Activism & Social Change – Ecosystemic Magazine

14May

By Ariana ThorntonNo Comments

The Story of Us – Poetry

Image courtesy of NASAby Ariana Thorntonwe are not the beginning.not the pinnacle of evolution as we’ve been taughtnot the center of the universe as we once believedbut one motif in the ever-growing intricacy of nature’s tapestry. nobody agrees on what makes the human condition unique among animals. our cognition? communication? intelligence?all animals feel pain,many feel fear and love,some possess an intellect similar to our own.we communicate through pheromones,we click, we whistle, we wail. we are as animal as the sea sponge, as curious as the octopus,as resourceful as the chimpanzee.so what, then, gives us–a species neither as successful as the antnor as ancient as the sea star–the right to call ourselves masters of all nature?nature has had 4.5 billion years to op...

14May

By Esme HyattNo Comments

Activism & Social Change, Literature

What Environmentalism Means to Me

Image courtesy of Margot RichardWritten by Esme HyattWhen discussing environmentalism, I think the general response is to focus on the planet. To me, however, it kindles thoughts around humans’ impact on the environment and the environment's impact on humans. I first got involved in environmentalism in 2019, when I was in middle school. What got me initially interested was not climate change’s effect on the environment, but its effect on humans. Seeing numerous articles detailing the overarching repercussions of climate change on human life made me realize how necessary it was for me and others to get involved. Ultimately, all consequences of climate change influence human life. It's the intersection of climate change and human health that I think is incredibly important. Fossil fuel...

A Hero and Pioneer for Peace – Wangari Maathai

11Mar

By Becki M’mariNo Comments

Activism & Social Change

A Hero and Pioneer for Peace – Wangari Maathai

By Becki M’mari What does it mean to be a hero? As a globally recognized pioneer in the fight for social and environmental justice, Professor Wangari Muta Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, and was the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. To many, she was a hero because of her commitment to fostering innovation and positive growth. Born and raised in the highlands of Kenya, Maathai was the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctoral degree. From there, she became the first woman elected as Chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy at the University of Nairobi. One of Maathai’s most pivotal and meaningful contributions was creating the Green Belt Movement, an environmental organization empowering women to make meaningful improvements ...

Intersectional Environmentalists are Vital to Our Movement

29Jan

By Esme HyattNo Comments

Activism & Social Change

Intersectional Environmentalists are Vital to Our Movement

By Esme Hyatt The job of intersectional environmentalists is an important one. Many movements in the past have intentionally or unintentionally excluded minority groups, such as in the case of the Women's Suffrage movement (Waters-Page, n.d.). Intersectional environmentalists advocate for minority communities to have a voice in the environmentalist movement. These activists prioritize inclusivity and social justice when approaching environmental issues (Intersectional Environmentalist, n.d.). Artwork by Julianne Park Kristy Drutman, founder of Brown Green Girl, is an intersectional environmentalist. She started advocating through a lens of social justice early on, even before the term was coined in 2020 by Leah Thomas (Intersectional Environmentalist, n.d.). “I was posting a...

29Jan

By Eyob SisayNo Comments

Activism & Social Change, Pop Culture

The Power of #Paid

By Eyob Sisay As the field of influencer marketing quickly becomes one of the hottest industries in the world, how will social media creators hold up against the demands of their eco-conscious fans? In 2022, 58% of the world was active daily on social media (Mohshin 2022). For brands, social media is prime marketing real-estate. As a result, companies are more than willing to shell out billions of dollars to hire social media creators with significant platforms to promote their products;. According to Osborne (2019), 49% of social media users depend on content creators’ product recommendations, thus validating the “influencer” status of some social media creators. Therefore, there exists a symbiotic relationship between social media creators and brands. In many cases, the Earth doesn...

Misinformation and Performative Activism on Social Media

28Jan

By Stella StoneNo Comments

Activism & Social Change, Pop Culture

Misinformation and Performative Activism on Social Media

By Stella Stone Misinformation and performative activism, often intertwined, are potent forces that undermine climate movements across the globe. As you mindlessly click through Instagram stories, you may see a cheery-looking graphic discussing dying polar bears. While your first instinct may be to repost this, first consider– what are the motivations of the creator? Is the information factual? And most of all, how does this even help? While misinformation can have varying definitions, a 2020 study from the University of Exeter states “[a] common theme is that misinformation pertains to information that is false, inaccurate or misleading,” (Treen et al.). Across all categories of social media, a Statistica study found that 67% of Americans have encountered fake news on social media a...

28Jan

By Ariana ThorntonNo Comments

Activism & Social Change, Art & Multimedia

Female Environmentalist Alphabet

By Ariana Thornton After reading Kristy's interview, I became inspired by the crucial role that female identifying individuals play in the fight for environmental justice. These three digital artworks are part of a larger multimedia project in which I plan to draw 26 portraits of influential female environmentalists from different backgrounds, cultures, and generations around the world–one name for each letter of the English alphabet. Through this project, I seek to shed light on the intersectionality of the climate movement and raise awareness of important female environmentalists whose names are not as well known as, say, Greta Thunberg or Jane Goodall. Women climate activists who have made significant contributions to their cause are not just White, but also Black, Indigenous, Af...

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and Inclusive, Intersectional Activism

31Jul

By Alex RadtNo Comments

Activism & Social Change

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and Inclusive, Intersectional Activism

By Alex Radt It would be an understatement to say that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, overturning the earlier ruling in Roe v. Wade, has sparked backlash. As a person who is both disabled and genderqueer, I have two reminders for others about keeping your conversations and action inclusive — something that is always necessary when fighting for real, positive change. First, many disabled people cannot attend protests. Individuals may have a variety of reasons for this, including mobility challenges, heat intolerance, sensory overload, and a high risk of being severely impacted by COVID-19. (One way you can make protests more accessible is by wearing a mask and taking other basic precautions, instead of choosing to needlessly put high-r...

The Shared Fight for Climate and Reproductive Justice

22May

By Lucas FlahertyNo Comments

Activism & Social Change

The Shared Fight for Climate and Reproductive Justice

By Lucas Flaherty In 1973, under the pseudonym Jane Roe, Norma McCorvey won her case in the Roe v. Wade trial. The Supreme Court protected a pregnant woman's liberty to choose to have an abortion without government restriction. On May 2, 2022, 50 years later, a leak from the Supreme Court revealed plans to overturn the case, restricting abortion rights once again. The subsequent uproar has led to persistent protests outside the Supreme Court and even outside the houses of some Justices. Alongside the pro-choice protests, people from many other movements continue to protest the Supreme Court’s decisions related to climate, race, and LGBTQIA+ rights. While the relative similarities between these issues may seem minimal, they intersect greatly and combine into one big movement. The rece...

1May

By Elson BankoffNo Comments

Activism & Social Change

Proactive Media and Mutual Education

On Advancing The Climate Justice Movement and Leading Us Into a Renewable Revolution By Elson Bankoff Political Cartoon by Elson Bankoff Introduction Involvement in climate advocacy exists through education, oftentimes leaving marginalized groups–– those with the strongest narratives–– excluded from the movement. This harms the movement greatly. There is a privilege in the involvement in this movement which exists not only socioeconomically, but as the privilege of curiosity, of energy, and of capacity to imagine a better world. We the youth are living in the heat of the moment but also the climax of our educational experience. We are learning to different and unequal degrees and in dire need of large-scale education reform that requires uprooting the American obsession ...