Don’t Look Up: Navigating climate realities with fiction (Waterloo Womxn + Nonbinary Wednesdays)

Wednesday, January 26, 2022 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm EST (GMT -05:00)

Whether from COVID or climate change, we’ve all got a lot of anxiety these days. The Netflix hit film "Don’t Look Up," with its astronomical analogy for climate change, strikes some as cathartic and others as anxiety-inducing. But now what? Can a fictional film, and the associated anxieties, actually create change? What do we do with these feelings that persist beyond the screen and what other ways might fiction aid navigation of our climate realities?

Join three climate scholars to discuss their perspectives on the film, navigational strategies for our ever-present climate anxiety, and how fiction can help us learn to live with/make sense of our climate reality.

Panelists

Kira Cooper (she/her) is a PhD Candidate in SERS. Her research explores the nexus between mindfulness and sustainability. She is especially interested in how contemplative practices can enhance capacities for transformations towards collective wellbeing.

Misty Matthews-Roper (she/her) is a PhD Candidate in SERS. She is interested in the role that climate fiction novels can play in our cultural understanding of climate change.

Lauren Smith (she/her) is a PhD candidate in SERS, Vanier scholar, and member of the W3+ committee. Her research focuses on the psychosocial responses to threatening climate communication, particularly within water communication and its influence on decision-making and gender bias.

Attending W3+ Events

W3+ (Waterloo Womxn + Nonbinary Wednesdays) is a community of womxn and nonbinary grad students, post-docs, staff, and faculty that meets on the last Wednesday of the month. W3+ events take place in the W3+ Team on Microsoft Teams. You'll find them in the "General" channel there. You can also email w3plus@uwaterloo.ca to request a calendar invite.