Barnard Talks Climate Across Scales

Over at least four decades, Barnard has remained at the forefront of climate action from all angles — being a leading circular campus in the U.S., earning a STARS gold rating, and pledging to reach net-zero emissions by 2040. 

This Earth Month, the Office of the Provost hosted its fourth installment of the Barnard Year of Elections Around the World series: “Climate Across Scales: Perspectives on National Politics, Colonial Legacies, and Resilient Communities.” The series, launched last October, has grown successfully through the collaborative efforts of Rebecca L. Walkowitz, Claire Tow Professor of English and Provost and Dean of the Faculty, Alexander Cooley, Vice Provost for Research and Academic Centers and Claire Tow Professor of Political Science, and Melissa Wright, executive director of the Center for Engaged Pedagogy (CEP). It invites College faculty, students, and staff to examine critical issues that shape elections, such as immigration, reproductive rights, and climate change.

“Climate was not by and large one of the major or explicit issues in elections around the world,” said Wright. “The impacts of the climate crisis are implicit in many other issues on voters’ minds — like food insecurity and immigration. As we closed out the series, we wanted to foreground an issue that is often pushed to the back burner.” 

The event — which included an audience-interactive Q&A moderated by Sandra Goldmark, Professor of Professional Practice in Theatre and Associate Dean for Interdisciplinary Engagement at the Columbia Climate School — brought together different perspectives on climate change and how it shows up as a critical issue for voters. 

“The climate crisis touches every aspect of how we live, and that can be overwhelming,” said Goldmark. “However, coming together to grapple with these questions, to talk about them — that too is an act of will, a choice, to believe and to take a step toward collective action.”