作者:汉娜·普林斯(Hannah Prince)
As Emma Rabius (StratComm’22) walked across campus, she was deep in thought about a class assignment: create a climate-focused project that would change student attitudes. 她知道,这一定很好. The winning idea would be submitted for grant funding.
Once in class, Rabius proposed a localized, campuswide “Meatless Mondays” campaign.
“I’ve always been on the trajectory of wanting to do some kind of good for the environment,拉比乌斯说. “I started making changes in my personal life, trying to eat more local foods.”
Within minutes, her idea was declared the class favorite. 周后, the class’s work became a reality—thanks to funding from Mission Zero, a Boulder-based climate action organization.
2022年春天, the Meatless Mondays campaign was one of seven projects in the College of Media, 沟通 and Information to receive grant funding through Mission Zero. 该组织, 由斯科特·金(1985年毕业)创立, 提供学习机会, funding and support for climate-focused academics at CU Boulder.
今年是第一次, 零号任务与CMCI合作, 捐赠25美元,000 to further climate-focused work in the college.
“This is the first time we’ve had money to execute a campaign, something students have always asked for when working on a 战略沟通 project,副教授Erin Schauster说, 教师 lead for the Meatless Mondays project. “没有比这更真实的了.”
In Schauster’s 战略沟通 class, each student group developed a unique campaign strategy to explain to audiences the substantial climate impact of meat production and consumption.
One group encouraged non-meat proteins as part of an exercise-focused diet. Another advocated for using alternative milks in coffee, and a third group urged students to avoid eating meat on Mondays. 这个班用完了4美元,授权做广告和购买材料, 比如非肉类蛋白质样本, 咖啡的玻璃杯, seed kits for herbs and tailored tote bags.
“Every group had to do research about climate change, 肉类消费, best practices for climate change communication, and about what CU was already doing in this space,Schauster说. “A lot of that research inspired their ideas.”
In other areas of CMCI, the six grantees used different methods to tackle climate action. Some emphasized storytelling by offering film awards, incorporating climate topics into student publications or using interactive platforms to communicate climate issues to the public. 其他包括社区合作伙伴, like the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and the 科罗拉多州 Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE).
艾玛Piper-Burket, a PhD student in the Emergent Technologies and Media Art Practices program, received $500 from Mission Zero to fund a film project visualizing ecosystem change over time.
The film will show the life cycle of mountain pine beetles, trees, petrified wood and humans. Mountain pine beetles are one of the most severe threats to the health of Western conifer forests, 根据美国.S. 林务局. Her film captures the beetles as they make patterns in the bark—a behavior that ultimately contributes to the death of the tree.
“I try to be really present with the environment,派珀-伯克特说, who uses media to investigate interactions among nature, 社会与人类精神. “I’ve scaled back and now film the things that are coming to me—trying to be gentle with all those things that are happening and responsive.
菲德拉C. Pezzullo, associate professor of communication and media studies, 收到了2美元,175 from Mission Zero to focus on environmental justice storytelling in 科罗拉多州.
In the graduate-level Foundations of Environmental Justice course, her students partnered with CDPHE to pilot digital storytelling projects about the Lower Arkansas River Valley and Pueblo County using ArcGIS StoryMaps. The interactive stories are housed on the state’s new Environmental Justice website.
Students interviewed 科罗拉多州 residents about their communities and integrated audio clips in the story maps, 也包括照片, reporting and resources for public engagement. Each story opens with what people love in their communities.
“环境损害, whether it’s climate change or toxic pollution, is not just about the numbers and the science, 但它也与人际关系有关,佩祖罗说.
The project prioritized environmental and social issues, including how climate change affects marginalized communities, 安东尼·阿尔比德雷斯说, who is pursuing a master’s degree in journalism.
“Environmental justice for me is amplifying the voices of the frontline communities that are facing continued environmental degradation and the continued impacts of climate change,阿尔比德雷斯说, 谁采访了福勒镇的居民, 科罗拉多州, 下阿肯色河谷的一部分.
通过他们的零号任务项目, CMCI 教师 and students connected climate issues to the daily lives of Coloradans and their neighbors—all through stories shared in innovative ways. They sought to reveal why it’s so vital that all stakeholders take climate action.
“No story is the last word,佩祖罗说. “No conversation is the final conversation on environmental justice. 总会有挑战, and to find a way to make peace with ethical decisions is just one step.”