The Dartmouth 05/01/2019

MIRROR 5.01.19

PART-TIME EXTROVERT 3

SWIMMING THE FINAL LAP 4-5

TTLG: OPPOSITE OF LONELINESS 6 SAMI BURACK /THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

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Editors’ Note

Q&A

DIVYA KOPALLE/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

At Dartmouth, the most notable body of water for many students is one that doesn’t make any waves — the Connecticut River, a favorite swimming spot whenever it is warm outside. The river holds a special place in the hearts of many people on campus, especially during sophomore summer. Swimming in the river’s pleasantly cool waters with the sun shining on your face is pure bliss. And the dams spaced along the river mean that in certain spots, the water feels completely still, no waves or current to be felt.

And so at Dartmouth, perhaps the waves are created by the people.

People like introverts who are still trying to meet and learn from as many people as they can, people like professors who are searching for water on Mars and even people like seniors who are taking one more test — in swimming — before they say goodbye to the College once and for all.

This week, the Mirror explores the experiences of all of these people and reflects on how we can make waves in a place that otherwise often feels calm and still. And we find that at a place like Dartmouth, a small change can still create a powerful wave of impact, if people so choose to start the process.

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5.01.19 VOL. CLXXV NO. 28 MIRROR EDITORS NIKHITA HINGORANI KYLEE SIBILIA ASSOCIATE MIRROR SARAH ALPERT EDITORS NOVI ZHUKOVSKY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DEBORA HYEMIN HAN PUBLISHER AIDAN SHEINBERG EXECUTIVE EDITOR JULIAN NATHAN

By The Dartmouth Staff

Beach or pool?

Lex Kang ’21: Beach for a large group, pool for a small group.

Christina Baris ’22: Beach.

Sarah Alpert ’21: Is “lake” an option?

Yuna Kim ’22: Easily beach.

Andrew Sosanya ’20: Beach is a vibe.

Claire Callahan ’22: Beach.

Josephine Kim: For a BBQ or nighttime swim, I prefer outdoor pools. To hang out or think, definitely beaches, no question.

Ariana Khan ’22: Definitely the beach.

There’s way more to do, and also it’s nature!

Novi Zhukovsky ’22: Beach for sure. I love the ocean.

What’s the worst haircut you’ve ever had?

LK: Chunky blonde highlights with a bowl cut.

CB: Bangs.

SA: I had a short bob with bangs when I was 3 or 4. If you saw a picture, you’d really understand why they call it a “bowl” cut.

YK: During my junior year of high school, I donated six inches of my hair at a cancer fundraiser walk — which is great. The problem was, my friend did the initial cutting and chopped my hair completely diagonally (just imagine it).

It was pretty awful-looking, and I ended up having to cut like three to four more inches to even it out (yikes).

AS: My dad cut my hairline into a perfect semicircle. Never again, Dad. CC: I used to deny the fact that my hair was curly, so I insisted on getting a short haircut with lots of layers. It looked good while it was straight until my first shower, and then it was a halo of frizz.

JK: I donated my hair at the end of sophomore year. It looked good ... until it grew out funky. It was my first time going to a non-Korean stylist in Massachusetts.

She used a razor to layer my hair, which is not a good idea with thicker Asian hair.

AK: Once when I was little, I decided I wanted short hair, so I just cut my hair myself. It didn’t end well; the back was super diagonal, and my mom took me

to get a real haircut the next day.

What’s your best memory in the rain?

CB: Driving home from the movies with my friends this summer — light drizzle, perfect driving playlist and no worries.

SA: At summer camp, we would bring our shower caddies outside and literally shampoo in the middle of a thunderstorm. 10/10 would recommend.

AS: Running a fast six miles in the rain like a bada—.

CC: When I was in the British Virgin Islands, I swam in the ocean while it was raining, and it was so warm and beautiful. It felt magical.

JK: One late morning in Kauai, HI, while I was playing around in the warm beach waters, it began to drizzle cold, gentle rain. That sensation of bliss has been with me since childhood.

AK: When we were in elementary school, every time it would rain my dad would take my brother and me out for a bike ride. We would go looking for puddles to ride through and come back completely soaked.

NZ: On my sister’s last night in New York City before leaving for her freshman year of college, we went to Washington Square park — one of our favorite places in the city. While we were walking there, it started to pour. We had no umbrellas, but we were determined to go to the park one last time, so we braved on. By the time we got there, we were totally soaked, but because it was raining, everyone had already gone inside and we had the entire park to ourselves. There was also a full moon that night, and the rain reflected its light across the entire park.

How often do you wave to people on campus?

LK: Never.

CB: All the time!

SA: Depends on the day; either tons or not at all.

YK: Pretty often, I suppose.

AS: All the time; they just don’t wave

back.

CC: I range from a half smile and awkwardeyecontacttoaveryenthusiastic hug depending on friendship level and general mood.

AK: I absolutely love running into people I know when I’m walking around campus, so I wave and stop to chat as much as possible.

NZ: All the time. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people don’t wave back or say hi.

When’s a time that you’ve prompted change in your life or in the lives of others?

LK: I told my mom to stop wearing paisley; she stopped wearing paisley.

SA: I tend to like making decisions for other people, but not for myself … Most recently, I helped my brother decide where to go to college! Jury’s out on whether my choice was right.

YK: I guess this isn’t a huge change, but I’m trying to help my family live more sustainably with little things like using more reusable water bottles and reducing consumerist tendencies!

AS: Choosing to delete social media did wonders for my psyche.

CC: Whenever I’m unhappy, I journal about my mindset and goals and try to change my thought patterns and the way I see life.

JK: I try to encourage friends to keep working at their talents, especially when their gifts are buried beneath self-doubt or the “busyness” of life routines. I do this by being active in my own creative projects and sharing them with others.

AK: I prompted change in my life when I got involved in campaigning in last year’s midterm election cycle. It was a huge step outside of my comfort zone, and it allowed me to develop a new passion for politics that I’ve been pursuing ever since.

NZ: During my senior year of high school, as head of the feminism club, I created a gender equality and consent program that I presented to the entire school.

Confessions of a Part-Time Extrovert STORY

MIRR OR //3

By Sarah Alpert

Until recently, I didn’t think people at Dartmouth to be facetimey. it was possible to get sunburned I was quiet in high school, and my in April ... at least, not in New circle remained small for most of Hampshire. On one of the first (and freshman year. But after joining new few) beautiful days we’ve had this programs and organizations as a term, I sat outside on the Green sophomore, the number of people I for over six hours, doing nothing at know on campus grew rapidly. Some all but chatting people might and peoplec o n s i d er b ei n g watching. By “It took me a long time facetimey a sign the end of the to figure out that these of superficiality — day, my back a hollow habit of w a s s t r i p e d sudden swings from waving, reciting a r e d w h e r e introvert to extrovert, lackluster “How’s my tank top your term going?” social butterfly to wasn’t, because — but for me, it in my mind, hermit, are normal — has become a way sunscreen is for or at least okay.” of feeling secure beach days in at D a r t m o u t h .

July when the The more people heat is so strong that we pale folk I know, the more I feel like I belong just know we’re going to burn. In here. On the Green, I love running the summer, we prepare accordingly. between different groups of friends, But on that day, I looked around seeing what everyone is up to and and wondered if I actually was on laughing about whatever nonsense the beach. With frisbees flying in 10 happened last night. With the directions, Spike Ball nets on every Dartmouth community spread all quadrant and blankets spread for around me, picnicking and halfgirls in dresses, the Green became heartedly picking at their textbooks, a college paradise. Just like on the I feel bubbly and chatty and happy beach, everyone was happy simply to be alive. to be outside, to coexist under the That’s extroverted me. Other sun. You can’t even think about times, I could contentedly lie on doing homework on a Saturday like the grass in silence for hours, with that. nothing to look at but the clouds.

In my opinion, there is something Some weeks, I go days without particularly magical about lounging getting a meal with friends or on the grass and seeing countless spending time with other people. familiar faces pass by on their way One day I’ll smile and wave to every to KAF, or friends from class and acquaintance I pass on the sidewalk; Trips and your first-year floor all the next I’ll hide behind my coffee kicking a ball around together. mug and grab shameless solo meals Dartmouth feels most like home to at Collis. I crave alone time like my me when everyone crawls out of life depends on it, and sometimes the woodwork (aka the library) and this leads to conflict: Should I go gravitates toward the same, central to that group dinner or get a salad space. and continue my reading in peace?

Part of my joy on these sunny I often can’t say which choice would days, I have to admit, comes from make me happier. the strange intoxication of being It took me a long time to figure “facetimey.” Dartmouth slang for out that these sudden swings students who stop and chat with from introvert to extrovert, social endless acquaintances around butterfly to hermit, are normal — or campus, the word “facetimey” seems at least okay. But for some reason, to get a bad reputation. Personally, I no matter how comfortable I feel thought I’d never even know enough when I’m alone in my own head, I

still feel guilty saying “no” to various activities. It always seems wrong to step back from the center of the scene, even if I know my FOMO (fear of missing out) is silly.

Maybe this is just what happens when a social introvert meets Dartmouth College. It’s pretty clear that Dartmouth culture favors extroverts. The most visible people on this campus — club or Greek house executives, perfor mers, partiers and Trip leaders — tend to seem like the most successful, or at least the most enviable. The “ideal” Dartmouth student is supposed to do everything and know everyone, yet also have a killer GPA. And to be honest, as an underclassman, I’ve found this ideal irresistible.

Becoming more facetimey has been a way for me to confirm that I belong in different communities, to feel included and to stave off anonymity.

If you can be someone here, then

that’s a d— good guarantee that you can be someone in the world. And to be someone, my FOMO whispers, you have to be social — you have to smile and wave even when you most crave solitude. People might think you’re too facetimey, but they respect you for being present and involved.

I already know that when I look back on my Dartmouth experience, spring days on the Green will be among my favorite memories. Surrounding myself with friends makes me happy to be alive, and it also reminds me that by being extroverted and actively participating in different parts of Dartmouth, I can learn and grow the most. Even if the person I’m striving to be isn’t entirely real, joining new clubs, meeting new people and — most terrifyingly — exposing my thoughts in Mirror articles have been the most formative parts of

my time here so far. I’ve tried being the student who talks in class and jumps at every opportunity, and most of the time, this extroversion feels right.

But even if I love the beachy feeling that enlivens campus each spring — even if I cherish greeting people as I tread the well-worn paths of the Green — my most peaceful moment at Dartmouth happened when I was alone on Occom Pond in February. In the middle of reading period, I laced up my skates and spun around the pond at sunset. After a long, stressful term, it felt stunningly fresh to be alone in the cold, etching clumsy ovals into the ice. What a shame it would be if Dartmouth made me forget how wonderful it is to be alone. Dartmouth might pull us in a thousand different directions, but sometimes it’s best to let the world wash over you, without always waving back.

MICHAEL LIN /THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

One Final Lap: Exploring

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STORY When I tell my friends from home that Dartmouth requires its students to pass a swim test in order to graduate, I’m usually met with several common responses: disbelief, laughter, pity and pure confusion being a few. Most people

will respond with something like, “What’s the point of having a swim test at a college? You’re there to gain academic skill and knowledge, not to learn how to get from one end of a pool to the other!” At least, my parents definitely said something

along those lines.

Despite these comments, Dartmouth’s swimming re q u i re m e n t s e e m s t o m a k e sense, at least compared to those mandated at other colleges far removed from swimmable water

like Columbia University. Given that our institution lies just adjacent to the Connecticut River and has a rep for being “outdoorsy,” being confident in one’s swimming skills might be a smart move for a student here, as we have many

GRACE QU /THE DARTMOUTH

B

different opportunities to partake in water-related activities. While the basic requirement is the same for all Dartmouth students — a 50-yard swim completed without letting one’s feet touch the bottom of the pool — when and how students engage with this requirement ranges "Everyone k across a wide spectrum me, 'Why w of experiences. Some may even choose to fulfill pick a trip th their requirement before do with swim the start of their freshman you don't kn year, like Ashley Francisco ’21, who prepared for the to swim?'" swim test in anticipation of First-Year Trips.

Francisco, who went on -ASHLEY FRAN the whitewater kayaking trip, shared that the mandatory swim test for her trip was concerning for her because she did not have a lot of swimming experience before coming to Dartmouth. She and her parents decided that taking swim lessons before coming to college would ease some of her worries.

“My mom was definitely a little hesitant to send me on the whitewater kayaking trip, "I remembe given the fact that I hadn’t actually swum in a really year, at lea long time, and we’d be in hundred se a river the whole time,” Francisco said. “Everyone indicated th kept asking me, ‘Why hadn't yet c would you pick a trip that the swimm has to do with swimming if you don’t know how to requiremen swim?’”

Francisco ended up taking several swimming -ERIKA CABR lessons before departing to Dartmouth and ultimately had both a successful swim test and positive Trips experience. In hindsight, she is glad that she was able to take the swim test when she did, as it eliminated any further frustration or planning she would have to do during her time at Dartmouth.

Not all students approach the swim test the same way Francisco did, however. Some seniors, in

the Swim Test at Dartmouth

MIRR OR //5

By Yuna Kim

the home stretch of their time at Dartmouth, have still not taken the swim test, even though graduation is only a little over a month away.

For Erika Cabrera ’19, putting off the physical exam was not entirely an intentional decision.

C a b re r a s h a re d t h at kept asking due to an unexpected situation, she and others would you on her trip did not end up hat has to taking the swim test when many of her peers did. mming if “During [Trips], now how there was one person who was trying to take the swim test but didn’t know how to swim,” Cabrera said. “He was NCISCO '21 traumatized by the water afterwards, and it became this whole big thing, and in trying to help and console him, I just didn’t end up taking my own test.”

If she could go back, Cabrera said that she would have made passing the swim test a priority before going on Trips, as it would have become one less thing to worry about as she nears the end of her time at Dartmouth.

Curious as to how those who have not yet er last taken their swim test ast a few plan their examination, eniors I spoke to Joann Brislin, D a r t m o u t h ’s s e n i o r hat they associate athletic director completed for physical education and recreation. According ming to Brislin, the pool in nt." the Alumni Gymnasium has open recreation swimming hours every RERA '19 d a y, d u r i n g w h i c h Dartmouth students — seniors or otherwise — can come to take their swim test.

While I had anticipated that not many seniors would be in the same boat as Cabrera is now, Brislin shared that undergraduate deans specifically send out the recreational swimming schedule to all seniors periodically throughout the year, as there are many who leave taking the swim test to the last minute. Cabrera confirmed

NAINA BHALLA /THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

this, saying that the number of seniors she knows who have not yet taken the swim test is actually quite substantial.

“I remember last year, at least a few hundred seniors indicated that they hadn’t yet completed the swimming requirement,” Cabrera said. “Also, just in my sorority alone,

someone recently [messaged] out asking how many of us hadn’t taken our swim tests yet, and there were at least 20 likes on that message.”

As spring term quickly nears its end, I anticipate many seniors will look to take one final lap — quite literally — before graduation. After learning of the inconvenience

— and potential trauma — the swim test poses for many people, especially seniors who are just trying to complete graduation requirements, one wonders whether this part of Dartmouth is explicitly necessary or if it is just another of the institution’s holdovers from past years of tradition. Regardless

of its necessity, the swim test is a memory that all students will have by the time they complete their time at the College — whether they did an awkward breast stroke before Trips while trying not to get their hair wet or a rushed free-style on a random afternoon their senior spring.

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TTLG: On the Opposite of Loneliness STORY

By Lara Balick

“We don’t have a word for the opposite of loneliness, but if we did, I could say that’s what I want in life.”

This is how Marina Keegan, a senior at Yale, began her article for the Yale Daily News in 2012. In the article, she reflected on leaving the web she had built, where she felt safe and part of something greater than herself.

“It’s not quite love and it’s not quite community; it’s just this feeling that there are people, an abundance of people, who are in this together.”

As my own graduation looms a few weeks away, like Marina, I feel deep gratitude for this special “elusive, indefinable” opposite of loneliness I’ve found at Dartmouth.

I’m also growing increasingly anxious about losing it. How will I maintain my relationships with the people I care about, many of whom are moving to different cities? Will I be able to find this feeling again after I graduate?

I first felt the opposite of loneliness sophomore fall, sitting in my biology professor’s office hours after bombing the first midterm. Biology was easy for me in high school, but suddenly I was rewatching every lecture recording and still struggling to understand the material. I envisioned the long, formidable road of pre-med classes that lay ahead. Was I smart enough? Could I do it?

To my surprise, my professor told me that when she was a student at Dartmouth and took one of her first biology classes, she also needed a tutor. I felt a rush of relief as she reassured me that there is no shame in struggling.

This material is hard. No one understands it perfectly the first time they learn it. Eventually, it will click. The struggle is the process; it means you’re challenging yourself and growing. For the first time, I felt like a professor was on my team and invested in my success.

Another time I felt the opposite

well-being. Wait times at Dick’s I wander into the rooms of my of loneliness at Dartmouth with underclassmen.

All of that being said, Dartmouth House are unacceptably long: friends Elizabeth and Katie and was when I spent a month in the woods on Vox Croo last is far from perfect. Many people do We need more counselors. Not by plop down on their beds while we catch up about our days. summer. Enthusiastically and not find the opposite of loneliness 2022 — right now.

Dartmouth’s problems feel so The English language doesn’t unapologetically, I drank the here. In the spaces where I’ve “Dartmouth Kool-Aid.” I dyed my made my closest friends, too many intractable and deeply ingrained. have a word for the opposite of hair neon pink and hiked Franc people feel uncomfortable and Change feels impossible. And yet, loneliness, but if it did, what would Ridge in flair. My croolings and I excluded. Many people I love have so many students try. I admire the it be? The question makes me indoctrinated trippees — we closed taken leave terms or transferred people who devote their free time think back to my freshman class our eyes, held hands and “took the because Dartmouth did not toward supporting their peers and orientation book, “Connected: The provide the support they needed. working to reform school policies. Surprising Power of Our Social still north into our hearts.”

In 2017, 34 Last weekend, I felt enveloped Networks and How They Shape O n e percent of female in solidarity marching alongside Our Lives.” Eager to complete my afternoon, a “Some of our u n d e r g r a d u a t e s other students in the pouring rain first college assignment, I read it few croolings traditions may seem r e p o r t e d for Take Back the Night. I feel the cover-to-cover. The book’s central and I, wearing e x p e r i e n c i n g opposite of loneliness when I think thesis is that all of the people we face paint and bizarre, but for sexual assault about all of the people who are so surround ourselves with have a yelling about me, they’ve made during their time invested in Dartmouth and care profound impact on who we are the Hunger here — a fact of deeply about improving it. and how we behave. Now, as I near Games, sprinted Dartmouth feel like life at Dartmouth Ironically, at a school whose graduation, I understand why the towards an home.” that will very likely motto is “a voice crying out in the admissions office chose this book: unsuspecting continue for the wilderness,” I have never felt less because it’s true. I feel grateful group of incoming freshmen to raid their ’23s, ’24s and ’25s. Mental health isolated. It comforts me to have all for all of the kind, thoughtful, trip. After eating our brownies issues are rampant: In the 2018 of my friends so easily accessible. I wonderful people at Dartmouth and enduring our shtik, the group Dartmouth Health Survey, about can walk through Baker Lobby on who have made me a better person. interrupted and told us they were one-fifth of respondents reported a weekday morning and know that I’m comforted by Marina’s message: from Harvard. They stared at they had been diagnosed with Sammi will be sitting at her usual We don’t have to lose the opposite us like, “what kind of crazy cult depression or anxiety. Nearly table. I know that I’ll get to catch of loneliness when we graduate. I school is Dartmouth?” Some two-thirds of respondents agreed up with Holly four days a week plan to stay connected to the parts of our traditions might seem or strongly agreed the campus when we walk to and from our of Dartmouth that are meaningful bizarre, but for me, they’ve made climate has a negative impact on class in the Life Sciences Center. to me, and I look forward to many students’ mental and emotional Most nights before going to sleep, more beautiful times ahead.

Dartmouth feel like home.

Meeting so many ’22s, answering their endless questions and mitigating their anxieties, reminded me of my own freshman trip. I remembered how amazed I felt at the amount of time, effort and care Dartmouth upperclassmen poured into welcoming incoming freshmen.

As if to say, “We are so excited to have you here. This is your place as much as it is ours.” It was so meaningful to me when a Trip leader trainer I met only briefly remembered my name, smiled and said hi to me every time he saw me until he graduated. I am so grateful for the upperclassmen I’ve met not just through Trips but also through my sorority, who have been my role models, mentors and support system at Dartmouth.

I’ve loved paying it forward and COURTESY OF LARA BALICK forming these same relationships Lara, a former member of Vox Croo, pictured with her fellow croolings during Trips 2018.

MIRR OR //7

Mars Getaway: Q&A with Professor Palucis Q&A

By Arianna Khan

Last June, NASA chief scientist current state is also interesting in the scientist part of me, it’s great Jim Green told USA Today with thinking about sending people to working with rovers and satellites, certainty that humans will be Mars. I just really like the idea that but everything’s at a much slower on Mars in the near future. The just by looking at the surface of pace because the rovers slowly go prospect of starting over on a new a planet, you can understand its along. They can only take pictures planet once we’ve decimated this whole history. Its whole history is from so far, so being able to send one is beginning to feel ever-so- there — you just have to be able to actual people there would be amazing. I feel like a geologist could slightly less like science fiction than read it. do in a month what it takes years for I’m comfortable with. The mere 12 years afforded to the world to What do you think about the the rovers to do. I think that aspect stop climate change in its tracks by possibility of past life on Mars of it is really interesting to think last year’s UN report can feel a bit or the prospect of sending about. Maybe someday we’re going like a death sentence. Meanwhile, humans to Mars in the future? to send a person or maybe a group evidence of historical bodies of MP: A lot of times with the work of people to Mars. water on the now-dry planet of I do, we’re trying to estimate. Say Mars suggests that past life on the we have a lake on Mars, and we’re Is there a relationship between planet, at least, trying to say how your work and climate change? is not out of the “I just really like the long this lake MP: Mars is an example of a question. lasted for, and planet that has gone through I spoke with idea that just by it’ll be 10,000 to drastic climate change. It once earth sciences looking at the surface a million years. was potentially habitable, and p ro f e s s o r Which sounds life could have evolved. Due to of a planet, you can Marisa Palucis like a long time, varying reasons, it’s losing its to learn about understand its whole but life may have atmosphere, and now it’s cold and her research, history.” needed a much dry. It’s this very drastic example including longer period of of what can happen when climate exactly how time. So it seems change happens. Part of my work is likely we are to send humans to like you need to have a very long really trying to figure out how that Mars. Palucis’ research aims to period of time where you have fairly changing climate happened and understand how fluids shape the stable conditions for life to develop, how it’s recorded in the geology. For Earth, creating landscape features and then it’s able to adapt when you the work I do, the work on Earth, like river channels and deltas. She have more extreme environments. I think a lot about these very steep landscapes.

A considers how these processes T h a t ’ s lot of my work change with climate and applies interesting for has been on the her research to Mars as well, me to think “Maybe someday west coast in investigating when, where and about, or at we’re going to send steep mountain how much water has flowed on its least it puts a person or maybe ranges.

With surface. my work into climate change perspective. It’s a group of people to there, we’re What’s something you find really important Mars.” getting these really interesting or exciting to think about periods of about the work you’re doing? if there’s an MP: I think it’s really fascinating ocean on Mars. Was it there for just increased forest fires and wildfire, that we think that Mars was once a million years, or was it there for and the vegetation is really much more Earth-like — just the first half billion years, in which important for keeping soil on the thinking about the fact that there’s case life could’ve evolved on Mars? hillslope and not having it transport this planet there today that’s very And then there’s this idea of if it did down into mudslides and into cold and dry that once had rivers evolve, as the planet was drying out, people’s homes. With increased and lakes and maybe an ocean. Just did that life go into the subsurface? frequency of these fires, and then being able to look at a landscape So, is it still there? And if we go bigger storms due to climate change, that’s 3 billion years old. Being there, we’re going to introduce climate change is changing the able to say something about what life, and is that going to somehow amount and size and how long fires it looked like and to think of the affect life there? Even though it’s last and storms last. It’s creating this implications of that, like what probably going to be simple life on perfect storm, where you get a lot if there was life on Mars? And Mars, we’re going to affect that. I more risk for landsliding and slope understanding Mars’ past and its think that’s really interesting. For failure and things that really do

affect people that either live within those mountain communities or people who live at the base of them.

These landslides or debris flows or floods come out of these mountains and essentially onto the floodplain where people live. For me, climate change is not something I think about it in terms of how I can stop it. It’s more just that this is the effect that it’s having on this one aspect of human health and safety. It affects the landscape. And there’s other people within my field who study a more long-term picture. Like if you build up a mountain, that affects the climate pattern and how wind and things move. But for me it’s more how climate is increasing these storms and fires and how that affects landscapes. I’m trying

to get a grasp of, before it’s too late, what the baseline is. How do these systems work in general? And this is the hard thing about doing earth science right now. What is the forest fire, climate, debris flow and landslide cycle like? What’s the normal? But we’re in this pattern of change, and so it’s hard to say what’s normal because we’re seeing increased storm sizes, or they’re happening more often or forest fires are hotter or bigger. So it’s hard to get this baseline. That part has been interesting with just trying to figure out if this is normal. Has this been happening for the last hundred years? Is this the new normal?

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

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Jump On In PHOTO

By Naina Bhalla