April, 2022 – Ecosystemic Magazine

What Leading a High School Climate Strike in Minnesota Taught Me

15Apr

By Holly SwigloNo Comments

Activism & Social Change

What Leading a High School Climate Strike in Minnesota Taught Me

By Holly Swiglo It is a bitterly cold day, with snow and hail pelting down. Standing atop a wobbly folding chair, pressing a megaphone to my lips for the first time, I look out into the sea of nearly 600 faces before me. I am astounded. There are hundreds more than we expected. A few years ago, I was a shy kid who rarely raised my hand in class. I never would have imagined that now, I would be speaking in front of so many people, including government officials. I am one of the leaders of the Progressives Club at my school. Our club organized and led the Roseville Area High School (RAHS) Walkout For Climate Progress in Roseville, Minnesota. For as long as I can remember, my highest aspiration has been to make the world a better place. I discovered my passion for the natural world ...

15Apr

By Kazi AkterNo Comments

Literature

Just Another PSA

By Kazi Akter Look closely, What do you see? There isn’t much beauty, Left for you and me. While the buildings get bigger and bigger, The earth’s blanket gets thicker and thicker And your mom dad brother and sister They’re getting sicker and sicker. When I look up at the sky to think and ponder, All I see and hear is lighting and thunder, And the glaciers, they’re being torn asunder. How on earth did we let this happen? I wonder. The ones in office they turn a blind eye When there’s something surely awry Even with proof as clear as the skies They sit there and still deny. If we keep accelerating at this rate We’re doomed to a catastrophic fate But I’m telling you, it’s not too late To bring our planet back to its natural state But until then this’ll be just another PSA...

15Apr

By Owen YinglingNo Comments

Literature

Protest

By Owen Yingling If we could see them As they see us Shades of past and Not yet forgotten memories They can only look Unchangeable fragments left And we can only touch Reaching blindly towards a future Yet softly weeping earth I see The vanishing light burnt out How can it have undone so many? Requiem for those to come Can it still bear fruit? Brought up from the depths Of this humbled earth Awoken without a sound No relief from the task Among these tides of bodies As they force their way Ransom paid with their labor Can they make us see? That which will undo so much Dim light flickering Solace from weeping earth

Artivism: In Conversation with Luna Baker-Stohlamann from Extinction Rebellion.

3Apr

By Megan ChopraNo Comments

Interviews

Artivism: In Conversation with Luna Baker-Stohlamann from Extinction Rebellion.

Tell me about yourself? Where are you from, who are you? I am Luna, I'm 17, any pronouns, and I'm from New York City. I am part of the climate justice group extinction rebellion. I'm the arts working group coordinator for the NYC youth branch of extinction rebellion, in short XR. The way XR is structured is it has working groups focused on specific parts of our activism and I am one of the coordinators of the arts working group. Can you tell me a little bit about what you’ve done for the climate movement? Specifically in my working group and like my organization, we do a lot of work centered around artivism which is like the combining of art and activism. We use art logs as an accessible medium and especially over the pandemic, it is really effective because you don't ...

2Apr

By Isabel LimaoNo Comments

Eco-STEM

Free Range Labeling Lies

By Isabel Limao The food industry is dominated by big businesses with the financial resources to lobby the government. Because of this some people feel like it is hard to make change when it comes to issues such as the environment, animal rights, and other food production issues. One way people can demonstrate their beliefs is by buying food that has been made in a way that is better for the environment and animals. When you buy food created in a way that aligns with your beliefs it is like casting a vote in favor of these better methods. Usually when people look to buy food produced a certain way, they look at the labels. But what if those labels weren’t telling you the whole story? The term “free range” implies that the animals that produced the product, usually chickens or cows, h...

Clean Coal: What It Is and Why It Doesn’t Work

2Apr

By Amrit KaurNo Comments

Eco-STEM

Clean Coal: What It Is and Why It Doesn’t Work

By Amrit Kaur Clean coal. It sounds like a pretty neat thing, right? Well, not quite. It’s a lot trickier than that. Trust me, before I did my fair share of research about this term, my head was in the clouds regarding what “clean” coal is and what exactly its purpose is. How come coal became clean all of a sudden? As soon as I heard the word “clean”, I immediately dismissed any doubt that it could be bad, but I forgot the second word, coal. Well, we can start by defining what clean coal is. It’s essentially capturing carbon emissions and storing them under Earth permanently. Clean coal is an industry term that is linked with a range of technologies that burn coal more efficiently because they are supposed to eliminate or significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal-...

How Americans View the Climate Crisis: Acting on a Problem Many Believe is Non-Existent

2Apr

By Anvi BhateNo Comments

Global News & Policy

How Americans View the Climate Crisis: Acting on a Problem Many Believe is Non-Existent

By Anvi Bhate Currently, around 60 percent of Americans view climate change as a major threat to the prosperity of the United States and two thirds of the country’s adults observe the federal government is not doing enough to reduce the effects of global climate change (Pew, 2020). The majority of Americans believe the government should try different approaches to reducing climate change such as planting more trees, placing tougher restrictions on power plant carbon emissions, and establishing tougher fuel efficiency standards for cars (Pew, 2020). However, even as more Americans begin to believe in climate change and its alarming need to be addressed, two thirds of the population refuse to quit fossil fuels (Forbes, 2021). While not all Americans are completely convinced with the li...

Interview with Robert Mendelsohn: On-Boarding Developing Nations in the Fight Against Climate Change

2Apr

By Kevyn OrrNo Comments

Interviews

Interview with Robert Mendelsohn: On-Boarding Developing Nations in the Fight Against Climate Change

By Kevyn Orr Due to climate change, the disparities between developed and developing nations present a stark contrast between the haves and the have-nots. This contrast, explained by Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, an environmental economist at Yale University, in a study titled “The Distributional Impact of Climate Change on Rich and Poor Countries” revolves around the current climates of the countries in question and their economic ability to adapt to environmental changes. Developed nations stand in an ideal position due to abundant capital and the keen ability to innovate. In contrast, the developing are in a position in which they could face economic ruin or national destruction due to a lack of the proper resources. These disparities pose a significant threat to mitigating climat...