn’t taste bad, but it’s hard to argue that it tastes good. The good news is that the neutral taste will do little to alter anything you throw it in, from coffee to cereal. The bad news is that the texture may be hard to get over, as rice milk’s watery consistency is a far cry from a cup of whole milk.

On the other end of the texture debate, cashew milk is famously creamy. With similar nutrition and taste, cashew is a great alternative if you like almond milk if are looking for something fuller. Cashew milk has a less nutty flavour than other nut milks, so it’s perfect if that’s a taste you’d prefer to avoid.

Coconut milk isn’t going to let you forget where it came from—in order to enjoy a glass, it’s best that you’re already a lover of the tropical fruit. If you’re a fan of coconut flavour, this milk might be your perfect addition to your morning smoothie or coffee.

In a short time, oat milk has become one of the most talked about dairy alternatives: even people who have had a hard time with anything other than dairy milk have advocated for making the switch. The milk has become so popular that it was introduced at Starbucks this August, rolled out alongside their famous Pumpkin Spice Lattes. If you’re not sure about making the switch from classic 2 per cent, ordering your favourite drink with oat milk might just change your mind.

ILLUSTRATION BY SHELBY TALBOT

ILLUSTRATION BY TESSA WARBURTON

Canada’s transportation system is miles behind Cities are opting for cost effective transit over environmental sustainability Rebecca Lourenco Staff Writer Cities across the country continue to make a negative environmental impact with their decisions about public transit. The government continues to fund highways and promote travel by car, rather than investing in a greener future by funding zero-emission public transit. As commuters, we must demand better.

Public transit has been in use for years but has consistently received low funding.

Roads are built to accommodate cars and often neglect to include proficient bus routes or other means of alternative transportation, like cycling. This attitude toward transportation creates large amounts of pollution and doesn’t account for sustainable living.

A 2017 report on sustainable transportation showed Canadian cities were falling short in global rankings for overall sustainability of their urban transit systems.

While cities in Europe and the rest of the world embrace public transit to decrease their reliance on cars—less than one fifth of people in Hong Kong own a car—Canada has remained rigid and non-innovative in its approach to suitable transportation.

In 2015, Todd Litman, director of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, told CBC that federal and provincial funding for public transit in Canada is severely lacking and is often under-planned. Policies have failed to include the demand for alternative transportation and have focused solely on cars.

Little has changed in the last five years.

Canada’s public transit is poorly connected and has a lack of travel routes, making travel by car much faster. Additionally, a lack of quality public transit options outside the country’s most urban areas leaves many Canadians stranded with no other options.

The government is currently working on a 10-year plan to increase the accessibility and sustainability of public transportation.

Starting in 2017, the government has included $1 billion in its funding plan for a better transportation system.

But even with this progress, there's still work to be done. The environment has always taken a back seat to economic profit, and it’s time we prioritize a sustainable future.

It's crucial that as members of the public, we start advocating for a better public transit system. It’s one of the easiest ways that we can begin to cut down on pollution within cities. Start making it a habit to take the bus rather than a car, talk to local politicians about the issue, sign petitions, and when elections come up, make sure to read each party’s environmental platforms and take action with your vote.

We’re in the midst of a climate crisis—the least we can do is take the bus.

16 • queensjournal.ca

Friday, September 25, 2020

POSTSCRIPT

Raechel lost her Opa during the summer.

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

Mourning my Opa during the pandemic Trying to find space for grief during COVID-19 Raechel Huizinga Editor In Chief In March, the pandemic shut down campus. In April, I found out my Opa had cancer—it was in his esophagus, his lungs, his brain. In May, he died.

My family lives in Sarnia, ON., which is, at best, a five-hour car journey from Kingston. After coming to Canada from the Netherlands when he was in his twenties, my Opa lived in the same yellow country house for 50 years.

Growing up, my family moved around a lot, making my Opa’s house a cornerstone in a constantly shifting world I didn’t fully trust. He was always there to drive us where we needed to go, and his house became a refuge while my mom tried to build a life for herself and her six children.

The simple act of turning the corner of my Opa’s house and seeing the tree-filled acre stretch before you—maybe he already has the fire going, or the door to his workshop is open and music spills out while he tinkers away at something—and you let out a breath you didn’t know you’d been holding in. You’re stepping into a timeless place, somewhere so peaceful it’s like all the light comes to you through water. I wanted to believe he’d have one

last summer there, but soon my mom called with the news: he wouldn’t make it to the fall.

She asked my brother and I to come home and see my Opa before he was gone, but I had just started a new job. I told myself I could put it off for a couple weeks. I had seen videos of him holding my cousin’s new baby, heard anecdotes on the phone of his good cheer. I kept telling myself it was fine that I couldn’t make it home yet; he would still be okay when I got there. Deep down, I think I was refusing to believe the reality of what was happening—too much had already changed in the past month.

When I finally returned home at the end of May, my Opa could barely walk, let alone speak. When I went to see him, expecting to be able to talk to him and see him smile, he had to go back to his room after less than an hour. Underneath this shock were feelings of shame: I felt guilty about traveling during a pandemic, I felt guilty about taking so long to go home, I felt guilty about working, I felt guilty about not working.

I let the days go by. I went to his house on a few of my Mom’s morning trips, but I didn’t go into his room. I had never been exposed to such sickness before, and I’m ashamed to say I was terrified. I’m still ashamed.

On the day before I had to return to Kingston, I worked up the courage to go into his room and say goodbye. The cancer had transformed his body. I don’t

think it’s something you can ever be prepared for, seeing a person you’ve loved and known your whole life wasted away like that.

When he saw me he tried to talk, and I don’t remember everything I said to him, except don’t talk, you’ll be with Oma soon, I love you, I love you, it’s okay. He squeezed my hand; it was all he could do. I kissed his forehead and left. It felt like it should have been more than that, but it wasn’t.

For students whose families live more than a few hours away from Kingston, you can sometimes feel like you’re living two different lives, each pausing while you visit the other. My brothers drove me back to Kingston, and my Opa died before they returned home. He was gone, but the pandemic continued.

Working at a newspaper meant I couldn’t simply ignore COVID-19 and its pummeling headlines, so I put my Opa’s death aside instead.

There was no funeral to go home to, no act of closure; only my mom, her siblings, and their partners could attend the burial. My Opa’s house went up on the market and was taken down three days later.

When I went home in August, hoping to see the house before the sale closed, it still needed to be emptied. My family had done a lot of the work over the summer, but most of the house was still full.

We spent several days clearing it out. I cleaned out his kitchen, throwing away his old food and dishes. I emptied his bookshelves, which felt like violence. Here was a book he bought on the road trip

we took together when I was 16.

Here was a hand-written list of Louis L’Amour books he wanted to read. Here was an old Dutch cigar box containing an obituary of my Oma, a photo of a street intersection in the Netherlands, and a rock. Why were they there, together in that box? And then there were the strangers wandering through the house in masks, picking out things to buy. None of it felt real, and so at a certain point I simply turned myself off.

On the night before the sale closed, we drove to the cemetery and sat in a circle around him and Oma, who had been buried there more than three decades earlier after her own cancer battle.

Mom passed out the cups and the whiskey. Proost. The yellow house had been a home, or maybe Opa had made it a home we could take with us wherever we went.

Then we went there and had one final campfire. We roasted hotdogs, drank more, told stories.

My siblings and I pushed each other on the old tire swing. We walked through the house and ran to the back of the yard. I slowly turned myself back on.

When we went home, I cried with my Mom on her bed.

I know it’s not realistic. I know my Opa was a person with faults and mistakes and regrets. But in my mind, the sky above that yellow house will always be pure, the days always soaked in sun, feet always bare and running through grass. Somewhere my family is still sitting around a fire at night with trees above us,

listening to my Opa talk, his Dutch accent like a slow, smoky rain.

I’m still trying to come to terms with all this, especially my feelings of guilt and shame. COVID-19 has taken up so much space inside my head and my heart that I’m still trying to find room for grief. It comes to me unexpectedly—the smell of crushed apples beneath a tree while I walk to work—and there’s the stone in my stomach: he’s gone.

To anyone who’s lost someone during the pandemic, I’m sorry.

Whether it was due to the virus or something else, our traditional mourning processes have been disrupted. We’re forced to invent new ways of eulogizing while finding spaces inside us for loss itself.

I wish I hadn’t lost my Opa during the pandemic. When everything else around me was changing and uncertain, what had been most stable and peaceful in my life was taken away from me, too. I wasn’t ready for this step in growing up.

It’s selfish of me to feel this way, which adds to my feelings of guilt. I wish my Opa was still here in his yellow house. I wish I had asked him more questions about his life and his family. I wish I had learned all the piano songs he asked me to. I wish I had returned home sooner. I thought time worked for me and not against, I thought some people were impenetrable, I thought some places were safe and couldn’t change; losing someone during the pandemic has showed me the truth behind all these things.