What would an inclusive planet look like?

What would an inclusive planet look like? This could be a hypothetical question that we never actualize, a plaything for our minds to juggle between hopes, whims, and existential quandries. Or you can let the fictional outlook subside and see for yourself. In a unique three-part event series, Resilient Mind, Inclusive Planet, the voices, communities, and generations of today and tomorrow will explore this question.

On September 9, 2024, at 5:00 PM CST, Virtual Oasis Tech, in partnership with Houston Energy and Climate Week, will start a three-part event series with the spark of storytelling, psychology, and youth. New York Times bestselling coauthors and psychologists Dr. Collins and Dr.Celano will share Something Happened to our Planet, Kids Tackle the Climate Crisis, followed by a presentation on climate change's impact on mental health. Dr. Celano and Dr. Collins, who’ve worked together for over two decades as Emory University School of Medicine faculty members serving children and families in Atlanta, are active community advocates focused on children’s behavioral health and social justice. This book invites children, parents, and educators to engage in an issue increasingly shaping our shared world and humanity’s health.

As with good books, the conversations ignited will continue. Youth activists and bold minds will follow with a panel exploring climate change's invisible and visible impacts on their communities, families, and lives.

Event Description

5:15-6:15 PM CST: Book reading and presentation by Dr.Marietta Collins intersecting climate activism for youth and climate change impacts on mental health.

6:15-7:15 PM CST: Panel of Youth, Parents, Environmentalists, and Educators: What’s the visible and invisible impact of Climate Change for yourself, your community, and the planet?

Featured Panelist include:

• Nature-inspired Butterfly Design Artist, Cassandra Bohne-Linnard

• STEM Educator, Biomedical Innovator, and Consultant across Earth and Space, Nevin Shah

• A representative from Youth vs. Apocalypse, a young climate justice activist organization that takes collective action for an equitable, sustainable, and just world.

• A representative from Girls Inc. Houston a local affiliate of the national non-profit, Girls Inc, that inspires young girls to be strong, smart, and bold.

This first event aims to raise awareness at the intersection of youth, mental health, and climate change. What are the two remaining events?

Our next event will be held on World Mental Health Day on October 10, 2024, with a keynote presentation by Dr. Stephanie Cawthon, author of Disability is Human, a deaf researcher, author, and speaker who is a professor at The University of Texas at Austin in the Department of Educational Psychology, with a courtesy appointment in Special Education. Continuing the inclusivity and planetary health theme, our second event will illuminate climate change and disability.

Finally, we have our third event … but we’re saving that climate gem for the next newsletter. To make a truly inclusive planet, we need our solutions to be co-designed across generations and communities to support planetary health for all. How do we actualize an inclusive planet for all? That reality calls on all of us to listen, connect, respect, and collaborate across sectors and areas to create a more inclusive environmental response, strategies, and innovations for the generations of now and tomorrow.

• Attend the event on September 9, 2024: https://lu.ma/3hwdbzp7?tk=gK18JV

• Want to sponsor or collaborate with us for our next Resilient Minds, Inclusive Planet event? Email info@virtualoasis.tech
  

Let’s build a future for all.

This event series is in partnership with Houston Energy and Climate Week and Virtual Oasis Tech, a climate change edu-health tech venture by Ryn Delpapa, a Watson Institute Fellowship Sistla Planet-Scale Fellow and Global Arts in Medicine Fellow.