Reflections on tUrn: Climate Crisis Awareness & Action Week at SCU

Santa Clara hosts Global Climate Action Week

Last week, Santa Clara’s tURn project united students, activists, indigenous leaders and environmentalists in an effort to address the current climate crisis.

In conjunction with this effort, the university hosted the Association for The Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education — combining the events into one “Global Climate Action Week.”

Santa Clara students, faculty and alumni joined together online from Oct. 11-15 to participate in conversations led by climate activists. The series featured over 30 different headliners, with presentation topics ranging from global business and food innovation strategies to science-based conservation solutions.

The tUrn project, according to director and SCU faculty member Kristin Kusanovich, “is an invitation to lean into the climate crisis” directly.

The initiative, she said, has three main components: partners, who speak directly with students and conduct and lead their own tUrn presentations, headliners, who are featured presenters, workshop leaders and panelists for tUrn, and resources, which supply the online materials to support the study, conservation, and active participation in the climate crisis.

All of these groups work together to create an innovative model for climate crisis education in higher education and beyond.

Guest speakers included Shannon Rivers, a frequent presenter at tUrn week and member of the O’Otham River People of Arizona. Clara Nicholls, a Colombian agronomist, Hersh Shefrin, and Gary White, Co-Chair of Presentations at the Climate Reality Project (founded by former Vice-President Al Gore) also spoke.

Global Climate Action week also incorporated global headliners. The Environmental Volunteer Network of Afghanistan participated in the lecture series at Santa Clara, speaking about climate education and environmentalism in Afghanistan. Simultaneously, the group hosted their own climate action week in Kabul, with over 6,000 participants attending.

According to Kusanovich, there were about 800 participants from around the world attending the recent events, 50% of whom were students at Santa Clara and other partnering Jesuit institutions.

In her words, the week fostered “meaningful understandings of the severity and rapidity of global warming, ecological collapse, species extinction, pollution/toxicity and climate racism and injustice.”

Those understandings were further developed in Q&A sessions following the presentations.

Gary White, one of the tUrn presenters who is actively involved with the Climate Reality Project, explained the many steps students can currently take to be a part of these solutions.

Utilizing fuel-efficient transportation methods like biking, walking or carpooling can help support sustainable practices, he said. Incorporating waste management strategies like composting, buying locally grown and distributed foods, and installing energy efficient appliances are all methods through which individuals can reduce their environmental impact on the planet.

“With seas rising, global heat records increasing, and storms becoming more and more devastating, the reality of climate change has never been clearer,” White said.

When making a conscious decision to incorporate more of these types of practices into your daily life, White confirmed, “the way forward is also clear.”

Paola Felix, ASG Sustainability Senator, and SLURP tUrn student researcher expressed her gratitude towards the university for providing opportunities such as these to get engaged and informed on the many impacts of the current climate crisis.

“My favorite part of tUrn Week is seeing students and professionals from across disciplines, careers, and majors come together to talk and contribute their expertise to this collective conversation,” she said in an interview.

Undergraduates like Felix recognize the importance of youth involvement in climate initiatives, especially since the decisions political leaders and officials make now will likely have great impacts on future generations - generations who will suffer or celebrate the repercussions of those decisions.

“I think it's important for students to be involved because we need young people to have the capacity to adapt to the harsh impacts of climate change,” Felix said. “Building green knowledge is absolutely necessary.”

While the climate crisis remains a growing threat to the human population, advocates like Kusanovich and colleagues, who take part in the tUrn project, remain hopeful about the future.

Survey responses from the lectures reveal that tUrn’s impact is significant.

According to statistics generated from tUrn week responses, the percentage of attendees who became aware of the extent of the climate crisis doubled before and after a headliner. The percentage of tUrn attendees who now believe they need to be a part of the solution also increased by 50%.

As Kusanovich confirmed from the reflections, 90% of attendees said they would recommend the educational sessions to a friend and 91% said they found it “highly valuable to attend a week dedicated to the climate crisis awareness & actions” she said.

“For those who are convinced there is nothing we can do, they learn that their view springs from natural responses, fear and grief, but that there is a lot we can do,” Kusanovich says. “For those who want to do something, they learn what they can do, how it should be done, and how it can further justice when they do climate action with certain communities and vulnerable populations in mind.”

For more information on the tUrn project, and how to get involved in climate justice, click here.