Hofstra celebrates Earth Day with virtual panels
Hofstra celebrated Earth Day virtually this year with multiple panels hosted by the Center for Civic Engagement. // Photo courtesy of Hofstra University’s Center for Civic Engagement.
On Thursday, April 22, the annual Earth Day celebration at Hofstra University returned after a one-year hiatus due to COVID-19. The virtual event, “Earth Day: Restore our Earth,” sponsored by the Center for Civic Engagement, was held through Zoom and featured three different panels throughout the day.
“I think they went fantastic,” said Philip Dalton, director of the Center for Civic Engagement. Each panel focused on a different aspect of environmental awareness and activism, featuring guest speakers with various areas of expertise.
The first panel, “A Conversation with Climate Organizers,” featured panelists involved with environmental work and organizations. The panel discussed what environmental activism and community organization looks like on both a local and national scale. The goal of each event was to “inform students on how they can make an individual impact,” according to Kali Winn, graduate assistant for the Center for Civic Engagement.
The second panel discussed climate change and migration.
“Just about all of the earth is warming up, some places faster than others,” said Dr. Jase Bernhardt, a professor in the Department of Geology, Environment and Sustainability at Hofstra University. Bernhardt was one of four panelists along with Robert McLeman, a professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. In a question-and-answer session with the audience, the topic of environmental racism came up. “Climate change tends to reveal embedded structures in society,” McLeman said. He added that social inclusion is integral in leading to climate change.
“The How-To’s of Sustainable Housing” was the third and final panel of the event. The panelists discussed what sustainable housing looks like for the average person and how it might be attainable. One audience member asked about ways to house more people in a sustainable way.
“In North America, we need to look at the places we already have and retrofit them,” said June Williamson, associate professor at the City College of New York, department chair of Architecture and co-author of “Retrofitting Suburbia Series.”
Many of the panelists expressed their hope that student leaders will continue the discussion on climate change.
“The main thing I took away from this discussion was the perseverance so many people have for this issue,” said Tyler Mroczek, a sophomore journalism major who attended the third panel. “It’s great to see so many individuals fighting for change and it only makes sense to discuss ways to better our environment on a day we celebrate it.”
Prior to the event, a few student fellows expressed their concerns about the possibility of not having a large audience attend the event, especially being virtual.
“In some ways, being virtual was an advantage because we didn’t have to arrange for travel,” said Olivia Tu, a senior global studies and geography major and a student fellow for the Center of Civic Engagement. “I wasn’t a fellow before everything was virtual, but I would say it has been easier getting speakers to come in general now that everything is on Zoom.”
Tu was also extremely pleased with the turnout of the event, alongside her other CCE fellows. She had decided to become a fellow this semester to spend her time helping to benefit and educate the community. “At times it can be kind of uncomfortable to think about, but I think it is still important to recognize how things like driving and using plastic are very involved in our daily lives and contribute to climate change,” Tu said.
“I hope after attending these panels, students have a heightened awareness about [environmental] concerns and what could be done,” Dalton said.
