Our Work Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow
March 4–6, 2024
Emerson’s Teach-In on Sustainability is an annual College-wide exploration of how we can contribute to a sustainable tomorrow through communication, the arts, and the liberal arts.
In 2015, the United Nations introduced 17 Sustainable Development Goals as a blueprint for a better, more sustainable future for all.
Here at Emerson, we’re on it. Across the College and around the world, Emersonians are contributing to a sustainable future in many ways, big and small, because we all have a stake in what’s ahead.
The 2024 Teach-In on March 4, 5, 6 will focus on jobs and careers: what jobs are out there that fit our students, what kind of employment can our students hope to find with the training we offer now, and what might the future look like?
Monday, March 4, 2024
Hollywood and Sustainability: How stories shape us and our future
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. EST
Presenters:
- Lydia Dean Pilcher, International Filmmaker, Climate Leader and Educator
- Brent Smith, Dean of the School of Communication, Emerson College
- Jay Bernhardt, President of Emerson College
- Nejem Raheem, Chair of the Department of Marketing Communication, Emerson College
Location: Bright Family Screening Room, 559 Washington St., Boston, MA 02116
Description: Filmmaker Lydia Dean Pilcher tackles the intersection of climate change and the entertainment industry in her collaborations with Hollywood studios, unions, & guilds. Her focus is clean energy innovation and she co-leads an industry-wide movement promoting the need for diversity in content and voices in climate storytelling on screen. She has taught a graduate film seminar at New York University about the shifting landscape of audience and storytelling: Producing with a Vision: Radical Transformation and Disruption in the Entertainment Industry; and in 2024, she teaches a graduate-level course she designed for Columbia University’s Climate School and School of the Arts: Climatic Change: Storytelling Arts, Zeitgeist, and Our Future.
Sustainable Development Goals:
Open Class: Emerging Media Production
12:30 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. EST
Presenter:
- Paul Turano, Associate Professor, VMA, Emerson College
Location: Emerging Media Lab, Ansin Building, 3rd Floor
Description: In this session, you will learn about environmental justice and interactive media making, as well as strategies for community engagement.
Sustainable Development Goals:
Finding, Getting, and Keeping a Green Job
2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. EST
Presenters:
- Kristy Drutman, Consultant, Media Producer, and Environmental Educator
- Samantha Silveira ’22, Freelance Writer, Growth Lead at Green Jobs Board
- Nicole Loher, Climate Communications Strategist, Researcher, Lecturer
Location: Walker Building, Room 417
Description: In this two-part workshop, you will learn about what jobs are actually out there for folks like you. To start, Kristy Drutman (of EcoTok Collective) and Samantha Silveira (Journalism, Class of 2022) will talk about the Green Jobs Board, what jobs are available in "green" industries for people who specialize in communication and the arts, BIPOC students, and other people we don’t normally see in these fields. They will conduct some fun and informative activities to help you focus your job search and identify your own super power.
Then, Nicole Loher, climate communicator and NYU professor, will lead a workshop on networking, a crucial skill in the field of sustainability.
Sustainable Development Goal:
Alumni Panel: Navigating Government and Sustainability
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST
Presenters:
- Niko Emack ’18, Freelance Reporter and Political Communication Instructor
- Emily Quinn, MA ’19, Government Affairs Manager, Southcoast Health
- Craig Gilvarg, MA ’20, Director of Communications, Offshore Wind at Avangrid Renewables
- Pranit Chand, 23, Digital Transformation Intern, United Nations Development Programme, former SGA President
Location: The Judee, Little Building, Lower Level
Description: Many Emersonians work in or near government agencies, from local to international, but we don’t always get to hear from them. In this panel, alumni will talk about their broad experiences working with government on issues of sustainability, from the private sector and education to city and state government.
Sustainable Development Goal:
Sustainable Soireé & Open Mic Night
5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. EST
Location: Bill Bordy Theater, 216 Tremont Street
Description: Join students, faculty, and alumni as we take a break from Teach-In events for an open mic night with refreshments. We will host an open mic where students can present their work, whether that’s a song, some spoken word, or whatever you think is good. You’ll have 10–15 minutes and a PA.
Sustainable Development Goals:
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
Open Class: Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability
10:00 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. EST
Presenter:
- Eric Hogue, Associate Department Head, Department of Marketing Communication, Emerson College
Location: Walker Building, Room 206
Description: Companies are facing rapidly shifting expectations of consumers and their customers. No longer can they ignore public sentiment on the company's stated position (or silence) on political and environmental/sustainability issues, as well as their corporate values. The class will highlight cases where companies are successfully navigating controversy.
Sustainable Development Goals:
Story Circles: Transforming Narratives on Environmental Justice
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. EST
Presenters:
- Rachele Gardner, Associate Director, Engagement Lab
- Tushar Matthew, Assistant Professor, Emerson College
- Nejem Raheem, Associate Professor of Economics, Chair of Marketing Communication
- Homa Sarabi, Director of Production Safety & Sustainability, Visual Media Arts
- Paul Turano, Associate Professor, Visual Media Arts
Location: Engagement Lab, 160 Boylston Street, 3rd Floor
Description: Share your story and make an impact! Join us for a participatory story circle activity centering on narratives of environmental justice, and learn how you can get involved in the Engagement Lab’s Transforming Narratives for Environmental Justice (TNEJ) initiative. No storytelling experience required!
TNEJ gives Emerson students the opportunity to work directly with community-based environmental justice organizations and activists to achieve concrete impacts through collaborative Social Impact Studio courses. Hear from ELab students and faculty, check out media that students have created with our partners, hear about upcoming classes, and much more! Lunch is provided (first come, first served).
Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour: Talking Compassionately About Suffering and Life’s End
With Featured Guest Speaker Sunita Puri, MD
1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. EST
Presenter:
- Sunita Puri, MD, Author, Program Director of the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program, UMass Chan School of Medicine
Location: The Judee, Little Building, Lower Level
Description: Sunita Puri is a palliative care physician and an author. She works in the University of Massachusetts hospital system and is also the author of the New York Times bestseller That Good Night, a book about her experiences in the field of palliative care. She has written a number of magazine and newspaper articles as well, and teaches a course on medical memoir at Harvard Medical School.
Sustainable Development Goal:
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Gallery Film Talk: "Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements"
4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. EST
Presenters:
- Lydia Dean Pilcher, Film Producer/Writer/Director
- Dani McClain, Journalist and Author
- Lina Giraldo, Educator, Interactive Media Artist
Location: Huret & Spector Gallery, Tufte Building 5th Floor
Description: "Homing Instinct" is a 28 min, climate film installation made by Lydia Pilcher, based on a short story by Dani McClain from the anthology, "Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements." Join us for a conversation with filmmaker and author moderated by our own journalism professor and artist, Lina Giraldo. The film will play Monday, 03/04 - Wednesday, 03/06, from 10a-6p on the half hour in the Huret & Spector Gallery,
24-Hour Plays: Sustainability from a Theatrical Voice
8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. EST
Presenters:
- Hannah McEachern ’19, Artistic Director, QTC Boston
- Tushar Mathew, Assistant Professor, Department of Performing Arts, Emerson College
Location: The Judee, Little Building, Lower Level
The 24-Hour Play Festival offers writers, directors, and actors an opportunity to explore the 17 Sustainable Development Goals through the lens of theatre. They will write, direct, and produce a short play (5–10 min.) that forms a unique narrative around one of the goals within 24 hours. The process begins with a closed-doors workshop at 8:00 pm on Monday, March 4, and will culminate in a final performance of all the pieces, open to the public, at 8:00 pm on Tuesday, March 5, in the Judee.
While the pieces will explore sustainability through the SDGs, the production team of the festival will also explore ways in which a 24-Hour Play Festival process can be sustainable, i.e. encouraging sustainable writing and production habits throughout the process.
Co-produced by QTC Boston's Artistic Director Hannah McEachern and Assistant Professor Tushar Mathew, audiences can expect fast-paced, thought-provoking pieces about sustainability in all its forms.
Sustainable Development Goals:
Nejem Raheem’s Behavioral Economics Class: Feldenkrais Workshop
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. EST
Presenters:
- Nejem Raheem, Associate Professor of Economics, Chair of the Department of Marketing Communication, Emerson College
- Shekinah-Glory Beepat ’16, Guild-Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner
Location: Paramount Center, Studio 6, 3rd Floor
Description: In this session, you will learn about the Feldenkrais Method, a type of bodywork that helps to realign not just muscles but neurological organization. We will be lying on the floor, so please dress in comfortable clothes. And don’t worry, the floor will be clean.
Sustainable Development Goal:
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Climate Lens Workshop with Good Energy
1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EST
Presenter:
- Alisa Petrosova, Interdisciplinary Artist, Writer, Narrative Strategist, and Associate Director of Climate Research & Consulting Programs at Good Energy
Location: The Judee, Little Building, Lower Level
Description: The Climate LensTM Workshop allows writers to start seeing any modern story through a Climate LensTM in a supportive, fun, and creative environment. In our core one-hour workshop, writers investigate how climate might impact characters’ emotions and actions, review case studies of existing climate appearances in TV and film, and practice applying the Climate LensTM through interventions ranging from modeling solutions, to brief mentions, to climate-driven characters and plots, exploring the rich array of human emotions (beyond despair!) that climate change can evoke.
Sustainable Development Goal:
Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Open Class: Autism, Inclusion, and the UN Sustainability Goals
2:00 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. EST
Presenter:
- Lisa Wisman Weil, Senior Scholar-in-Residence and Assistant Dean, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Emerson College
Location: Little Building, Room 229
Description: This panel discussion with staff from SAS and students from Access: Disability Student Union offers an opportunity to hear stories/experiences with accessibility and inclusion at Emerson and beyond.
Sustainable Development Goals:
Alumni Panel: Fresh Perspectives on the Business of Sustainability
4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. EST
Presenters:
- Andy Jung ’22, Digital Marketing Specialist, Spokeo
- Sam Silveira ’22, Growth Lead, Green Jobs Board
- Allie Chuma ’17, Office Administrator, SL Green Realty Corp
- Suzie Hicks (“The Climate Chick”) ’18, Video Producer, Kat Kid Adventure
- Jillian Gillman, 23, Marketing Coordinator at New England Paradigm
Location: SPC Black Box, Little Building, Lower Level
Description: Meet a group of Emerson alumni whose jobs all relate to sustainability in one way or another. From news reporting to sustainability marketing for Google, from science writing to podcasting, these Emersonians will share their stories and journeys.
Sustainable Development Goals:
Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Cinema’s Eye on Climate Change
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. EST
Presenters:
- Pedro de Filippis, Filmmaker
- Zayan Agha, Filmmaker, MFA Student at Emerson College
Location: Bright Family Screening Room, Paramount Center
Description: Films will be screened focusing on how climate change is affecting the developing world and the part filmmakers play in amplifying issues of the indigenous people world over followed by a panel talk with the filmmakers.
Sustainable Development Goal:
Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
