Reaching the Turning Point

By Brianna Finelli

Ramapo Green is an organization at the college that is committed to creating a more sustainable environment on and off campus. Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic prohibiting most students and faculty from working together in person, Ramapo Green was able to spread their message to as many people as possible by hosting a free online event.

On October 21, I was able to attend the afternoon session of their “Reaching the Turning Point: The Youth Climate Movement and Our Election” zoom meeting. Hosted by Ashwani Vasishth, Michael Edelstein, and Harriet Shugarman, this session ran for three and a half hours with eleven guest speakers delivering their own presentations related to sustainability and climate movements. While each presenter delivered valuable information, the ones that stood out to me most were Gabrielle Heidrich, Ananya Singh, and Van Trat.

Gabrielle, who is the Youth Engagement Program Coordinator of Climate Reality, spoke about youth climate movements that aim to empower the newest generations to take action on climate change. Her presentation made me realize that the future depends largely on the young people of the world and how we act on important issues. In order to fight against climate change and help the environment, it is necessary that we all do our part and make our voices heard. This presentation caught my attention because I did not have much knowledge about the youth climate movement prior to this, and it inspired me to learn more in order to help in any ways possible.

In conjunction with Gabrielle’s presentation was Ananya Singh, who also sought to inspire young people about climate change by explaining the barriers to action. Most of these barriers were mental or emotional thoughts that would prevent us from beginning our journeys with the climate movement. I viewed this presentation as beneficial because it brought these restricting factors to my attention so that I may avoid them in the future, as well as help others overcome them. This way, more people would be less intimidated to start taking action with climate change and the youth movements would continue to grow.

The third speaker that stood out to me was Van Trat, a volunteer coordinator at MEVO farm in Mahwah. I had previously heard of MEVO but was not completely aware of their work. Through Van’s presentation, I learned about what the farm does, their goals regarding sustainability and youth activism, and their mission of creating ecological solutions and helping communities to achieve a healthier future. I was enlightened to hear that a volunteer organization like this was so close to campus, making it easy for any local student to get involved.

Overall, these three presentations, along with the other eight speakers, taught me everything I was seeking to learn about the youth climate movement and how I can get involved to spread awareness about climate change. By the end of the event, I realized how fitting the title of it was, seeing as we are at a turning point in the world. Many young people have already started their activism in regards to climate change, especially surrounding this election, which will help to determine the future of the climate movement. It is clear that we have a short amount of time to act, however I am hopeful that we the youth will continue to empower one another and take steps in the right direction to prevail against the climate crisis. Therefore, the information I learned from the Ramapo Green event will be useful to me in the future and I value the experience.