CALS 601

The Master of Art in Climate Action Leadership (MACAL) virtual summit comprised of: talks, with a range of presenters on topics related to climate action; poster presentations by MACAL students, topics chosen by each student individually, sharing key learnings from the program; and a workshop series hosted in collaboration with Royal Roads University Resilience by Design (RbD) Lab and Solvable. The workshop series focused on Regenerar, a documentary investigating the relationships between colonial modernity and the climate emergency through the lenses of: To Die, To Dream, and To Live (Solvable, 2024).

Attending the summit in conjunction with one of my electives, ENVP 500: Developing a Sustainability Perspective, offered a different perspective into the first lens To Die. In the elective, we were exploring 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd generation sustainable development: 1^st generation being a top-down, outcome driven approach; 2^nd generation focusing on public engagement, collaboration, and deliberation, working to understand the interconnections between social, economic, and ecological factors; while 3^rd generation meaningfully responds to equity issues and addresses systemic issues of power and conflict (Robinson & Dale, 2012). When analyzing and assessing various organizations that are doing important and powerful work related to climate action, it was challenging to find an organization that truly fit into 3^rd generation sustainable development. We learned that 3^rd generation sustainable development was the way forward and highlighted that our current systems were often the factor holding back organizations in 2^nd generation sustainable development, but how do we escape these systems? A poem shared by author Dani D’emilia titled Co-sensing with Radical Tenderness states that we must “interrupt addictions to consumption, not only of ‘stuff’ but also of knowledge, experiences, and relationships” (D’emilia, n.d.). Experiencing the To Die session allowed me to see how true transformation and 3^rd generation sustainable development could happen, by exploring harmful beliefs, policies, laws, narratives and more, that need to die within individuals, organizations, communities, and structures. During an activity titled the Toxic Waste Collective Exhibit, participants were asking to gather photos that portrayed these harmful beliefs, policies, etc. that need to die and have toxic effects on our daily lives (Solvable, 2024). The exhibit was split into three galleries, one being Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, flawed methods, approaches and protocols from the sustainability/regeneration/climate industry (Solvable, 2024). This exercise brought a whole new way of thinking to the teachings from ENVP 500, as we had been discussing how being less bad, either at an individual level or organizational level, is not enough. Various topics and themes highlighted in the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing gallery related back to this concept that we have in many ways accepted choosing the less bad option. It’s almost as if the less bad option has become a way to clear our individual and collective conscience, when really it is just a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

My own work for the poster presentation centered around moving from a space of climate anxiety to climate action. The second day of the Regenerar workshop titled To Live, started with a collective rest, where all participants took five minutes to rest; blankets and pillows were encouraged. This related back to some key learnings and takeaways from my presentation, prioritizing rest in order to continue to move forward with important climate action work. The opportunity to collectively rest during a professional workshop showed a tangible example of how the death of toxic policies or norms is possible.

Overall, the MACAL summit housed powerful learning moments and provided opportunities to view course content, such as the generations of sustainable development from ENVP 500, or my own desktop research in climate anxiety to climate action, in different and more experiential ways. The idea of completely dismantling these harmful beliefs, policies, laws, narratives, structures, communities, etc. is daunting, but viewing the work through lenses such as, To Dream and To Live made me believe in the possibility.

References

D’emilia, D. (n.d.). Co-sensing with Radical Tenderness. Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures. https://lapubli.online/RadicalTenderness.html

Solvable. (2024). Regenerar November 2024 Series: To Die. To Dream. To Live. Solvable- Notion. https://solvablehq.notion.site/regenerar-november-2024-series

Robinson, P., & Dale, A. (2012). Chapter 1: Generational responses: Why a third? In A. Dale, W.T. Dushenko & P. Robinson (Eds.), Urban sustainability: Reconnecting space and place (pp. 13-28). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.