Impact

In this first virtual event of our Deep Dive Series—a participatory introduction to climate comedy—Inside the Greenhouse Co-Founder and Co-Director Beth Osnes, PhD, and University of Colorado at Boulder (CU Boulder) graduate student Ben Stasny lead warm-up exercises, provide examples of climate comedy, and facilitate the creation of brief climate comedy songs.

About Our Speakers:
In addition to leading Inside the Greenhouse, a project dedicated to inspiring creative communication on climate, Beth Osnes, PhD, is a Professor of Theatre and Environmental Studies at CU Boulder. She is passionate about using performance to author a new story for an equitable, survivable, and thrive-able future for all life and the ecosystems upon which all life depends. She is co-founder of SPEAK.WORLD, an approach towards vocal empowerment for young women for increased self-advocacy and civic participation. She is also a teacher, scholar, and performer of climate comedy.

Ben Stasny is a second-year graduate student in the Dept. of Theatre & Dance at CU Boulder researching the intersection between theatre and climate change. He has been working closely with Beth Osnes to help author stories of interspecies relationships in order to better understand the effects of climate change through both the arts and the sciences. Ben recently conceptualized, directed, and partnered with Climate Change Theatre Action in New York City to help produce Climate Cabaret, the opening show of CU’s theatrical season. He has worked as a professional actor for over a decade off-broadway, in regional theatres, in parks, on cruise ships, in bars and barns, and out of vans, and loves theatre in any and all forms. He is eager to continue exploring how theatre, storytelling and comedy can help impact climate change.

In this Deep Dive webinar with Co-Founders of Puckerbrush Animation and Film judges for our Ocean Awareness Contest Hanji Chang and Andy O’Brien, we explore how humorous cartoons can make environmental issues more accessible for all audiences.  Hanji and Andy tell the unconventional story of how they became animators passionate about environmental issues and share some of their work as visual storytellers and comedians.

About Our Speakers:
Hanji Chang is a Taiwanese-Korean painter, illustrator, graphic designer, and animator. She also teaches animation at Maine College of Art. Andy O’Brien is a Rockland, Maine-based writer, voice actor, and the communications director for the Maine AFL-CIO. Hanji and Andy are the co-founders of O’Chang Comics and Puckerbrush Animation (formerly O’Chang Studios).

Puckerbrush Animation is a Rockland, Maine-based animation studio that has produced videos for a variety educational and nonprofit institutions including the US Geological Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Louisiana Sea Grant, the Island Institute, the World Bank, the Red Cross, the Council on Foreign Relations and others. It is most known for its award-winning series “A Climate Calamity in the Gulf of Maine” about the impact of climate change on coastal communities and sea life.

Learn about the Hip Hop M.D. aka Maynard Okereke’s journey from civil engineer to science entertainer and how he bridges the gap between music, entertainment, and science to invite more diverse voices into S.T.E.M. fields.

About Our Speaker:
Maynard Okereke, better known as the Hip Hop M.D., graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Civil Engineering. He is an award-winning Science Communicator, having received both the Asteroid Award for “Best Streaming Content” and the People of Change Award for his community outreach efforts. His passion for science and entertainment, along with his curiosity for new innovation has taken him through an incredible life journey.

Noticing a lack of minority involvement in the S.T.E.M. fields, he created Hip Hop Science with the goal of encouraging minorities and youth to pursue more advanced career paths. His background in engineering, acting, business, and credible work within the music industry as an artist, make him uniquely qualified to engage on a wide variety of topics from an entertaining perspective. This is highly reflected in his weekly vlogs and daily social media posts which provide both humorous and informative #SciComm content.

How are you feeling about the future of the planet? In this lively session, we’ll share tools and mindset approaches as well as solutions journalism sources to help move beyond the disempowerment of doom and gloom towards solutions-based climate hope.

About Our Speaker:
Elin Kelsey, PhD is a scholar, author and passionate leader in the evidence-based hope and climate change and environmental solutions movement. Her newest book for adults, Hope Matters: Why Changing the Way We Think Is Critical for Solving the Environmental Crisis was published by Greystone Books in 2020. Her influence can be seen in the hopeful, solutions-focus of her clients, including the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and other powerful institutions where she has served as a visiting fellow including the Rachel Carson Center for the Environment and Society, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Stanford University in the Graduate School of Education. She is currently a Kone Foundation Fellow working with climate science researchers, the Climate and Environmental Communication Science Association and children’s book writers in Finland on the Developing Climate Change Communication with Emotional Awareness project.

Elin is an Adjunct Faculty member of the University of Victoria School of Environmental Studies, and Western Washington University’s partnership in the Redfish School of Change. She is a feature writer and podcast host for Hakai Magazine and a best-selling children’s book author. Her newest book for children, A Last Goodbye, was published in April 2020.

Elin is a popular keynote speaker and has a track record of inspiring change. In May 2021, she co-launched the Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators website and wrote “Breathe,” a film for Amnesty International. In 2014, she co-created #OceanOptimism, a twitter campaign to crowd-source marine conservation solutions which has reached more than 100 million shares. The scientific brief she wrote for Pew Global Oceans led former President George W. Bush to dedicate one of the world’s largest marine reserves, the Mariana Trench National Monument in 2009. She was honored as a 2020 finalist in the Canadian Nature Inspiration Awards.

For more about Elin and her work please visit www.elinkelsey.org

Want to enter the 2022 Ocean Awareness Contest, but don’t know where to start? Join Ocean Awareness Contest judges Jason Talbot, Marquis Victor, Ely German, and 2021 We All Rise Prize winner Danielle Nelson as they talk about their inspiration, artistic processes, and tips for overcoming creative block.

About Our Speakers:
Jason Talbot – Jason is a co-founder and alumnus of Artists For Humanity (AFH), a Boston-area nonprofit that fuses art-making, entrepreneurial and business training, experiential arts and STEM learning, and audience engagement to create empowering and transformational experiences for under-resourced teens. Currently serving as Deputy Director and member of AFH’s Board of Directors, Jason has dedicated the last 29 years of his life ensuring that Boston’s young people are guided towards a successful life by encouraging their self-expression through art.

Jason was selected as one of Bank of America’s 2012 Neighborhood Builders, and he has received the Mentor of the Year Award from Youth Design. Jason is a member of WGBH’s Board of Advisors, and in 2014 he was awarded a spot on the Boston Business Journal’s “40 Under 40.” Jason is also still producing his own brand of visionary street art.

Marquis Victor – Marquis (he/him) is founder and executive director of Elevated Thought. He leads ET’s vision, goals, and mission. He believes “creativity is essential for human flourishing” and grounds his personal and professional pursuits in this perceived truth.

In addition to being a poet and artist, Marquis has a master’s degree in Education from Lesley University and compiled over seven years of public school experience before focusing on Elevated Thought full-time. Prioritizing a process of conversation, creativity, and collaboration, Marquis built and facilitated the art and social justice curriculum that serves as the foundation for all of ET’s creative youth development and youth organizing work.

Ely German – Ely is a multidisciplinary artist, Bow Seat Alumna/judge/friend! She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 2021 with a BFA in Studio Art, and is a full time graphic designer at 3 Headed Monster in Dallas. Her art lives across mediums and disciplines because conceptual consideration is at the core of her practice. German believes in the power of art to create conversation through collaboration.

Danielle Nelson – Danielle is a sophomore in high school from Maryland who is very passionate about the environment. She has her Open Water Scuba Certification, Project AWARE Certification, and Coral Conservation Certification. Danielle recently joined the National Association of Black Scuba Divers’ youth committee and is a member of Black Girls Dive, with whom she has visited the Coral Reef Restoration Center, the National Aquarium, and the Dolphin Plus Marine Mammal Responder. She has conducted shark research and tagging with the University of Miami, operated underwater drones, beta tested marine-based VR apps, and experimented with cinematography.

Danielle is a self-taught artist and poet who focuses on nature, black struggles, current events, and her life. She was a recipient of Bow Seat’s 2021 We All Rise Prize and a Silver Key and Honorable Mention from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Danielle has also placed in the FRA Essay Contest, the Links Young Masters 2.0 Program Writing Competition, the Maryland STEM Festival Art Contest, and the American Chemical Society Poetry Contest.

At school, Danielle is the co-founder and president of Brain Games Club where she facilitates the solving of crosswords, sudokus, breakout rooms, riddles, logic puzzles, and rebus puzzles. Danielle is also a member of the 2022 class of Disney Dreamers and will volunteer at the National Aquarium this summer. She plans to study computer science, environmental science, or visual arts and use those passions to give back to her community.

Have you considered using Spoken Word as a form of activism and self-expression? Did you know that Bow Seat offers the Voice of the Sea Award to students who submit spoken word poetry to the 2022 Contest? Join Sisterhood(Verb) Inc’s founder and Voice of the Sea Award advisor Tayllor Johnson as she talks to 2022 Future Blue Youth Council member and 2020 Contest Gold Award winner Nuan Ning Teioh about the power of spoken word poetry.

About Our Speakers:
Tayllor Johnson is a poet, performer, writer, and educator who brings the adventure and beauty of finding self and sisterhood to life through education, creativity, activism, and community.​ As a poet and writer, she is committed to using art to give voice to the world’s unspoken needs, and guides others to discover and speak their truth and liberate themselves. In all she has done, is doing, and will do, she embodies her mission: Find new ways poetry can empower the voiceless, soothe the wounded, and disturb the status quo, setting us all on a path to freedom. Tayllor is the founder of Sisterhood(Verb).

Nuan Ning Teioh is a high schooler whose family hails from the island of Penang. Spending her childhood summers by the beach, she noticed the shorelines growing dirtier with each passing year and became passionate about preventing the impending climate catastrophe. Nuan Ning is an avid poet who received the Gold Award from Bow Seat’s Ocean Awareness Contest in 2020 and represented Malaysia in the CausewayEXchange Poetry Slam in 2019. She is eager to explore intersectional and diverse voices in the fight against climate change as a member of the 2022 Future Blue Youth Council.