Climate & Society Weekly Reflections

Taking advantage of my employee tuition benefits, I have been taking classes part-time in addition to my full-time job to complete the Master of Arts in Climate & Society program at The Climate School, Columbia University. This series is a weekly blog assignment for my Spring 2023 course, Applications in Climate & Society. The series captures my thoughts and reflections based on the provided prompts.

Week 12 - Apr 10

Prompt: What makes working in the urban space unique? Write about the speaker
whose presentation you found most interesting.

Speakers: Christian Braneon (in-person) - Carbon Direct, Angelica Greco (virtual) - ICLEI USA, Rebbeca Fredman (virtual) - Los Angeles County.

Having grown up partly in Houston and spent my college years canvasing and volunteering with election campaigns in Waco, Texas, I was drawn to Christian Braneon’s stories and insights as I can relate to them at a very direct and personal level.

Although Christian did not speak directly about working in an urban space, he shared his experience working and interacting with conservative-leaning individuals and rural communities across Texas that can often behave in hostile and aggressive manners towards a young black man with very different social background and political ideologies. Christian spoke of enduring situations where he faced displays of micro-aggression, racism, and insensitivity, and tried his best to respond with utmost kindness, patience, and respect. I think it is not just a smart strategy, but one necessary for ensuring personal safety and mental wellbeing as a person of color (and for me, a petite woman). When I was the true minority and lone “black sheep” in a room, it is often best to de-escalate and not further provoke or reveal more information than needed. But whenever possible to safely do so, the engagement is usually worth the effort or at least brings some fruit for thought.

Having studied and worked in the climate space in an extremely adversary environment in Southern Fundamentalist Conservative Christian Texas, I sought to learn and develop many strategic ways to communicate and work with people and communities of diverse backgrounds and ideologies. Christian had shared that it’s always helpful to seek out and establish a human-to-human connection, and not make assumptions about people’s intentions and motivations. It reminds me of George Lakeoff’s Don’t Think of an Elephant in which he proposed a framework for understanding the two different systems of values that divide American Conservative and Liberal voters when they approach a multitude of social and economic issues. I had found it to be enlightening in terms of putting myself in another person’s perspectives by approximating their system of values and beliefs, so I can better listen and understand their personal concerns and priorities. Even if we may never be able to reach an agreement, I always felt like I could better explain and provide a more relatable framing for sharing my perspectives and affirming my positions on issues.

I think having had this experience trying to understand and relate to people with backgrounds very different from mine has created a valuable lesson for me to carry for the rest of my career. For one, truly diverse urban environments of Houston and New York City never felt nearly as hostile and challenging as a homogenous environment that is not tolerant or friendly to someone who looks and speaks and works in the areas that I do. Indeed, I benefit from working within diverse environments just as much as I try to do my best to ensure marginalized and minority individuals within a diverse community are well heard, respected, and supported. I want to make sure no one has to feel left out, overlooked, intimidated, or silenced for their identity and background.

There’s something to be said about in-person vs online encounters. Despite my best efforts, I often find it much more challenging to communicate thoroughly and thoughtfully, and actually have my messages be heard/read accurately. Conversations often spiral into unproductive and aggressive tangents because the efforts to listen, understand, relate, and respect may not have been made equally by all sides from the start. Internet anonymity can serve to conceal a person’s identity as well as humanity, and thereby reducing people to just opinionated avatars and antagonistic trolls online (not to mention the programmed bots specifically designed to infiltrate and further stoke negative behaviors without any personal investment or repercussion). In a modern society, it is becoming increasingly difficult to engage a large and remote community without relying on online communications and outreach. But if we can keep the engagement and dialogues to be as in-person and personal as possible, there are still a good chance for having real and impactful human-to-human conversations and connections.