While giving a recent talk in the LOH innovation Lab, Professor Elena Lioubimtseva argued that it was critical in our time of climate crisis to overcome climate despair.  It simply gets in the way of the things we can do.

This same practical strain runs through much of her approach to her work.  As chair of Geography and Sustainable Planning, a co-facilitator of the Faculty Learning Community on Surviving Climate Crisis Through Education, and a driver of the Climate Change Education Solutions Network she’s a potent example of what you can do when you park panicky feelings and get on with what is achievable.

“I joined Climate Reality Leadership Corps as a volunteer and was trained by former Vice President Al Gore in Minneapolis in August 2019. I am a member of Grand Rapids Climate Action  and Grand Rapids Chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby. I serve on West Michigan Climate Adaptation Council,” Elena said.  She also likes to recall the words of Christina Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC and Climate Reality Leader, who said “We cannot afford the luxury of not being hopeful… This is a challenge we must face and conquer. Succeeding in arresting climate change is the only option we have. And success always starts with optimism”.

“Different universities are all good at something,” she muses.  “Western has a high degree of activism, U of M has big grants, Northern is very active in climate adaptation in the UP, and GVSU is really into teaching.  With a new President we are thinking about new audiences, we are student centered, and we care about community education.  The other universities bring what they are doing well, and we bring a concentration on teaching about climate change.  My vision of our niche is in areas such as K-12 and continuing ed where we can make climate change understandable.”

 

Making it understandable is not just a task for scientists.  Elena sees the role of literature, art, communication studies, etc. as key to the interdisciplinary efforts that real understanding requires.

 

On June 12, 2019, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Regional Math and Science Center, and Geography and Sustainable Planning Department welcomed a much larger than predicted crowd to the Climate Change Education Solutions Summit (CCES2019).  Open to educators, students and community members, this summit was designed to help teachers bring greater understanding of climate change into their classrooms.  100 people were expected, 160 registered, and 145 did in fact attend.

The success of the summit had precursors.  In the 2017-2018 school year there had been brainstorming about how to help schools teach in this area for which few teachers felt prepared.  In 2017 Elena attended Climate Generation—A Will Steger Legacy in Minneapolis for a 4-day intensive program. “Steger spoke at GVSU and led a delegation to the UNFCCC Climate Change Conference in December 2009.  Our alumna Danielle Ostafinski was part of the Youth delegation which was led by Climate Generation.”

These ideas began to evolve and a small CCES was held in May 2018 involving Janet Vail of AWRI, Erik Nordman (BIO), Bob Hollister (BIO), Elena and others who learned what K-12 teachers wanted from our faculty.  CCES2019 became a way of delivering on that.

Elena would like to see some of these experiences come together for CCES2020 which would bring in Climate Generation (they used Skyped in 2019) as well as several national and possibly international experts in climate change education and communication.   “Most area teachers do not have the ability to go to Minneapolis but they can get some of the benefit here.  Thanks to work being done there, Minneapolis public schools have a great curriculum on climate change.”

 

Though supporting the K-12 teachers is critical, so too is providing a wider platform of support in the community, so the public is quite welcome to participate in the summits.  Though climate change is one area of focus, there is also support for environmental projects that focus on, for example, the watershed.

 

Elena sees this as a different form of collaboration where K-12, Grand Valley, and the community are all providing different resources.  Laura Schneider, Erik Nordman and Janet Vail have written a short paper on how the network approaches this collaboration.  Laura and Elena are working on a longer paper due this month for inclusion in the Handbook on Climate Change Management.

 

The work of applying for grants for the 2020 conference is ongoing.  While the cost per person is between $50-70 to produce the event, making it free or just a symbolic price keeps it accessible for teachers seeking continuing education and to interested students, retirees and other community members.  Elena expresses her gratitude toward speakers willing to present for free or just for their mileage. “People have been very generous.”

The conference draws participants who understand the importance of climate change, but then extends their understanding to key areas such as land use that may be below their radar.  “What can be done for agricultural adaptation?” Elena asks as an illustration.  She’s like to see major keynotes and breakouts of the 2020 conference include things like local government adaptation and sessions focused on higher education and K-12. She hopes to see continued participation by area universities such as Calvin, Western, Northern, MSU and more involvement by colleagues at Hope College who could not make it last year because of the climate event they were hosting the next day.

The value of coordination of the existing organizations through the network is considerable.  Noting the many area organizations who are working on climate change, Elena notes that while active, they can be unaware of each other’s efforts at any given point.  Here are examples of local groups:

•       GVSU Climate Change Education Network: www.gvsu.edu/cces and 

www.facebook.com/CCESNetwork/

•       GVSU Faculty Learning Community “Surviving Climate Crisis through Education”

•       Grand Rapids Climate Action 

•       Michigan Climate Action 

•       GR Citizens Climate Lobby 

•       GR Sunrise Movement 

•       Sierra Club Greater Grand Rapids 

•       Climate Witness Project 

•       Climate Reality Project – West Michigan Chapter 

She sees the Climate Change Education Solutions Network as a possible platform for collaboration among them. 

“What goes on at the university does expand the conversations in K-12.  Providing a small drop of encouragement to hesitant school administrators when they ask for help to find a speaker allows them to hold their own small climate education events.  Both Hastings High School and Jennison High School had events organized by their social sciences faculty.  Elena served as a keynote speaker and students developed posters.

Ultimately, Elena would like to see GVSU be bolder in its enunciation of carbon neutrality goals, the source of our energy portfolio and other forms of our long-term decision making with bearing on climate so that everyone could clearly see where we stand.  She’s been discussing this with Yumiko Jakobcic, Director, Office of Sustainability Practices and wonders if a committee might drive these efforts. 

Elena would like to be part of the broader commitments we’d make in a climate adaptation plan and would involve more students in the discussion.  “Their energy and faculty expertise and our facilities—capitalizing on what we have already,” Elena smiles at this winning combination.