Greta Thunberg, Isra Hirsi, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, Jamie Margolin and many more individuals across America are speaking out against climate change and the politics behind the detriment of their planet. Now, this movement is coming to OU, and the faculty behind it invited students and staff to their first ever event called “Heading for Extinction (And What to Do About It).”

Faculty members Laura Landolt, Alan Epstein, Lily Mendoza and Mozhgon Rajaee — whose departments range from political science to communication, journalism and public relations to human health sciences — are working on founding a campus group to battle the effects of climate change.

The event took place Tuesday, Sept. 24, where a film was shown and an open discussion followed.

Epstein and Mendoza commented on the reasons they were interested in helping to develop this group.

“I have a real passion for this issue because it’s enveloping and it’s very concerning,” Epstein said. “Especially since we have a lot of people who are still in denial, and even those who are not in denial are not sure what to do. In part that’s because it would appear that, at least in terms of nation policy, little is being done.”

Mendoza discussed a personal experience that affected her perception of something described as “climate grief.”

“I’ve long had growing concern over climate change and the ongoing ecological collapse, and I found it strange that we carry on in the academy and in the various professions as if it were business as usual,” Mendoza said. “Last semester, I had one of my students, the most ecologically aware and passionate about the environment, attempt a near successful suicide — at least in part, I suspect, as a response to what many now call ‘climate grief.’”

A grassroots movement is occurring on campus. People from differing departments, from students to faculty, are coming together to decide on what they can do to battle “climate grief.”

“Students are, more or less, convinced of the science, but they’re very depressed about knowing that little is being done. Yet, it’s their future that’s at risk,” Epstein said. “There’s a lot of what people sometimes call ‘climate grief’ that needs to be addressed, so we thought it would be important to have a discussion collectively after the film.”

However, this emerging group of faculty is working toward addressing the concerns of the OU community by engaging in open discussions about the ways climate change can be dealt with and how to respond to the shared, negative feelings about what’s to come.

“It felt good not to be alone anymore in our own grief over ongoing species extinction and catastrophic climate change,” Mendoza said.

To find out more about this group, contact Alan Epstein at [email protected].