U-M Climate-Con Brings Attention to the Climate Crisis and Sustainability
A recent evening at the University of Michigan focused on sustainability, as 47 students gathered in the Michigan League for Climate-Con, a chance to discuss, learn, and share ideas about the climate crisis and ways it can be addressed at the local level.
AIESEC’s Michigan chapter hosted the event to “educate the community about the climate crisis, address climate issues directly affecting the Ann Arbor area, and develop possible actions we can take at U-M.”
AIESEC is an international youth-run nonprofit that facilitates leadership development and cross-cultural experiences. Although AIESEC is not exclusively a sustainability-focused organization, the topic is important to its members, according to Ally Weingarden, president of AIESEC’s Michigan chapter and a junior studying organizational studies and Spanish. “Our members are really passionate about sustainability,” she said, “and it’s important for them to feel more impactful and connected” to these issues.
AIESEC as an organization focuses on international topics, Weingarden noted, and this event was meant to bring a local lens to these global issues.
The event featured a presentation about the President’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality, a carbon neutrality brainstorming activity, a student organization fair, and keynote speakers, which included current SEAS master’s student Dolores Perales, who has engaged extensively with food systems in Southeast Michigan and with the U-M Sustainable Food Program. “I have had the utmost pleasure working with some of the most dedicated and kindhearted individuals who care about sustainability, food accessibility, and representation of minority students within the environmental fields,” Perales said of her time at SEAS.
Another keynote speaker, SEAS graduate Dr. Missy Stults (PhD ’16), the Sustainability and Innovations Manager for the City of Ann Arbor, gave a presentation about A2Zero, Ann Arbor’s plan for becoming carbon neutral by 2030. She spoke about the importance of getting students involved in this work, and mentioned volunteer opportunities, an ambassador program, and grants they offer for innovative projects. Stults also highlighted one of her favorite aspects of working with the city. “The thing that is so beautiful about local work is that I can see my fingerprints on everything,” she said.
Participants had high praise for Climate-Con. Mikayla Mitchell, a senior in the Program in the Environment, said she was excited to meet other people interested in sustainability and learn more about university actions to address the climate crisis. Jonathan Sarasa, a freshman in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, said he “appreciate[d] the variety of fields they covered with climate change” and was happy to hear about other ways to get involved in sustainability and conservation work.
In her final remarks, Weingarden expressed the importance of working locally when thinking about climate change. “There are lots of opportunities to get involved on campus and in Ann Arbor to address sustainability,” she said. The climate crisis can be daunting to think about on an international scale, but local solutions make all the difference, she emphasized.