November 10, 2021 1:00 PM - November 10, 2021 2:00 PM
Online Event

Project Drawdown and the Solutions Journalism Network are partnering to offer a webinar for AASHE educators and staff who want to shift the conversation about climate change away from gloom and doom and toward solutions and inspire their students to take action. Participants will be introduced to Project Drawdown’s new Climate Solutions 101 video series and Solutions Journalism Network (SJN)’s Climate Solutions Collections that together are poised to become go-to resources for education about climate solutions. Two former educators now working at the intersection of climate solutions communication and education will present this material along with a sustainability leader and educator at an AASHE member institution who uses SJN’s Climate Solutions and UN Global Goals Story Collections in her teaching, and who will be integrating Climate Solutions 101 into her courses.

This webinar will introduce participants to the content and purpose of Climate Solutions 101, a six-part video series that presents the science and inspiration behind the safest, fastest, and most equitable climate solutions available today. The videos deliver a straightforward and compelling message: we have the knowledge and resources we need to avert a catastrophic climate crisis; what’s needed now is the will and determination to implement the solutions. Educators teaching first-year or introductory environmental or sustainability courses may want to include the entire series in their courses, but each video can also be viewed individually. This makes them particularly attractive to instructors across disciplines, from the sciences to the humanities, who are seeking to incorporate elements of sustainability and climate solutions into their teaching. Units five and six, which explore specific solutions and what is required to implement them, also contain crucial learnings for advanced undergraduate or graduate students. Each unit — and especially the latter units — pairs perfectly with in-depth, solutions news stories on what individuals, communities, nonprofit organizations, businesses and policymakers are already doing to implement solutions. Participants will be introduced to SJN’s curriculum guide with sample assignments and tips for using solutions news stories and story collections with Climate Solutions 101, and they will have the opportunity to practice identifying a climate solutions story or collection that aligns with their discipline using SJN’s Solutions Story Tracker. Finally, participants will learn how to infuse a dose of media literacy into any course by bringing a climate solutions journalist to class through SJN’s Journalist in the Classroom program.

Elizabeth Bagley, Director of Drawdown Learn, Project Drawdown

As Director of Drawdown Learn at Project Drawdown, Dr. Elizabeth Bagley connects people with the most impactful climate change solutions. Through a diverse portfolio of programming, Bagley creates relevant, researched, and relatable sustainability content and initiatives that inspire audiences to take action to help people and the planet thrive together.

Before joining Project Drawdown, Bagley directed sustainability efforts at the California Academy of Sciences and designed the science content for video games at LeapFrog. Bagley has experience studying coral reefs, sea turtles, and butterflies in Kenya, and has worked as a naturalist in Glacier National Park. An experienced environmental educator, she has taught middle and high school science in Louisiana, K-12 science pedagogy to teachers, and science communication to graduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Elizabeth holds joint PhDs in Environment & Resources and Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where she studied how video games can encourage systems thinking about complex environmental topics. She earned joint Master of Science degrees in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development and Educational Psychology and Bachelor of Science degrees in Zoology and Biological Aspects of Conservation.

Katherine Noble-Goodman, University Partnerships Manager, Solutions Journalism Network

Katherine has reported for daily, weekly and monthly publications on philanthropy, education, religion, and the environment; taught environmental studies and green business at the University of Redlands (CA, USA); and collaborated on clean cook stove projects in Nicaragua and Rwanda. Highlights of her teaching career include service-learning trips in Rwanda, where her students supported villagers in identifying sites for new wells, and study-abroad courses to Denmark and Sweden, where her students learned from business and government leaders about environmental sustainability. At the Solutions Journalism Network (SJN), Katherine’s focus is also education. She supports college professors in integrating solutions journalism stories into their teaching and nonprofit leaders in connecting their constituents with stories about responses to social and environmental challenges. She is passionate about SJN’s work to disrupt and redefine journalism so that news is about more than what’s broken and includes – on a daily basis – stories about what’s working. She is especially passionate about solutions reporting on climate change and the environment, and she recommends everyone improve their media diets with a daily dose of better news. Some of her favorite solutions news comes from Ensia, Yes! Magazine, and Reasons to be Cheerful.

Liesel Schwarz, Sustainability Manager, Villanova University

Liesel Schwarz is the sustainability manager for Villanova University and is responsible for complying with the carbon commitment, as well as working with faculty, staff, and students to make Villanova a more sustainable place to work, live, and play. Liesel’s responsibilities include physical campus sustainability improvements (energy efficiency, alternative transportation, organic grounds management), student engagement (bike share, campus garden, club advisor), programing, and event management (zero waste games, campus sustainability week, earth week), communication, and reporting. Additionally, Liesel is also teaching an Advanced Sustainability course as part of the new sustainability track for the environmental studies major.

Register HERE