During Climate Week 2022, Columbia World Projects with Columbia Global Centers | Rio de Janeiro co-hosted a series of discussions titled Climate, Hope & Science: Shifting Paradigms in Spirituality, Technology, Finance and Civic Action. The day-long event took place on Columbia’s Manhattanville campus, led by Obama Foundation Scholars Program alums, scientists from Columbia Climate School and other experts, who explored the climate crisis through three lenses: spirituality, technology, finance and civic action.
Opening Remarks were provided by Wafaa El-Sadr, Director of Columbia World Projects; David Simas, President of the Obama Foundation; Alex Halliday, Dean of the Columbia Climate School; and Teresa Borges, Senior Program Manager of Columbia Global Centers | Rio de Janeiro.
Flávia Maia, 2020-2021 Obama Foundation Scholar alum from Brazil, whose work focuses on the intersection of urbanism, gender equality and climate action in her home country, led the conversation and was joined by fellow Obama Foundation Scholar alums Jean-Noé Landry (2021-2022) and Christian Vanizette (2019-2020). After a day of enriching conversation and inspired action, Flávia closed with an encouraging message: “climate, hope, and science are words that often don’t come together in the same sentence… hope is what keeps us moving forward… hope is not naive. On the contrary, from our perspective, hope is a collective effort, it is grounded in community action, and it is informed by science. Having hope is not about waiting, it is about having strategy, focus, and discipline to transform the systems that caused this crisis.”
Recordings for each panel can be found below.
Climate, Science & Spirituality
Climate, Technology & Communities
Climate, Finance & Civic Action
Hope & Urgency: A Call to Action