Clarissa from Wild Basin here! I would like to share a little bit of what I learned and experienced last week at South by Southwest Eco. This year I had the wonderful opportunity to attend SXSWEco, a conference where people across the nation and from countries around the globe come together to spread and exchange ideas. The event consisted of multiple activities such as important speakers, one-on-one sessions, competitions, and workshops. Indigenous Storytelling for the 21st Century and The Optimistic View for Merging Energy and Climate Policies were two events that struck me the most.
As Wild Basin’s Public Relations and Outreach intern, the Indigenous Storytelling for the 21st-Century panel that discussed the use of social media to present their story was an event that immediately stood out for me. The panelists discussed how social media has become an important medium in which indigenous people can use to raise public awareness of the critical issues they are facing. Indigenous people are standing up to defend their ancestral homes, their culture, their future generations, and sovereign rights. One of the key speakers, Tara Houska Director of National Campaigns for Honor the Earth and a tribal attorney discussed the inaccuracy of how natives are portrayed. Indigenous people rarely make it on the news unless it is something that can be used to portray them as violent and aggressive. Houska goes on to explain that those situations are extremely rare, protesting takes place in a peaceful manner and often consists of shaking hands with law enforcement. Another speaker discussed how social media has played an important role in truly showing what is occurring and letting their voices and stories be heard.
An important person at the conference that I didn’t want to miss was my very own 6th-grade hero the science guy: Bill Nye. With a humorous and enlightening tone Nye talked about his optimistic perspective in merging energy and climate policies. He also covered a large array of topics. Nye discussed the importance of providing three essential resources to everyone in the world: 1) clean water 2) reliable, renewably produced electricity and 3) access to the Internet. Climate change is not anything new it’s been happening for millions of years but it is the rate at which climate change is occurring that is alarming. Nye explains how everyone is affected by climate change, not just those who are red or who are blue. He stressed the importance of voting but in particular voting with the environment in mind.
An interesting point Nye made was the capability of America to run strictly on renewable energy if it wanted to. Imagine that! Nye also discussed important steps that could be taken in order to slow down the rate in which climate change is occurring such as implementing a carbon tax and electrifying all transportation. He went into detail explaining emerging innovative technology that could potentially transform the world. Bill Nye the Science Guy ended on a positive note by inviting the audience to take action and empowering them to change the world!