Youth panel to focus on climate change solutions

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The 2020-21 E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues continues Feb. 23 with a Cooper Conversation youth panel, “Naming the Beast: Climate Change and Our Youth Taking Action,” livestreamed at 7 p.m. from the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts.

The free event is the fourth in the 2020-21 series. The panel will be livestreamed here.

The panel discussion, which will focus on climate change solutions, seeks to inspire the broader community. It will be moderated by Brittni McGuire, a senior fisheries and wildlife and urban forestry major at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln who has served as president of Sustain UNL and worked in the Office of Sustainability.

Panelists are:

Steven Kirchner, national field coordinator for Our Climate and assistant wrestling coach for Omaha North High School;
Graham Christensen, a Nebraska farmer and founder of GC Resolve, a company that helps farmers adopt regenerative farming practices;
Vivian Nguyen, international development practitioner for the Kaizen Company, a Husker alumna and founder of Sustain UNL and the university’s Earthstock celebration;

Nancy Kile, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe with white heritage. She and her husband built the first earthship-inspired home in Sioux County, Nebraska. She has been involved in sacred site protection for more than two decades and is focused on solutions to industrial development sprawl in rural regions.

Collette Yellow Robe, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and academic retention specialist for TRIO Programs at Nebraska, will open the event with a land acknowledgment. Megan Elliott, director of the Carson Center, will give a welcome address.

A pre-forum talk by Madison Whitney, a senior environmental studies and global studies major at Nebraska, is available here.

This year’s E.N. Thompson series, “Regeneration: Leadership and Hope for a Changing Planet,” focuses on how people can and should thoughtfully respond to current issues, from COVID-19 to climate change to political polarization.

The series concludes with a lecture by Ann Bancroft, polar explorer, climate advocate and philanthropist, at 7 p.m. March 31 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts. The lecture will also be livestreamed on the E.N. Thompson Forum website.

The E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues is a cooperative project of the Cooper Foundation, Lied Center and university. It was established in 1988 with the purpose of bringing a diversity of viewpoints on international and public policy issues to the university and people of Nebraska to promote understanding and encourage discussion.