Afomia Assefa

Honors 100
1. Climate change is a crisis that we as a global community will face some through career, some through personal choices. Building on what
you heard in the interdisciplinary discussion, how might you choose to
address this challenge in your own life?
The climate change panel made the consequences of climate change
more apparent to me than ever before. I always knew that we have a climate
change issue and that we will be faced with grave consequences in the near
future but this discussion enabled me to look at it from different
perspectives. Based on what I heard in the discussion I am more convinced
that awareness is the most important step an individual can take in regards
to making a difference towards climate change. As an individual who is
involved in a couple of RSOs on campus that work on issues that affect
mainly black students, climate change is usually left out of the
conversations. I was happy about the conversation regarding who has power
and who makes decisions. Every day I am more and more aware of the way
climate change affects the most disadvantaged and how it combines with
the capitalist system to mainly affect people of color. Following the important
discussion and realizing the lack of students of color in these spaces I am
going to work on making sure black students are aware of the issue and also
to look at the issue with an interdisciplinary lens to understand the impact of
climate change in regards to different social issues. Recent policies such as
the proposal to place a carbon tax demonstrate how people want to address
climate change. In regards to this bill proposed I was mostly interested in the
fact that people of color werent a part of this conversation and additionally I
was interested in how punishment was being distributed. The focus seems
to be holding individuals accountable rather than big businesses. I think in
the long run people who will be affected by policies should definitely be part
of the decision making and reforms. This idea also extends to a lot of
decisions our government makes in regards to our health, education or more.
From my own experience and how my perspective on climate changed, I
am even more convinced that awareness is the most important step for now.
Additionally, making sure voices usually ignored by society are being lifted
and amplified. There is always a trend of movements being co-opted or
marginalized groups being overlooked once a certain movement gets a lot of
national attention. For example, standing rock is getting a lot of attention
and also Flint got a lot of press after month and months of protests. What
this shows me is a trend of fake outrage and performative activism that
doesnt actually help the cause in the end. I believe this is the moment in
which people with actual power and pull over government speak up and
make sure the outrage is being heard.
Also climate change seems like such a big complex idea with the impacts
seeming out of reach and catastrophic. I believe people usually mobilize
when their safety is threatened in a real way or when the threat starts to
affect people that they can relate to. In the U.S where most people live in a

very protected bubble, struggles and effects of global warming seem very
abstract. I believe this goes hand in hand with awareness and making sure
the majority understand the impacts of climate change are very real. We are
at a very critical stage in social activism and it will be very impactful if we
manage to integrate climate change as an interdisciplinary issue in these
circles and activism spaces.