The upcoming fourth annual Climate Week at the University of Pennsylvania will feature, among other things, a performance by a Mexican folk-dance group “dedicated to Monarch butterflies.”
According to Penn Today, the Philadelphia-based Ñuuxakun‘s dance will “honor the profound cultural and folklore significance of monarch butterflies and other pollinator species.”
Penn Environmental Innovations Initiative Coordinator Karla Terroba said “These magnificent yet threatened pollinators, revered across cultures, serve as poignant symbols of our interconnectedness with the natural world and the delicate balance of ecosystems.”
Terroba added that “through [Ñuuxakun’s] mesmerizing performances, we hope to celebrate and raise awareness of their vital role in sustaining life on our planet.”
After the dance event, participants will be able plant various pollinating species in Penn’s Student Garden and listen to university experts on “the critical role pollinators play in our ecosystems.”
Attendees can also listen to several “1.5 Minute” Penn faculty lectures on climate change, with titles ranging from “Heat,” “Fire,” “Drought” to “Floods.”
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The “Fire” lecture features Nicholas Pevzner of Penn’s School of Design who researches “the impacts of climate policy on physical built environment, on cultural attitudes, and on implications for spatial justice.”
Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media director Michael Mann (pictured), who sued people critical of his methodologies a decade ago, will give a talk on “Our Fragile Moment.”
Ironically, Mann also will moderate a panel on the “state of environmental journalism” with Inside Climate News, a “nonprofit, nonpartisan” news group that “serve[s] as watchdogs of government, industry and advocacy groups.”
In addition, Mann will lead the discussion “Climate & Democracy: Youth-Driven Climate Action: Power and Potential.” This talk features a high school “climate hero” who claims adults engage in a double standard when they tell kids “to believe in ‘a future of endless possibilities and dreams’ … yet leave them ‘scared to plan for the future because climate anxiety is real.’”
Another Climate Week activity is “Yoga in the Treetops” which “focus[es] on poses that promote rootedness, connection, and mindfulness” because, according to the event page, “human beings are deeply connected to trees and have much to learn from them, as well.” (Participants may first want to check with Michigan State U. professor Shreena Gandhi about how yoga has been “colonized.”)
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IMAGE: Arthur Oregano/X; Bill Maher/YouTube
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