Envision Magazine Spring 2022

envision

climate community

cover: Mihlan Gaviola

in this issue

Calling for Cooling Centers

Lane County experienced a massive heatwave in 2021 that left local organizations and communities unprepared. How will this experience shape our future responses?

For Future Generations

How a local educator and student respond to teaching the climate crisis in classrooms.

Saving the Redwoods

Nonprofits work to restore and protect the natural beauty of California’s redwood forests in the face of climate change.

Stumbling into Science

Four University of Oregon faculty members describe their journeys to environmentally-focused careers.

Pretty on the Inside Students vs. Climate Change

How to tackle the climate crisis as a broke college kid.

letter from the editor

Sometimes it can feel like the climate crisis is an impossible feat landing on our generation’s shoulders to recover from the actions of generations before.

And as we approach fire season and more torrential weather, I feel even more anxious for the future of our planet. There have been strange 75-degree days in Eugene and hailstorms in April, shaking local ecosystems to their cores. The subtle evidence of a changing climate is ever-present in our day-to-day lives. It doesn’t help that so much media focuses on the harsh reality of climate change and all climate events that strike every angle of our planet.

So how can we feel okay about it?

Well, we shouldn’t give up hope. According to the United Nations, the global community is adapting, and many positive changes are happening that often go unnoticed. Electric vehicles are on the rise, low-emission technology like solar and wind power are decreasing in cost, climate-focused policies are expanding globally, and there are many opportunities to step up.

And there is a community in Eugene alone dedicated to finding new solutions and calling for action from our local and national leaders. There are dozens of organizations and groups that have spent years doing environmental activism.

In this edition of Envision, our producers covered different aspects of the community seeking and demanding change or doing it themselves.

In Eliza Aronson’s story, “Stumbling into Science,” we learn how different community members came into their environmental activism careers — although the journey is different for everyone, each of these profiles centers on the idea of bettering the world around them.

And in Sienna Riley’s piece, “Students vs. Climate Change,” we learn how to take some small steps to feel more in control of climate-related anxiety. Eliza Lawrence’s story “Calling for Cooling Centers” discusses the lessons learned from the brutal heatwave that struck Lane County in 2021 and how volunteers can prepare for the next one.

It can be demotivating to doom-scroll on Twitter or focus on the bad news. At Envision, we work to motivate readers to participate in the fight for a better future. Read these stories and get inspired.

Editor-in-Chief

Anna Mattson.

CALLING FOR COOLING CENTERS

Lane County experienced a massive heatwave in 2021 that left local organizations and communities unprepared. How will this experience shape our future responses?

written by Eliza Lawrence

illustrated by Mihlan Gaviola

During the latter part of June 2021, Eugene was plagued with recordbreaking temperatures.

On June 27, 2021 the temperature in Eugene reached 111 degrees, the highest ever recorded in the area, as reported by the National Weather Service.

According to the Oregon Health Authority, 96 people in the state were recorded dead as a result of the heatwave. But Jason Davis, the public information officer for Lane County Health and Human Services, said the actual death toll on the state level “is probably far higher.”

With such extreme temperatures, community organizations in Lane County quickly sprung into action to support unhoused people or others who lacked air conditioning. And as summer approaches, the possibility of another heatwave is among us. Will Eugene be prepared to provide further resources for the most vulnerable in the community?

Just 10 days before it hit, meteorologists predicted this historical heatwave. Albeit short, this warning allowed organizations to plan how they were

going to use their resources to respond to the impending high temperatures. But with the Covid-19 pandemic raging on and wildfire smoke decreasing air quality, Davis said LCHHS “had to scramble a lot of their resources” to prepare for the heatwave.

“If we were to make the statement that we were completely prepared for handling COVID, the heatwave, and poor air quality because of wildfire smoke all at the same time, it would be a lie because we were not,” Davis said. “And so we really did have to scramble a lot of our resources since we were really focused on COVID.”

When the brutal heatwave finally hit Eugene, LCHHS set up a central cooling center in Downtown Eugene to provide people a respite from the blistering sun on Saturday, June 26,

2021 and Sunday, June 27, 2021 from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m..

“The city had to find a site that could serve both the unhoused population and the thousands of Lane County residents who don’t have air conditioning,” Davis said.

The main cooling center was located at the Lane Event Center on West 13th Avenue and Jefferson Street, which shares space with the fairgrounds. The location could handle 600 people and included air conditioning and air filtration for Covid-19 precautions. But Davis said many didn’t want to abandon their animals to keep themselves cool. To help, Lane County partnered with Greenhill Humane Society to care for pets, allowing people to cool off and have food and water.

“Folks don’t want to leave their animals behind,” Davis said. “We needed space for animals, so we designated one of the buildings to take care of animals.”

Part of choosing Lane Event Center as the location of the cooling center was its access to public transportation. According to Bill Bradley, executive board officer at Lane Transit Center, any person on their way to the cooling center during the weekend could ride for free on the air-conditioned buses.

Upon arrival at the center, volunteers from St. Vincent de Paul, the Red Cross, and Carry It Forward, a non-profit in Eugene that serves unhoused people, served people as they came in. Signs provided directions to water, snacks, medical attention, or areas where individuals could sit down and be socially distanced from each other.

However, Davis said encouraging unhoused people to leave their encampment was difficult, and people were afraid they would lose their spot or somebody would take their belongings. Because of that, the cooling centers were largely underused, with anywhere from “50-80 people using them per day,” Davis said.

individuals will receive a foam mat, a blanket, and dinner. The EWC can also store people’s belongings while utilizing the center’s resources. However, these same services were not offered during the heatwave.

Unlike the cold weather, the magnitude of Oregon’s heatwaves is a recent phenomenon. According to University of Oregon Professor of Geography Patrick Bartlein, there were three main contributors to last summer’s extreme heatwave.

First, the atmospheric circulation pattern caused air to become compressed into a column, similar to a pressure cooker, creating a “heat dome” with no escape. Clouds and precipitation were less likely to form, giving no relief throughout the day. The warm temperatures were more severe in Eugene because of its position in the Willamette Valley. The solar radiation from the sun intensified because the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, was on June 20, 2021.

Second, during the winter and spring of 2021, the snowfall was relatively low, leading to decreased moisture levels in the soil. According to Bartlein, the depth of the snowpack has been decreasing over the last 20 years.

In winter, St. Vincent de Paul offers respite from the cold weather in partnership with the Egan Warming Center. When temperatures are forecasted to drop below 30 degrees during the winter months, the EWC opens up overnight. The biggest difference between the cooling center offered by Lane County and the EWC is that the latter is open overnight.

According to Tim Black, director of the EWC,

Because of the low snowpack, the solar energy in late June 2021 evaporated the limited moisture in the soil and then began heating artificial surfaces like concrete. The Environmental Protection Agency reported that the pattern of structures like buildings and roads absorb heat more than natural landscapes, referred to as the “heat island effect,” which results in daytime temperatures in urbanized areas being 1-7 degrees warmer than temperatures in outlying rural areas and night temperatures being

2-5 degrees hotter.

The third factor is climate change, which Bartein said played an undeniable role in worsening the heat wave’s intensity and duration. Since the 1900s, the Earth has been warming due to human activities, primarily burning fossil fuels. Since the circulation pattern experienced in Eugene is not inherently unique, Bartlein said “global warming gave it an extra boost” and led to record-breaking temperatures.

These high temperatures can have an extreme effect on people’s health. According to the Center for Disease Control, high temperatures trigger heat stress-related conditions such as “heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heatstroke, and death.” These conditions occur when the body cannot control its temperature, the sweating mechanism fails, and the body cannot cool down. People may appear confused, lose consciousness, become dehydrated, and experience headaches.

When the temperature at night doesn’t cool down much, people sleeping and living outside are particularly at risk. Throughout the day, the body has likely been exposed to extreme heat and hasn’t had time to cool down. So when people fall asleep and the outside temperature is still high, their core temperature is still high, making people with previous health concerns, including heart disease, more likely to develop a heat-related illness.

And once the daily high temperatures in 2021 dropped below 100 degrees, many cooling centers were deactivated on June 27, 2021. The daily high temperature was still 98 degrees on June 28, 2021.

The heatwave during June 2021 served as a wakeup call for organizations in Eugene, the unhoused, and the housed, to become more familiar with the presence of the heat. Davis said it would take time for people in Eugene to get used to the heat and its ramifications.

“Neither our lay public nor our unhoused community has an institutional memory of how

bad the heat can get,” Davis said.

Davis, Bartlein, and Black said some lessons learned from last summer could inform how the city reacts when another heatwave strikes.

Efforts to provide storage for people’s belongings could encourage people living outside to leave their homes and utilize cooling centers, which could limit risk for serious health effects like heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Accommodating individuals for more extended periods and overnight could also encourage the use of the centers.

Partnerships between the county and LTD allow easier access to resources provided by the county. According to Bradley, in future heatwaves, there should be direct shuttles that can take people to the cooling centers from central locations like Eugene Station, where multiple LTD buses stop, instead of making people rely on the regular bus schedule.

Looking at the efforts of other U.S. cities that are more familiar with dealing with high temperatures could also provide helpful insight to heatwave preparation. For example, in Tempe, Arizona, Arizona State University and the city created a mobile cooling center where unhoused people could cool off for short periods.

But for now, it’s not possible to predict whether another heatwave will occur this summer. With low soil moisture levels, air circulation patterns, and the influence of climate change, the prevalence of extreme temperatures is increasing. Looking to this summer and beyond, the average temperature in Eugene is projected to increase 10-12 degrees by 2100, according to the Lane County Climate Action Plan.

“History here has been one of moderate, really enjoyable, pleasant summers. That’s changing, obviously,” Davis said. “And it’s kind of unpredictable because both our summers are getting hotter, and we have these freak winter storms that are much more dramatic than what historically has been encountered.”

FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS

written by Camille Rowe

How a local educator and student respond to teaching the climate crisis in classrooms.

When we’re talking about climate change, the global outlook is constantly evolving — the spotlight moves from one devastating statistic to the next. In today’s world, it can feel like there’s a never-ending list of the negative impacts of climate change. It can be hard to catch your breath and focus on one issue. A uniquely universal constant seems to exist in many significant climate change discussions: future generations.

Whether it’s facing the consequences of an already dying planet or having the weight placed on their shoulders to be the ones to solve it, future generations are going to have to bear the brunt of the climate crisis no matter where they stand on the topic.

In a 2021 survey conducted by Lacer Planet Health surrounding climate anxiety in young people, out of 10,000 participants ranging ages 16 to 25 years, 84% reported that they were at least moderately worried about climate change, with 59% of that population being extremely worried.

Pew Research Center in 2021 surveyed over 13,000 Americans ranging from Generation Z to Baby Boomers on climate change content in the media. Results showed that those sampled in the Boomers and older age category talked about the need for climate action, engaged on social media with climate change content, and saw content in the media about climate change at a much lower rate than their younger, neighboring generations.

“This may seem like it would cause students to shut down, and it might, but being honest about the urgency of climate change is truly important.”

With all of this doom and gloom taking root in the generations that are supposedly going to “fix” climate change, I sometimes ask myself: where is the hope for the future of our planet?

Outside of family influence, the responsibility lies in the hands of those shaping the minds of young and future generations: educators. Seeing as students spend such a large portion of their lives in a classroom, teachers can have a significant impact on shaping their outlook on life and global happenings.

In Eugene, especially in and around the University of Oregon, we find ourselves in a bubble of generally like-minded, college-aged people who typically believe in the climate crisis. Walking around campus, it would probably take a few tries to find individuals who actively deny climate change, but that might not be the case everywhere.

According to the Center for Geoscience Education and Public Understanding, only one state, Maryland, requires earth and environmental science courses for high school graduation. While six states require earth science concepts to be included in the curriculum, the majority of the country doesn’t require environmental education for high school graduation, but instead physical sciences and life sciences, which include biology and general earth cycles.

Being from California myself, I’ve always felt the state presents itself as environmentally conscious. So by the time I got to UO, I felt pretty secure in my understanding of climate change from public education alone.

But it wasn’t until two years before high school graduation that I had any environment-specific education. The class was AP environmental studies and was offered only as an elective for students selected at random through a lottery system.

Such a large part of the student body was interested in learning about the environment, but with few teachers, only a selected group was given that environmental education opportunity. That single class sparked my passion for the environment and led me to pursue

environmental studies in college; I can only think about how many others could have felt the same if given the opportunity.

Comparing the lack of environmental education to the reality of the climate crisis brought me back to my initial question: how do teachers in Eugene, in a state where environmental science is not a requirement, educate students on climate change?

Dani Tubman, an astronomy and earth science teacher at South Eugene High School, said she spends half of every 12-week trimester talking about space and astronomy, and the second half is earth science. She said her earth science curriculum focuses more on general topics like Earth systems and carbon isotopes, with only one small section about the environment.

“I try to be very hopeful about humanity,” she said. “When we start learning about space science, I tell them about the Hubble space telescope.”

even when something looks bad, good can still come from it.

“Young people are so cynical, and rightfully so,” Tubman said. “I try to talk to them about how we have fucked up before and how I do believe in the goodness and good nature of humanity.”

Tubman said that given the constant media younger generations are exposed to, she assumes they already understand how dire the climate crisis is. Instead, she aims to plant seeds of hope in the already dreary reality of it.

She said she uses a story about the Hubble Space Telescope and breast cancer detection to invite some hope into the already dark topic of climate change. In short, national backlash about the image quality of the Hubble Space Telescope after its initial launch left NASA scientists stumped on how to fix it.

The investigation of why the image quality was so terrible led scientists to the medical field, where doctors had similar image issues with breast cancer imaging and detection. It turns out that the root of both imaging issues ended up being the same thing, and the resolution vastly increased both the quality of the Hubble Space Telescopes images and saved the lives of countless women through more accurate breast cancer scans.

Relating to her curriculum, Tubman said she uses the failure of the Hubble Space Telescope resulting in two massive successes, to show her students that

Once a term, Tubman said she assigns a project through a website called Project Drawdown, which breaks down the basics of climate change, categorizes specific climaterelated issues around the globe, and provides ways to act more sustainably in everyday life. Tubman said she is consistently impressed with how much interest students take in the project.

“I do feel like there’s almost a subtle ‘Yeah, you can’t do anything; you’re screwed,’ and I hate that message,” Tubman said.“That’s your guys’ challenge: to still care and to still be passionate about stuff, even while everything is so shitty.”

She said older generations often put the burden of climate change on younger people accompanied by a ‘Go fix it, or you’re screwed’ attitude, which she said is the wrong way to teach climate change.

“I want to remind my students that they hold power for change and that hope can still exist for the future,” she said.

Sahara Valentine, a current student at South Eugene High School and leader of EG350, an on-campus club centered around climate change, said that they received most of their climate-focused education primarily through personal research.

“Unfortunately, students do not learn nearly enough about this global issue that affects us all,” Valentine said.

The name ‘EG350’is short for Eugene 350, with 350 being a reference to the ‘safe’ threshold of atmospheric CO2 ppm that is currently at 417ppm, according to co2.earth.com, a website that records daily atmospheric CO2 levels.

Valentine said they don’t think the urgency of climate change is taught enough so that students can understand how dire the situation is.

“This may seem like it would cause students to shut down, and it might, but being honest about the urgency of climate change is truly important,” Valentine said.

Valentine said they are lucky to be a plaintiff in the Youth v. Gov lawsuit, a lawsuit filed in 2015 against the United States that involved a group of 21 American youth suing the government for its lack of climate action.

The group was represented by Our Children’s Trust, a nonprofit law firm based in Eugene. Plaintiffs argue that the U.S. government has made choices that directly exacerbate a changing climate. According to its website, the government has violated the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

As an environmental advocate, Valentine said that being candid about the climate crisis with young people is key to initiating real change.

“Sugarcoating what is going on will only cause confusion, political divides, and the conscious and unconscious support of fossil fuel industries,” they said. “With that being said, it is really important that students have plenty of mental health resources and supportive communities because what they would learn about is hard stuff.”

More could be done to increase awareness about climate change in public education.

In 1990, the U.S. signed the National Environmental Education Act into law, which gave the Environmental Protection Agency funds to provide grants to schools and teachers for developing curriculum about the climate in an attempt to encourage climate literacy across the country, according to the EPA’s website.

Since its formal establishment nearly 30 years ago, the program has received around $100 million, according to a research paper written by Ginger Potter about reevaluating climate education in the 21st century. As a comparison, in 2020, 7.67 billion dollars was spent on the U.S. military alone. While the two might not be on quite an equal playing field, it is clear that the U.S. education system isn’t rolling over backward to emphasize the severity of the climate crisis to young generations.

Eugene public schools use FOSS elementary science curriculum. The FOSS curriculum does not mention climate change at any grade level. Only one module mentions climate, which is summarized as a basic introduction to weather patterns and the water cycle.

There is overwhelming evidence to suggest that human activity has contributed significantly to the warming of our atmosphere. With so many increasingly devastating environmental disasters, climate anxiety is on the rise, and young people are left with the responsibility of mitigating the doom and gloom on their own. And teachers who choose to involve climate conversations in the classroom are navigating this territory with little guidance.

Without a solid, basic knowledge of climate change from a young age, are future generations being given a fair chance to fight?

SAVING THE REDWOODS

Nonprofits work to restore and protect the natural beauty of California’s redwood forests in the face of climate change.

photo story by Alissa Richbourg

After spending my spring break visiting Redwood National Park for the first time, I finally understood why so many people flock to California every year to witness the majestic Coast Redwoods and Giant Sequoias. According to the National Park Service, the four parks within the Redwood National and State Parks partnership receive over 1 million visitors annually.

The Redwood National Park was established in 1968 and has since dealt with its fair share of threats from human activity and climate change, with temperature increases, decreased coastal fog, and reductions in snowpack.

However, there is no shortage of organizations working to protect these beloved ecosystems and preserve them. The Save the Redwoods League is a nonprofit organization founded in 1918 and has been a leader in enacting climate change research and activism based around these trees. The nonprofit has saved over 200,000 acres of redwood forests and established more than 66 redwood parks and preserves, according to its mission statement.

One recent project focuses on sequencing the genomes of coast redwoods and giant sequoias to aid in conservation efforts. The Redwood Genome Project is a multi-year research effort established in 2017 to map the genetic code of these two species. By understanding the genetic factors that allow these trees to withstand various threats such as wildfires, drought, pests, disease, and climate change, researchers hope to apply this knowledge to aid conservation efforts. The project is currently working to translate the data into management plans to restore the genetic

Two park visitors in the Grove of Titans walk next to one of the oldest redwoods in the world, which is over 1,500 years old.

Previous page: In Northern California, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park spreads over 10,000 acres of land and contains some of the last remaining old-growth redwoods in the state.

diversity of the redwood and sequoia forests.

In addition to research efforts, Save the Redwoods League hopes to raise awareness of redwoods’ threats and Indigenous groups that have been historically impacted by colonization. In 2020, Save the Redwoods League partnered with the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council to donate 523 acres of redwood forestland that previously belonged to the Indigenous Sinkyone people.

In this partnership, the nonprofits have redesignated land as a Tribal Protected Area and restored the original Sinkyone place name, which is Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ. The Save the Redwoods League hopes to continue working with the Sinkyone Council to continue conservation efforts and restore native lands to the tribes.

As climate change events become increasingly common, it is clear that these issues can’t be tackled solely by a single person or organization. Communities must promote change and education.

The efforts to protect the redwoods are just one example of how organizations can create intricate networks of people passionate and dedicated to restoring and protecting nature.

Redwoods have thrived for thousands of years. With an ever-growing community working to tackle climate issues, the Save the Redwoods League hopes these stunning forests remain for generations.

Redwood trees tower down in Stout Memorial Grove, one of Jedediah Smith State Park’s many trails that receive thousands of annual visitors. The grove is named after one of many loggers who donated or preserved the land purchased by Save the Redwoods League.

“The efforts to protect the redwoods are just one example of how organizations can create intricate networks of people passionate and dedicated to restoring and protecting nature.”

Fallen redwoods in Stout Memorial Grove show the vibrant coloring of coastal redwoods and the tree rings that highlight their extensive history.

Stout Memorial Grove in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park is a tranquil trail where visitors can admire the redwoods. Several fallen redwoods lie along the path, allowing visitors to see how giant these trees are.

Visitors walk along the Grove of Titans trail.

written

by

Eliza Aronson

Four University of Oregon faculty members describe their journeys to environmentally-focused careers.

STUMBLING INTO SCIENCE

photos by Alissa Richbourg and Ariana Gonzalez

When I was in fifth grade I decided I wanted to be a marine biologist. In my 10-year-old mind, there was no better job than getting to tide-pool or snorkel in coral reefs. At the time, I had a vague understanding of climate change, that the world I was growing up in was somehow shifting in a negative way. So the goal was to become a marine biologist and save the oceans.

Later in high school, I had a fantastic opportunity to work in a lab at the University of Oregon. To preface, I grew up here in Eugene. After spending afternoons and summers in the lab, I realized that while I loved science, there was no way I could focus on one project for years and years. There was too much I wanted to learn about. So then I decided I would become a science journalist. In my 17-year-old mind, it was the perfect fit. I could double major in marine biology and journalism in college and spend my life following around scientists and learning all about their various research projects.

I am now in my junior year at the University of Oregon. I’m still double majoring, and even just recently added the science communication minor. But now I once again feel like I’m coming to a crossroads where I don’t know which way to go. I feel as if I need to have my life all planned out and yet I also feel like basically a freshman in college, which was the only time I experienced “normal” college before the pandemic. It’s hard to find your life passions while stuck in your bedroom for a year trying to learn organic chemistry.

For this issue of Envision, I wanted to talk to people within the University of Oregon community who are also doing environmentally-focused work. I’ve always been sure that I want to work towards bettering the world around me, and after listening to these people, I feel reassured that there are countless ways to do that. All four of these people are in their own way working for a better environment, whether it be through research, education or policy. None of these people had linear paths to the careers they are in now, and it is comforting to realize that if I hold my principles and priorities close to my heart, the rest can eventually fall into place.

LUCAS SILVA

Lucas Silva, the principal investigator at the SoilPlant-Atmosphere lab at the University of Oregon, did not plan to end up in science. He says he just got lucky.

“It was more like the scientific community chose me as opposed to me choosing them,” Silva said. “It was a number of coincidences. I was fortunate to encounter good mentors who provided opportunities and I took advantage of those.”

Since beginning his career at the UO in 2016, Silva has won the 2018 Early Career Excellence in Research award, the 2018 Sustainability Research award, the 2021 Edward T Price Outstanding Service Award and the 2021 Faculty Excellence Award.

Silva explained the SPA lab takes “a holistic approach” to how natural and human-made systems cycle materials and energy. These systems include forests in the Northwest or agricultural systems like plantations.

One system Silva’s lab focuses on is the transitioning of carbon from the atmosphere to plants to soil and how that system then connects with living things within the environment. From there, Silva is interested in how elements such as carbon “become a stable component of the ecosystem and feed microbes and protect us from climate variability… and what’s the cost of that, in terms of water, resources being used, nutrients being used by plants and so on. And on the human side of this [interaction], how do humans alter that balance?”

The lab has been involved with a collaborative carbon sequestration project with the Eugene Water and Electric Board since 2019. Carbon sequestration

is the process of capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it effectively and safely in either geologic formations, bodies or water, vegetation or soil.

The project started on a 12-acre plot of land in Springfield near the McKenzie River, which provides Eugene with all of its drinking water. Its goal is to find which variety and arrangement of native plants, such as Douglas fir, ponderosa pine, and Oregon grape, sequester carbon most effectively while also restoring and supporting the health of the McKenzie watershed the surrounding community relies on.

The project has expanded in acreage over the past few years. EWEB and other agencies hope to use the data to restore watersheds across the Pacific Northwest, aiding in the health of riparian areas while actively combating climate change.

“That’s the thing we focus on: how life either thrives or fails in this thin layer where life is possible,” Silva said.

Silva said there are many things he loves about his career, like the students he gets to collaborate with.

“They come so hungry for knowing more, asking good questions and motivating me to go find those answers to the questions when I don’t have them,” he said.

One of his favorite parts about his job besides interacting with his student is his place within the greater UO community. He explains that being able to interact with his colleagues in different disciplines, such as the humanities and social sciences, allows him to break outside the illusion of control and treatment in the world of hard science.

The interactions allow him to learn about his community as well as himself.

“I really do think that if we have the possibility of affecting good change, positive change in the world,” Silva said. “We have an obligation to do that, or at least pursue that possibility. I feel very fortunate to have had the possibility.”

And with his position now, Silva hopes to create those possibilities for others.

“My dream is to do for others what some did for me, put good work out there, and train good people to change the world slowly but surely in a good, positive direction.”

SARAH STAPLETON

Up until her junior year of college, Sarah Stapleton thought she wanted to go into medicine. She was majoring in chemistry with a minor in biology and was passionate about science. But in her junior year, she decided, somewhat on a whim, that she wanted to join the Peace Corps. She volunteered to teach science to schools in Gambia, West Africa, and that is when her life trajectory changed course.

“It was funny because I walked into the classroom one day, and it just hit me like ‘aww man I’m a teacher,’” she said.

There are numerous teachers within Stapleton’s family, but Stapleton said she was trying to deny the possibility that she would ever want to teach.

“I had said ‘no, I’m not going to be a teacher. I’m not going to be a teacher,’ and then suddenly it was hard to get away from the fact that that’s truly who I am and who I’ve always been,” she said.

After the Peace Corps, she got her masters in education and then began teaching different sciences in middle and high schools in California, eventually becoming an environmental sciences teacher at a high school. Stapleton said, “it was kind of an accidental sort of thing.”

She was applying for a general science teaching position, and it ended up being environmental sciences. She said she had to be talked into taking the position, but fell in love with the job and the impact the position had on students.

“My students would say, ‘you know, I finally see why science matters in the world,’” she said.

Stapleton came to the University of Oregon in 2015, where she now works in the Education Foundations program. One of her undergraduate classes, food and schools, focuses on “the many ways that food intersects

with school” such as food insecurity, foodbased curriculum and school gardens. With masters students, she teaches a course on how to teach science at both the elementary and secondary education level.

Outside of the classroom, Stapleton is a part of multiple collaborations that combine education with environmental justice.

Stapleton also works with a group of educators who are trying to get climate education legislated for the state of Oregon. Stapleton mentioned her and her fellow educators are inspired by their students who said, “We need to be learning about climate change in every single class and every grade.”

“I have a really dedicated group, and we’re building coalitions, talking with legislators, trying to do all the groundwork to make this happen in the next legislative session,” she said.

Now collaborating with Beyond Toxics, an Oregon environmental justice grassroots program, Stapleton is working to create a high school curriculum based on local environmental justice case studies.

One case study focuses on the environmental justice issues in West Eugene, which has become the industrial corridor in town and has disproportionate cases of childhood cancer, asthma and other health issues due to pollution. The other case study focuses on Oregon farmworkers and their exposure to aerial pesticide spraying, wildfire smoke and heatwaves.

“Research takes so much time and so many years and so much perseverance to see a project from beginning to the final publication,” Stapleton said. “I don’t think I could do it if I didn’t feel deeply passionate about the importance of the work.”

Another one of her classes focuses on how to

teach science to elementary children.

Stapleton said she loves her job, teaching and working with students.

“I love helping students find their passions, and I love working with future teachers,” she said. “I’m so inspired by them. The fact that they’re still wanting to go into teaching given everything right now, it really gives me hope.”

Stapleton also works with a group of educators trying to get climate education legislated for the state of Oregon. Stapleton mentioned her and her fellow educators are inspired by their students who said, “We need to be learning about climate change in every single class and every grade.”

“I have a really dedicated group, and we’re building coalitions, talking with legislators, trying to do all the groundwork to make this happen in the next legislative session,” she said.

The UO has started the Environmental Initiative, which is a campus-wide effort to bring faculty and researchers from different disciplines together to tackle climate and environmental issues. Stapleton is the Environmental Initiative faculty fellow for the spring of 2022.

“I feel like every little step is you know, every every new person I work with in terms of research, partnerships and collaborations and every group that I kind of volunteer for and class I teach, it helps shape me.”

“We need to be learning about climate change in every single class and every grade.”

ADELL AMOS

photo courtesy of Adell Amos.

Adell Amos’ passion for the environment has been a lifelong love affair.

Amos grew up on a farm in the Midwest, and as a child, she was always playing in creeks and climbing trees, always surrounded by “critters.” When she got to college, she majored in biology, emphasizing environmental studies, and a minor in philosophy.

While she dubbed herself an “odd bird” for her myriad of academic focuses, she now understands the importance of having interests outside of a specific disciplinary silo.

At the end of college, she came to a crossroads:

either pursuing graduate research in wildlife biology or going to law school for environmental law. She chose the latter and began law school at the University of Oregon in 1995.

Amos initially saw herself as an endangered species lawyer, protecting the critters she grew up loving. But she then took a water law class and got hooked.

After finishing school, she clerked for the Ninth Circuit and gained experience working on environmental cases. She then moved to Washington D.C. and worked as a staff attorney at the Department of the Interior. The first permanent assignment she got was on water-right focused work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuge System and later the National Park System.

In 2005, Amos returned to the UO to teach water and wildlife law before going back to Washington in 2008 to work under the Obama Administration.

“When President Obama was elected, I was very inspired and went back to serve as the Deputy Solicitor for Land and Water Resources and the Department of Interior,” Amos said. “So [it was] the same office I had been in as a staff attorney, but I went back as a political appointee.”

In 2011, Amos returned to the UO once again as the associate dean of the School of Law. Then in 2020, she began working as the UO executive

director of the Environmental Initiative.

Amos is very excited to be heavily connected to the UO’s Environmental Initiative.

“What’s so exciting about it is: I started as a student here. I have 20-plus years of seeing the work of the faculty and the students and the staff around questions of the environment, and it’s so authentic and real,” Amos said.

Amos explained the initiative is structured around core guiding principles that “reflect transdisciplinary, problem-centered work that’s responsive to sort of the urgency that is created by the threats from climate change.”

The guiding principles apply to specific problems titled “nodes” on the EI website. The university hopes to tackle these issues through various research and projects.

Amos said that students she has interacted with are excited about the possibilities that the initiative is working towards because “finally, somebody’s organizing the content around the problem sets that they think about and care about.”

Amos’s excitement for the initiative and work matches her students’.

“The focus on climate and the urgency of it and the way it’s connected to justice couldn’t be more inspiring right now because we all feel ‘What can we do?’” Amos said. “I feel really motivated to work in this space. For me, equipping students to do the work they want to do in the world is really meaningful.”

DAVE SUTHERLAND

During his undergraduate career at the University of North Carolina, Dave Sutherland studied mathematics. While he loved math, he said he felt lost in how to make the subject applicable to the real world. Fortunately, he had the opportunity to go out on a research boat for an oceanography class. That’s where it all clicked.

Sutherland realized physical oceanography interested him. He said math helps to understand many parts of the field: ocean circulation, heat movement, salt movement, and paths of pollution.

“We need to understand the physical processes of the ocean to understand all of these environmental problems,” Sutherland said.

Even with his newfound interest, Sutherland stuck with math as he finished his degree. But he also kept taking science classes on the side. After finishing undergrad and feeling burnt out with school, Sutherland joined the Peace Corps and was stationed in Kingston, Jamaica.

While in Jamaica, Sutherland found a new perspective on his life in the United States, and he said his time spent in the Corps solidified his passion for wanting to

do environmentally-focused work in the future: work that is more than equations on a board; work that is tangible and has real impacts in the world.

“I always wanted to do something that mattered, you know?” he said.

Sutherland has now been teaching at the UO since 2017 and is the head of the Ocean and Ice Lab. He said he splits his focus between coastal physical oceanography and ice-ocean interactions.

One project the lab is currently working on involves the Coos Bay estuary, which is about two hours south of Eugene. The project, dubbed “Buried or Fried,” is directing its attention to an eelgrass die-off that happened in 2015 and 2016. Eelgrass is paramount in the estuary, not only providing habitat for growing larvae and fish but also mitigating wave force and reducing erosion by trapping and securing substrate in the water. According to Sutherland, eelgrass also plays a big role worldwide.

“Trying to understand what controls its health is really important,” Sutherland said. “It’s interesting because there was a die-off in part of south slough but not in other parts of the estuary, so it gives us

“We need all people; we don’t just need the skiers and the outdoor people to save the world. We need everyone to be on board.”

sort of a natural experiment to say ‘well, what are the differences between these areas? Can we rule out certain processes?”

By understanding the physical processes of the estuary, the lab can hopefully point to what caused the die-off. The “buried” part of the name refers to the possibility that runoff and sediment clogged the water, blocking the sunlight eelgrass use to photosynthesize. On the “fried” side, there is the possibility that a marine heatwave was the cause of the dieoff, with temperatures pushing the eelgrass out of its biologically healthy zone.

While the spotted die-off in Coos Bay allows for an experimental advantage, the town and its people also add extra support to the project.

“Having Coos Bay and having a marine lab there is a really great opportunity for me to apply some of the same research that we do, but to an area where we can actually talk to stakeholders and Indian reserves about real problems,” Sutherland said.

Sutherland’s lab interacts with the Partnership for Coastal Watersheds, which is a diverse group that includes the Port of Coos Bay, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the South Slough Marine Reserve, and other non-profits.

“It’s this really cool mix of people that meet every month, and so we can go to these meetings and talk about our results and get their ideas about what’s useful,” he said.

While Coos Bay is just a hop, skip and a jump from home base in Eugene, Sutherland’s other research projects are a little farther away.

LeConte Glacier in Alaska is just south of Petersburg, making it the most southern tidewater glacier in the Northern Hemisphere. Tidewater glaciers extend off the coast and end in the ocean, making them susceptible to changes in the seawater they interact with. Glaciers are continually shifting and evolving, which makes

it hard to get up close observations since large pieces of ice will calve off and plummet into the water, making it a dangerous place for boats and researchers.

In collaboration with engineers at Oregon State University, Sutherland uses autonomous machines to get right up next to the glacier to observe how the water circulates at the intersection of ocean and ice.

“A lot of the ocean science that I do is more discovery and exploration work in terms of going up to these fjords and glaciers,” he said. “I love bringing students there.”

LeConte is more accessible than other glaciers higher up in the arctic, but the physics that applies to one glacier applies to all glaciers. This means the observations and data collected in Alaska can then be used to understand how glacier and ice sheet melt will contribute to sealevel rise and the physical processes that play into systems.

“I love seeing graduate students learn and evolve,” Sutherland said. “Usually they come in with some passion about saving the world or climate change or they love glaciers or have some sort of outdoor experience, but turning that into intellectual passion and pursuit has been really satisfying.”

While the COVID-19 pandemic has hindered Sutherland and his colleagues’ ability to get out in the field, Sutherland explained the last two years have been eye-opening to the accessibility of science and fieldwork.

“It’s not making it so macho like ‘oh you have to go hike up this glacier to be a real scientist or a real glaciologist,’” Sutherland said. “We need all people; we don’t just need the skiers and the outdoor people to save the world. We need everyone to be on board.”

written by Sienna Riley

illustrated by Simone Badaruddin

Students vs. Climate Change

tackling the climate crisis as a broke college kid

Here’s some old news:

the Earth is in a climate crisis, and it’s getting increasingly difficult to ignore despite the wishes of the world leaders tasked with tackling said crisis. Major icecaps are melting, sea levels are rising, droughts — and subsequently wildfire seasons — are becoming more frequent and prolonged in the west, heatwaves and other natural disasters that usually occur every few decades now occur almost every year.

It seems like the world is simply a ticking time bomb, and all the instructions to diffuse it have been shredded and thrown to the wind. And there seem to be no signs of anything slowing down.

Indeed, as a college student myself who is among the next generation that will be (supposedly) inheriting the Earth, the sinking feeling that it’s already too late to preserve whatever good bit of the planet we have left is ever-increasing and ever-suffocating. According to a journal in The Lancet written by Judy Wu, Gaelen Snell, and Hasina Samji, this feeling of

climate dread is becoming more prevalent among young people from ages 10 to 24 years old.

“Referred to as eco-anxiety, climate distress, climate change anxiety, or climate anxiety, these terms describe anxiety related to the global climate crisis and the threat of environmental disaster,” the article said. “Symptoms associated with climate anxiety include panic attacks, insomnia, and obsessive thinking. Feelings of climate distress might also compound other daily stressors to negatively affect overall mental health, potentially leading to increases in stress-related problems such as substance use disorders, anxiety disorders, and depression.”

Studying climate anxiety among young people has been a more recent endeavor, as Wu, Snell, and Samji state that climate anxiety has been challenging to quantify. However, they say that youth and young adults are “at a crucial point in their physical and psychological development when enhanced vulnerability to stress and everyday anxiety elevate their risk of developing depression, anxiety, and substance disorders.” Climate doom could have a more profound impact on their daily lives, to the point it could be debilitating.

In fact, a study done by the Queensland University of Technology in Australia found that “an individual is more likely to be distressed about climate change if they are female, under the age of 35 years, have a proenvironmental orientation, and possess personality traits such as high levels of future anxiety.”

The common thread that binds these climate fears together seems to be an overall feeling of helplessness. While activists like Greta Thunberg have led global youth-led climate strikes, lawmakers and those otherwise in charge of slowing the climate crisis have been slow to respond with meaningful action.

So, with little power and a massive amount of climate guilt, how can we make any meaningful impact as young, broke college students?

How do I do my part?

We as individuals can’t possibly expect ourselves or be expected to solve the climate crisis on our own. However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t small habits we can’t develop in our daily lives to leave the world a better place than we found it. Here are a few simple, environmentally-conscious ways to do your part every day without breaking the bank.

Reduce your plastic waste.

On top of recycling your plastic products, it’s never a bad idea to invest in reusable products. From reusable to-go cups, water bottles, and grocery bags, finding staple reusable items to replace the single-use items you’d otherwise be using is a tangible way to be more sustainable every day.

Recycling.

Recycling rules can get confusing depending on what you’re recycling, but learning how to sort your recyclables is one of the best ways to do your part. The main thing to know right off the bat is that, even if a product’s packaging has the universal recycling symbol, the number is the key thing to pay attention to when sorting your recyclables.

The European Environment Agency has information available about the seven common types of plastics and symbols to look out for when deciding what to recycle and what to toss in the trash. Additionally, Eugene has its own guidelines for recycling that are important to keep track of, including which items are specifically considered recyclable within the city, which items to separate in your recycling bin, and a list of other FAQs that specifically pertain to the city’s recycling.

IT TAKES MORE PEOPLE ADOPTING

MORE SUSTAINABLE HABITS EACH DAY TO MAKE THE WORLD A SLIGHTLY BETTER PLACE THAN WE FOUND IT.

Reduce electricity usage.

It’s easy to forget about how much energy you are consuming every day, but it’s more than simply remembering to turn off a light in a room you aren’t in. According to Energy.gov, even if your appliances are turned off, they still utilize energy when plugged in, accounting for five to 10% of residential energy usage. Unplugging your electronic devices whenever you’re not using them reduces your energy intake significantly— in a study from The Natural Resources Defense Council, unplugging appliances when not in use could save consumers a total of $8 billion a year in utilities, as well as 64 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. Keeping your thermostat at an energy-efficient temperature — generally speaking, keeping it between 68 to 75 degrees year-round in Oregon — would also help considerably in being more energy conscious at home. Dare I say it, it might even save you some money on your next utility bill.

The bottom line: there is only so much we as individual college students can do to make a difference, but the things we can control in our daily lives are not for nothing. It takes more people adopting more sustainable habits each day to make the world a slightly better place than we found it. Making an environmentally-conscious decision in your everyday life might help reduce some of that climate anxiety for at least a moment.

contributors

EDITORS

ANNA MATTSON Editor-in-Chief

AMANDA LUREY Managing Editor

ISABEL LEMUS KRISTENSEN Photo Editor

CHLOE MONTAGUE Design Director

LAUREN SCHENKER Communications Director

ALISSA RICHBOURG photographer

ARIANA GONZALEZ photographer

CAMILLE ROWE writer

ELIZA ARONSON writer

ELIZA LAWRENCE writer

SIENNA RILEY writer

MIHLAN GAVIOLA illustrator

SIMONE BADARUDDIN illustrator

SHALOM YEMANE illustrator

images: Isabel Lemus Kristensen

contributors

envision spring 2022