ADMISSION:
Admission is free.

RSVP

DESCRIPTION:
Join USC’s Arts & Climate Collective for an Earth Month celebration and festival that uplifts and empowers the community to imagine a fossil-free L.A.! The event, which is free and open to everyone, will feature conversations with experts and activists, food tastings and giveaways, live music, and a resource fair that allows attendees to connect with organizations working towards building sustainable communities in South L.A. and the Eastside. In addition, the Arts & Climate Collective will showcase student artwork, films, and projects that connect the arts, culture, and storytelling with environmental justice.

The 2 p.m. panel invites attendees to consider: What could a thriving Los Angeles look like in 2048? What might it mean for air, water, housing, community, wildlife, employment, food, and more? So much dialogue around sustainability and the elimination of fossil fuels invokes sacrifice rather than promise, and focuses on what we lose rather than what we gain. But if we can’t imagine a better future, we can’t create one. Please help us to reimagine L.A. as a city that sustainably cultivates the health, well-being, and joy of all its residents!

Panelists:

Rob McConnell is a physician and environmental epidemiologist, and professor of Preventive Medicine at USC Keck. His research includes the effects of air pollution on children’s health; associations between ozone and traffic emissions with the development of asthma; and susceptibility to the effects of environmental exposures from psychosocial stress and social factors, exercise, genetics and co-exposures associated with housing conditions. 

Kelly Sanders is an associate professor in USC Viterbi’s Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.Her research aims to ease tensions between human and natural systems with particular emphasis on reducing the environmental impacts of providing energy and water, analyzing tensions between climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, and anticipating the effects of climate change on energy systems.

Bhavna Sharma is an assistant professor at USC Architecture. Her research focuses on natural materials and how they can be optimized and adopted in construction, and spans the micro to structural scale, with focus on design, engineering and testing of non-conventional materials.

Anu Yadav is an actress, writer, and cultural worker engaged in supporting community care, poor people's organizing, liberation, and imagination. For the last two years she co-directed WE RISE, an L.A. County–wide initiative investing in community-driven healing and mental health, and is a member of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.

Colin Maclay (Moderator) is Research Professor of Communication and executive director of the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab. He specializes in creating the conditions for innovation and change, which often means requires researching, imagining, and designing creative responses to wicked problems in media, technology, and culture.

More Participants:

Music by Footprints (Kiko Torres-Velasco, Sarah Hsiao, Lucca Cidale).

Student films by Arian Tomar, Camille Kirby, Matthew Coopilton, Natasha Nutkiewicz, Shubhi Sahni, Siyuan Wu, Tracy Fenix, and William Higbie.

Student art showcase with Angela Bai, Dylan Cavaz, Eileen Chen, Emily Eid, Gabrielle Broome, Gwenan Walker, Katya Urban, and Lingaire Ofosuhene.

Student projects including Fifty-One Miles, Kai UnEarthed, Emotion Room, and the Eco Alarm Podcast.

Food Tastings:
Chef Arango
Chichén Itzá Restaurant

Resource Fair:
Architecture + Advocacy
Climate Resolve
Community Services Unlimited
Esperanza Community Housing
The Farmlink Project
Friends of the Los Angeles River
Koreatown Youth Community Center
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
LA Sanitation & Environment
Legacy LA
Student Committee of the PWG (Presidential Working Group on Sustainability in Education, Research, and Operations)
Trash Talk with the Zero Waste Team
USC Arts in Action
USC Environmental Health Centers
USC Environmental Student Assembly
USC Garden Club
USC Office of Sustainability
USC Peace Garden Project
USC Undergraduate Student Government
USC Volunteer Center 
USC's Arts & Climate Collective
Water Drop LA
Woodlums
The Wrigley Institute and Wrigley Marine Science Center
Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles

Presented by USC’s Arts & Climate Collective in partnership with USC Arts in Action; USC Sustainability; USC University Relations; the Annenberg Innovation Lab; USC Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; and the USC Fisher Museum.