The Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain aims to help students create sustainable communities, where humans and nature flourish in the present and future. One SLS Priority area concerning sustainable communities is Climate Change & Energy, which focuses on Earth's changing climate and the energy advancements being made to keep these changes in check.

Spring 2020 Liam's Legacy Symposium: Facing Climate Change - Tools and Stories that Connect Communities

Presented by Serve-Learn-Sustain, in partnership with School of History and Sociology (through a grant from the Gertrude and William C. Wardlaw Fund in support of the Conference on Human Rights, Changes and Challenges).

The Spring 2020 Liam's Legacy Symposium focused on community science, story telling, and our changing environment. Julia Drapkin joined us from  ISeeChange, a New-Orleans-based organization she founded to empower and connect communities across the country through climate-change-related data collection, along with Raina Turner, Executive Director of the Sustainable Community Solutions Network, LLC and organizer and leader of the annual Black Sustainability Summit. Following presentations by Ms. Drapkin and Ms. Turner, we presented a moderated discussion facilitated by GSU student Zeena Abdulkarim, a Political Science major who is passionate about intersectional activism, the protection of the planet and environmental justice, breaking down systems of oppression structured against minority communities, spreading awareness of these matters, and taking action through community organizing.  Please click the link below for a video of the event.

Facing Climate Change - Tools and Stories that Connect Communities

Newsworthy - Climate Change & Energy

The articles below take a look at ongoing initiatives in the climate change sphere. These climate action proposals have the potential to make a monumental impact.

New Thinking for a New Year
Perhaps one of the most widely contested factors to propelling climate action is having knowledgeable and effective leadership. US News analyzes how a change in approach to climate leadership, one focused on equity, health, and justice, will be a major proponent to the effectiveness of climate action measures. The article highlights the contradiction of past versus present in answering what can be done to benefit our future.

A Clever New Map Shows Which Chicago Neighborhoods are Most at Risk From Pollution
Pollution exposure may not be the first thing that comes to someone's mind when they hear “inequality”. However, a map recently created by the National Resources Defense Council shows this starking pollution disparity amongst certain Chicago neighborhoods. Learn about the causes of this inequality as well as the measures being taken to catalyze action.

Report: Inequalities exacerbate climate impacts on poor
A recent UN report highlights the effect of climate change on those most vulnerable and marginalized. Amongst other factors, one of the largest proponents of this inequality and subsequent impact is the government's lack of drive “to close the development gaps that leave large population groups at risk.” Read how the failure to address this issue will affect those most at risk in the future and what policies are in development to address the root causes.

Kim Cobb: Corals, Climate, and a Changing World
One of the most obvious and transparent effects of climate change is the effect it's having on our environment. Sea levels are rising, climate events (hurricanes, wildfires, etc.) are getting not only more prevalent but more destructive, and species are dying. Georgia Tech professor and AAAS member Dr. Kim Cobb has a personal connection to the latter as much of her research and work revolves understanding El Niño and La Niña events and their relation to our past. Read and watch how climate change is affecting these natural occurrences and the what implications it has for marine life.