Tuesday

with Tish O’Dell (OH) Michelle Sanborn (NH) & Chad Nicholson (PA), Organizers, CELDF.
moderated by Iris Stewart-Frey, ESS, and Sarah Danon, tUrn

Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) Organizers will discuss how this question has been addressed by communities in NH, PA and OH.

The very first Rights of Nature Law was passed in 2006 with CELDF assistance, in Tamaqua Borough, PA. In this session, CELDF organizers will describe how communities like Tamaqua reached a breaking point and realized that the current environmental laws were not giving them a voice in protecting bodies of water in the community and how lopsided the environmental protection laws were in favor of corporations and industry. In NH, USA Springs, LLC wanted to withdraw and bottle waters for pure profit, threatening to contaminate and dry up local wells. In PA, oil/gas drilling companies want to dump their toxic waste in watersheds, and residents in several communities are fighting back to protect water for humans and natural communities. In OH, industrial agriculture is the known cause of harmful algae blooms and caused the shutdown of water for over 500,000 residents for 3 days.

All of these communities were pushed to a limit and forced to examine and challenge the current system of law using a new paradigm-shifting model, recognizing and legalizing the waters as living entities with rights. Through the stories of these three communities, we will examine why the current legal system does not meaningfully protect water, and show how Rights of Nature is a legal and cultural shift to a system that can protect the water.

with Hersh Shefrin

moderated by Hannah Trillo

Being a part of the climate solution, not the climate problem, is everyone’s business. It is especially the business of students who are at the beginning of their careers, with their lives in front of them on a planet that is on track to be hotter than a pizza oven. Greenwashing is a nefarious activity that deceives people who want to be part of the climate solution to instead become part of the climate problem. Greenwashing is a special problem for students who want to join companies that make a positive difference, but are misled into taking jobs with companies that negatively contribute to the climate crisis. Con artists abound. The case of Theranos provides a vivid example of a healthcare company that lured impressionable, caring undergraduates to work for a company whose product actually created harm. Greenwashing is about hiding environmental harm.

In this session we’ll unpack techniques that greenwashing companies use to mislead and deceive their employees, customers, and investors. We'll discuss what makes people vulnerable to greenwashing, and steps they can take to protect themselves from manipulation.

with Dana Nuccitelli

What’s in the federal bill on climate? Tons! The IRA with its nearly $400 billion budget is by far the largest federal climate package ever passed. The bill will significantly curb U.S. climate pollution while transforming the American economy through domestic clean technology deployment and manufacturing. Though the Inflation Reduction Act includes many important environmental justice investments, it is also being criticized by Indigenous groups and other people in frontline communities who feel sacrificed by the fossil fuel compromises included in the bill.

Join Dana Nuccitelli, climate journalist and Research Coordinator for Citizens’ Climate Lobby, for a tour of the bill’s contents, strengths, flaws, and implications for the U.S. meeting its Paris commitments.

with Mohan Gurunathan, Environmental Researcher and Educator

moderated by Emily Pachoud

Explore why we need to swiftly adopt more plant-based diets to save the Earth and her ecosystems. In this session we will learn how we can prioritize and accelerate critical and urgent climate action through scaling up healthy, joyous, ethical eating practices. A tUrn crowd favorite that will uproot any notions that promoting higher food chain consumption industries or practices are somehow solutions to larger-scale matters of world hunger, water scarcity or species extinction.

with Vanessa Raditz of Queers4ClimateJustice

moderated by Emily Pachoud and Neha Mann

Join environmental health researcher, youth educator, and culture-shifter Vanessa Raditz for a session dedicated to learning about community healing, opening access to land and resources, and fostering a thriving local economy based on human and ecological resilience. Vanessa received their Master of Public Health in Environmental Health Sciences from UC Berkeley, and currently studies in the Geography PhD program at University of Georgia. Vanessa is part of the founding collective of the Queer Ecojustice Project, educating and organizing at the intersection of ecological justice and queer liberation.

Co-presented with the Rainbow Resource Center of SCU

Student Session with Emily Pachoud & tUrn Crew

Reflect on the day, meet others, and be led through a short series of concrete climate justice actions in an atmosphere of supportive and committed people who have the courage to care. All SCU students are welcome. Just drop in.

RSVP