Dreaming the Future: Youth Voices on a climate just world

youth voices on a climate just world

Dreaming the Future Dreaming the Future collects the inspired voices of young people from the Connecticut River Valley and beyond. It is a result of a collaboration between the UMass Amherst Feinberg Series, the Forbes Library, the Jones Library, the Lilly Library, and the Valley Zine Club. The call for submissions ran in tandem with the lecture series Planet On a Precipice and the result, this zine, debuts with the Feb. 1st lecture, Young People Fighting for Climate Justice, featuring Vanessa Nakate and Varshini Prakash.

The intention behind this project is to offer a platform, to empower and celebrate, the new voices of resilience, compassion, and hope belonging to those who, in sharing their dreams, help direct us toward a climate-just world. We asked young people to consider their relationship with the natural world, how they think it might change in the future, what they hoped it might be like. We offered prompts to facilitate exploring these themes.

The creative works we received show in full measure the resilience, compassion, and hope needed to see this planet from its precarious place. These dreams inspire, and with one of our treasured authors, we would humbly ask you: Take a step back Leave your body Their words The things you have to get done The things you think you never will What do you see?

The call for submissions...

We are so happy with the result and we hope you enjoy it !

love,

Valley Zine Club

table of contents Tour Guide by Hanna Orwig..................................................................03 A Birthday in 2200 by Anonymous..................................................... 04 Tour Guide by Anna Siegel.....................................................................05 Do the Right Thing by Anonymous.................................................... 06 Living in the CRV: 2200 by Kaethe Jackson...................................... 08 What Some People Cannot See by Joselyn Vazquez Medina.....10 The Future of Flora and Fauna by Simon.......................................11 Poem to World Leaders by Leanni Olivieri.......................................12 Living in the CRV: 2200 by Annabel Ogden......................................14 A Notion of Life by Maxwell Balkema................................................ 16 Future Climate Change Leaders Profiles: 2030..........................18 Profile: Leaani Olivieri............................................................................19 Profile: Ciecola Bacchus.......................................................................20 Profile: Anabelle Villodas.......................................................................21 Profile: Armanie Ruiz.............................................................................22 Profile: Laila J...........................................................................................23 Profile: Nayellie S....................................................................................24 Profile: Joselyn Vazquez.......................................................................25 Seeing the Maze by Anonymous..........................................................26 For All Its Faults And Weaknesses by Simone Farmer...............27 Climate Adaptations & Solutions by Claire Ross..........................28 Nature's Gifts by Alexandra..................................................................30 Acknowledgements................................................................................31

TOUR GUIDE

by Hannah Orwig, 15, Gardner, MA

Starting at my driveway, I take a left turn onto the quiet, rural, road as I make my way around the block. Early Spring has arrived, new life has returned and the snow has begun to melt. The buds of the old magnolia will bloom once the sun shines its warm rays down as the days get longer. These will feed the myriad of warblers that return each spring. Walking past the abandoned pastures, I notice a deer with her fawn grazing on the young saplings of the aspen that have grown in. As I turn the corner of my street, a new time emerges,the season of summer. Not too hot on most days, the weather remains warm and the humidity is low. There is a slight breeze in the air and under the bridge where I stand, water flows from the creek to the pond that was formed from the glaciers a long time ago. A red squirrel scolds me from the white pines above and I begin walking again. Taking another left, I come into the season of Autumn. Cool nights and warm days transform the green of the hardwoods into a beautiful display of golden yellows, auburn oranges, and vivid reds.

Chipmunks with full cheeks are scurrying to their dens as geese fly overhead towards their southern destination.

Turning the final corner around my block, winter arrives with a chilly start. Although New England has been getting less predictable snow, I continue to look for the tracks of the snowshoe hare and the fisher cat that frequent the woodlot near my house. Back at my driveway, I reflect on the four seasons that I am able to experience. Global change is impacting the planet everywhere, however, I am grateful for the region’s temperate climate that allows me to enjoy a wide variety of flora and fauna for years to come.

03

by Anonymous

04

05

06

07

08

09

10

11

12

13

LIVING IN THE CRV: 2200

14

by Annabel Ogden, 14, Amherst, MA

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

SEEING THE MAZE

by Anonymous,

26

For All Its Faults And Weaknesses

by Simone Farmer, 10, Northampton, MA I open my door and breathe. Just breathe. So many scents surround me, that at first I am overwhelmed. But I quickly adjust.

My neighborhood is beautiful. It’s the perfect place for kids. We see a car on our road about every half an hour, at the most. I can almost see a pond, alive with insects, birds and frogs, that makes an excellent skating rink in the winter. Last spring, that pond was my sanctuary. I was free to hop and jump. A break from the endless screen of the computer and noise of my classmates' voices, that sounded so robotic through the computer’s speakers. If you look in the other direction you can see Child’s Park. It’s not a park with a play structure or anything but it’s still amazing. There are some side trails, and when the sun shines through the trees, it feels as though you are in the Emerald City. I love going for walks in there, and have started going on weekly walks with a friend through the trees. A quick walk (about thirty seconds) from my dollhouse of a home, will get you to the bike path, where I bike to school, through rain and snow, with my dad. On hot summer days, me and my neighborhood friends will walk to the corner store, to get ice cream or popsicles. It’s hard to imagine a day so warm that I'd want anything like that, especially in this cold winter. Winter has always been my least favorite season. It’s cold and dry, my allergies seize up and make me feel awful...One of the only things I like about winter is curling up by the fire, with my cat reading a good new book, or re-reading a classic, like “The Hobbit” or “Harry Potter”.

That and snow. Snow is like a blanket, covering my little town in it’s cold grip. It’s so beautiful at first. When nobody’s ruined it with their car tracks, or boots, seeing the little tracks of a squirrel, or chipmunk. I believe my neighborhood might have the prettiest sunset. So many beautiful things. So many things to be ruined by garbage, climate change, and deforestation. But I hope it won't be. I hope for us, I hope for my children, and grandchildren. I hope for all the plants and the ginkgo trees that cover my block. I hope for the animals, the squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits. I hope...I love my neighborhood. I love it for everything. I love it for all its faults and weaknesses.

27

Climate Adaptations & Solutions

by Claire Ross, Amherst, MA Climate Change As A Whole The dictionary definition of Climate change is a change in global or regional climate patterns such as rain, wind, temperature, etc.. But, the term climate change has developed a whole new meaning in the 20th century as it has gained the attention of many people around the globe. It has also been closely correlated with the idea of warming the earth and this is because it is. The use of fossil fuels around the globe has caused a significant increase in C02 levels. When sunlight hits the earth, dark surfaces make that sunlight into heat or infrared light. But reflective surfaces like ice or snow reflect that sunlight which bounces back into the atmosphere. The C02 molecules that are floating in the atmosphere take that light and bounce it back around in the atmosphere again. This bouncing around of light in the atmosphere causes the temperature of the earth to rise. Rising temperatures have major impacts on our natural environment. Higher temperatures cause more frequent and severe weather. This includes natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, droughts, and wildfires. These natural disasters leave peoples homes severely damaged and destroy whole towns and cities. There are many other consequences of climate change and I don’t have enough time to list them all.

This is why it is crucial to mitigate our use of fossil fuels, and come up with some solutions.

28

What are some solutions?

Sara Ross, Co-founder and former CEO of Sungage Financial had some interesting ideas and solutions to help address and mitigate climate change. Sungage is a solar financing company.

It's focused on supporting homeowners who want to put solar on their roof but don’t have the money to do it. “This is really about making solar technology accessible to more people by allowing them to finance it through time” she says. Sara came up with the idea for Sungage after investing in solar herself and experienced first hand the upfront cost. Sara observed that when people go solar they look for other ways to save energy, become more aware of their energy consumption, and in general start to transition away from other fossil fuels. This goes to show how investing or learning about one type of renewable energy can lead you to use or invest in another type. Sara is currently working with a group called UndauntedK12 which focuses on decarbonizing schools. One part of decarbonizing schools is replacing old systems in the building that aren’t clean. According to UndauntedK12, 36,000 schools need new HVAC systems.

Right now, UndauntedK12 is advocating for federal policies.

“Because of this exciting moment that we’re in with the new administration, we saw an opportunity to actually bring voices of a lot of practitioners who have been working at the local level on K-12 decarbonization.” Bringing voices and ideas together is a really powerful step to start decarbonizing schools. An interesting idea Sara brought to the table is advocating for a position in our government that focuses on decarbonizing schools. The person taking that position should be knowledgeable about both education, and climate change.

Bringing these two topics together can be very effective in mitigating climate change in the US. Sara highlights this opportunity at hand, “Schools are a great chance to showcase what's possible in terms of clean energy.” If all the school buses in the US were electric, 27 billion pounds of greenhouse gas would be eliminated. Another benefit to redeveloping our schools is that 2,000,000 new jobs would be created in this effort. It was really interesting to hear a different set of ideas, and I think Sara’s ideas could be a big opportunity to help mitigate the effects of climate change.

29

NATURE'S GIFTS

by Alexandra, 15, Holyoke, MA

I decided to paint the lorax because he speaks for the trees and wants to protect them. I think that the lorax would be a symbol for today's world because we need to remember that we need the trees to live and with everything being manufactured these days I think that we may forget to love the earth as it was all we started with and we built up off of the earth. The trees give us the oxygen we need to breathe and they give us food for animals. While cutting down trees to build something may seem like a good idea at the time but some of the trees are never planted for every tree that's cut down. The lorax speaks for the trees and that is something we need in today world.

30

Acknowledgments This zine was produced by the Forbes, Jones, and Lilly Libraries and the Valley Zine Club, in partnership with the 2020-2021 Feinberg Series, "Planet on a Precipice: Histories and Futures of the Environmental Emergency." The Feinberg Series is presented by the UMass Amherst History Department, co-sponsored by more than 3 dozen university and community organizations, and made possible thanks to the generosity of Kenneth R. Feinberg ’67 and associates.

We are indebted to all the educators who have taught about these topics in their classes and supported this endeavor. Thank you in particular to Sara Dorsey of Amherst Pelham Regional High School, and Danielle Hayes and the Holyoke Ethnic Studies Program. Additional thanks to the activists of all ages who inspired this effort, including Varshini Prakash and Vanessa Nakate, and in particular indigenous land protectors.

The zine was compiled by an editorial committee consisting of Cecilia Jezek (Jones Library), Steven Stover (Forbes Library), Alison Btz (Lilly Library), Jill Emmons (Forbes Library), and Charlotte Murtishaw (UMass History), with input from Jess Johnson, Heidi Scott, and Kevin Johnson (UMass History).

Questions about the project can be directed to communications@history.umass.edu A digital version of this zine is accessible at www.blogs.umass.edu/feinberg/dreaming-the-zine