SEIZING THE CHANCE FOR CHANGE
BY KIMBERLEY FEHR
THE ENTREPRENEUR AND THE ENVIRONMENTALIST
T
he pandemic simultaneously divides and unites our world, leaving no one untouched. But this disruption from life as we know it presents a chance for change, or even an unprecedented opportunity to reinvent our world. Two visionary UTS alumni, environmentalist and award-winning author Lydia Millet ’86, and JA Worldwide President and CEO Asheesh Advani ’90 discuss how we can seize this chance for change, taking the best of what we are learning from the COVID-19 pandemic and carrying it forward into the future. It begins with empathy.
From her window amid the saguaros of the Sonoran Desert outside Tucson, Arizona, Pulitzer Prize nominee Lydia Millet watches the daily spectacle of life on earth unfold before her – the prickly pear cactus blooming and the darting flight of the Anna’s hummingbird – sharing an empathy with nature she says many people have now just discovered because of the pandemic. TOP: Asheeh Advani ’90 with Canadian students at a JA Worldwide Global Youth Forum. BOTTOM: During the pandemic, Lydia Millet ’86 signs her book, A Children’s Bible, on the front porch of the home she shares with her children and boyfriend.
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THE ROOT | SPRING 2021
JA Worldwide
Aaron Young
