Climate summit heats up at OU - Oakland Press

Climate summit heats up at OU - The Oakland Press

Oakland University will host the 4th annual Michigan Climate Action Summit this Friday. The event is put on by the Michigan Climate Action Network (MiCAN) and Director Denise Keele will give the opening remarks.

“The goal is to galvanize the over 70 percent of Michiganders that know climate change is happening and want to do something about it,” said Keele. “This is a very positive, solutions oriented event to show people what they can do to make an impact.”

Although registration for the event ended last week, the public is still welcome starting at 9 a.m. on Friday and the summit can also be accessed virtually.

Keele, a former environmental policy and law professor at Western Michigan University, has been director at MiCAN for one year. MiCAN was created in 2015 and this will be the first time the summit has been held at OU.

The first event was held in Grand Rapids in 2019, canceled due to Covid in 2020 and held virtually in 2021.

There will be 56 speakers at the summit including policy makers, scientists, activists, educators, members of environmental organizations and students.

“We are going to be talking about education, culture and storytelling with a very diverse group of people at this summit,” said Jeff Insko, an English professor at OU and key organizer of the event. “We will be looking at how to address the climate crisis in capacious ways and demonstrate our commitment to tackling this crisis.”

Keele said the hardest part of getting people into the climate change movement is the negativity involved with the possible outcome in the future.

“We tend to talk about what we are going to lose like driving a car or flying in a plane and that is a terrible approach,” said Keele. “We have to convince folks what they are going to win, what they are going to look forward to, why the future is going to be better and that is probably the hardest thing.”

Oakland University has a group on campus looking to do their part to influence climate change for the better.

The Campus Alliance for Sustainability and the Environment has been committed to creating a campus-wide culture of sustainability. Their efforts have translated to reducing the university’s carbon footprint, nurturing green and natural spaces, minimizing waste on campus and raising awareness about climate change.

“There will be a number of Oakland students volunteering and one that will be on a panel with other student activists from other universities as well,” said Insko. “There is a lot of excitement among our students who are hungry for solutions to a problem that they know is going to affect the rest of their lives and showcase the work we are doing”

For more information on the summit visit the Michigan Climate Action Network’s summit page.