Virtual Gallery

Welcome to the “Climates of Resistance” Virtual Gallery!



This online exhibit features the work of undergraduate students and Community Audit participants in “Climates of Resistance”. 

Browse the Virtual Gallery to learn more about environmental racism and corporate violence; human-nature relations and ecocentric voices; and community resistance through collective action. 

In addition to the individual pieces, key takeaways and student creativity are highlighted each semester through a co-created music video project facilitated by Raise Your Voice Labs.

You can also learn more about the course by watching the recordings of our end-of-semester Showcase events from Spring 2021 and Fall 2021.

Environmental Racism & Corporate Violence

Stolen Land.mp4

Stolen Landby Bianca Indelicato

The inspiration for these lyrics is a recent road trip taken by the artist across the US, visiting several national parks along the way. Photos from the trip have helped to shape the meaning behind the words through the envisioning of the Indigenous people who once lived in these lands, but whose lives were disrupted with forcible removal by the federal government. While naming and creating National Parks help to preserve the land, it also robs the Indigenous tribes of their ancestral homes where they have lived for so many years. Sadly, it is colonial government authorities who have the bargaining power when it comes to Land conservation. But we, the people, can play a role by raising our voices to fight against this injustice.

The author of this reflection hopes to challenge the audience to put themselves in the shoes of Indigenous Peoples, as well as to consider their point of view on what our world could look like if it was properly protected and conserved.


Bianca Indelicato took part in the Syracuse University course in Fall 2021.

Save the Turtle(s)by Jennifer Angier

This acrylic painting represents Turtle Island from the Haudenosaunee oral creation story and more broadly, the destruction and exploitation of the world’s resources through the lens of Native American cosmology. Turtle Island represents the Land, Ocean, air and the animals it contains, all of whom are underrepresented in environmental decision-making. Corporations concern themselves more with profit than with the conservation and protection of the natural world. So, who will protect our Land?

The painting also references deforestation, which is responsible for around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions, as well as destroying millions of habitats. There is also a factory spewing pollution into the air, and an oil drill relentlessly digging into the back of the turtle. Finally, there are rivers flowing off the back of the turtle, an interpretation of the lyric “rivers are our veins” from Raise Your Voice Labs. This signifies Turtle Island being bled dry by the overconsumption and reckless disregard for its resources.

The title itself relates to the recent movement to ban plastic straws to “save the turtles”. While it is well-intentioned, it does not fully address some of the biggest problems facing these creatures, such as other plastic objects in the ocean and oil spills. Saving Turtle Island and saving the turtles are not mutually exclusive.


Jennifer Angier took part in the Syracuse University course in Fall 2021.

a collage created by Eilidh Brady juxtaposing historical redlining maps with contemporary air pollution graphics on the I-27 in Tennessee

“Redlining” by Eilidh Brady

This collages illustrates the contemporary impacts of intense redlining in the community of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Historical maps of redlining are juxtaposed with graphics of air pollution throughout the city to showcase ongoing environmental racism. In addition to redlining policies, Interstate 27 further segregated the city with particular harm done to the predominantly Black neighbourhood of 9th Street.

Once the worst city in the nation for air quality due to its heavy industrial base, Chattanooga now has one of the highest heat gaps (unequal temperatures between neighbourhoods as a result of differing infrastructure and services) in the United States.


Eilidh Brady from Cranford, New Jersey, majored in Policy Studies at Syracuse University with a minor in Information Management and Technology.

During her time at Syracuse, Eilidh served as a volunteer with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and at the Rescue Mission Alliance.

photograph of Eilidh Brady

“Bluelining” by Ying Na Li

This piece visualises a repetition of intentional divisions and racialised distribution, which has today shifted from redlining to ‘bluelining’ – excessive police force. It also illustrates a longstanding history of protests against such injustice.

Syracuse, New York, is a place of forced displacement: first for Indigenous Peoples through colonial practices, then for Black communities through redlining, and now for racial and economic minorities through the construction and management of I-81.

And though this piece highlights a line of division, it celebrates a place of unity as well. Where there is injustice, so too is there a power that rises through communities seeking to make their voices heard. This collage pays tribute to those people and their collaboration through a string stitching their strong expressions together.


Ying Na Li studied Architecture at Syracuse University, minoring in Geography.

A New Yorker who was born in Guangdong, China, Ying Na hopes one day to travel the world and try every ice cream there is.

photograph of Ying Na Li
a collage created by Ying Na Li using visuals of segregation, policing, and protesting in Syracuse, New York

VEINS



From space, the Delta looks like veins

Veins that flow and flow and pour themselves into the ocean

Veins that give us life, because water is life

But you wouldn’t guess that when you come to the Delta

You wouldn’t believe that water is the source of all


Because here, the oil flows and flows

And pours itself into the land

It gives us death and more death

Oil is the tide that floods our veins with poison

As it climbs and climbs, we fall

It is above, we are below

Oil is the end of all


Here in Ogoniland

Shell is king, Shell is law

Shell with its pipelines and poison

Here there is no night

Gas flares light up the sky

Acid rain burns holes through our existence

Oil plagues us like the tsetse fly

Spilling and 

Drilling and

Killing us

Cutting off our veins


So we fight back

We say enough is enough

We say to keep the oil

In the soil

We say that we are worthy, we have rights

We live, we fight, we cry, and we die

 

Then they call us terrorists

They beat us

Arrest us

Kill us

Ken Saro-Wiwa, our brother, our leader

He fought to give us life, give us hope

So they killed him for his troubles

Our leader, our brother


From space, the oil looks like serpents

Slithering and sliding

Venom in our veins

The rivers, the streams, the Delta

Water

The source of all

The source of life

It fuels our fight

It brings us light

To the ocean it drains

We protect

Our veins

“Veins” by Dassy Kemedjio

The Niger Delta in southeast Nigeria is home to the Ogoni, an Indigenous population of over two million who have lived in the region for over 500 years. Their territory, Ogoniland, is located in the Rivers State of the Niger Delta, where the Ogoni engage in fishing, framing, trade, and the cultivation of palm oil and salt. 

Since the 1950s, the Niger Delta has been under siege from the Royal Dutch Shell company, more commonly known as Shell Oil. The Anglo-Dutch multinational corporation began extracting oil in 1958. Environmental harms have included oil spills contaminating the soil, water, and air of Ogoniland. Shells mismanagement and extractive practices have seriously threatened the health and livelihoods of the Ogoni, yet the Nigerian government has not protected the Ogoni, allowing Shell to dump drilling waste into local rivers. Gas flaring (the result of petroleum being burned into the atmosphere) makes the air quite literally toxic for the Ogoni, triggering deadly environmental phenomena like acid rain. 

In response to this clear violation of their human and Indigenous Peoples rights, the Ogoni founded the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) in 1990. It is dedicated to the protection of the environment of the Ogoni, the development of the region, and the protection of the human rights of the Ogoni, including their self-determination. 

MOSOP organisers have been constantly harassed, attacked, and arrested for their resistance efforts. In 1995, leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni were framed for murder and executed by the Nigerian government. Even so, MOSOP continues to protest Shell Oil’s presence in the Delta, and have had some success throughout the years. 

This poem attempts to capture that spirit of the Ogoni resistance. Much like veins serve as conduits for the bloodstream, rivers serve as passageways for water, the lifeblood of the Ogoni. 


Dassy Kemedjio majored in both Citizenship & Civic Engagement and International Relations with a concentration in Africa and International Law & Organizations and a minor in French. The Rochester native hopes to become a human rights lawyer.

photograph of Dassy Kemedjio

Doomed to Destroy?by Sophie Creager-Roberts

This poem is inspired by the idea that past and future generations are often excluded from environmental decision making.

“Doomed to Destroy?” explores the forms of power that fossil fuels exert over humans and vice versa. Fossil fuels are finite and since humans are restricted by this fact, they influence our need to seek more sustainable energy sources. Yet humans wield material power over fossil fuels by having the capacity to physically excavate them from the earth with equipment and machinery.

Reconsidering the author’s own anthropomorphic biases, in addition to assuming the persona of an inanimate group, was an important part of the writing process. As alluded to in the poem, an essential part of combatting the climate crisis is recognizing that nearly everything on the planet, living or non-living, will eventually suffer its consequences. The convergence of interests between marginalized groups, the exploitation of resources and how this can be used for making demands collectively is also depicted. The poem hopes to stimulate similar dialogue in the mind of the reader when they encounter underrepresented stakeholders such as these.


Sophie Creager-Roberts took part in the Syracuse University course in Fall 2021. She was named a 2023-2024 Remembrance Scholar.

Doomed to Destroy?



Buried, unbothered for millions of years

Laid to rest in the company of siblings

Fallen flora bonded by one name: carbon


Became one under the heat and pressure and time

Without knowing how dangerous we would become

For Earth who created and raised us


Jolted from our reverie

Displaced from our basins

Dirtying the hands of vulnerable miners

Poising, depressing, killing the excavator

Yet--

Enriching and emboldening the investor


Infamously the enemy of our own descendants

Our exhumed bodies unleash epidemics for every living creature

We’re culprits of the fever plaguing the planet

Choking the atmosphere


The “revolution” we sanctioned

Fueled colonial empires

Artificially rearranging, restricting, replacing

Indigenous life:

Reliance required


Resurrection was never in our plan

Rest was interrupted without consultation

From us or from those who occupied the lands above our grave

Jointly--

We call for an end to this exploitation


We

your so called “fossil fuels”

are not inherently villainous

We refuse to take the blame for human disregard,

Anthropomorphic greed


Not a scapegoat, “dirty energy,” nor a “necessary evil”

We’re exhausted by your defamation

Of the dead who lived

And died

Millenia before anyone alive today


First we were novel, necessary, extraordinary

Now

Our community exists in diaspora:

in the earth, tossed to the margins,

Emitted and forced to seek asylum in the atmosphere

Forever disparaged by how we have been manhandled


Humans see their profit as finite

Not our very existence


Someday the natural order will be restored.

Whether you

And your children

Are around to see it,

Has yet to be decided

“The Unappreciated ‘Essential’ Worker” by Jake Kahane

Farmworkers are the backbone of the agriculture industry in California. And though deemed as ‘essential’ workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, they remain marginalised and undervalued both socially and economically. Agricultural labourers spend long hours performing physically intensive work in fields yet earn just $14 per day. The vast majority of these workers are immigrants coming from Mexico in search of a better life, but all they find are harsh working conditions. 

During the COVID-19 crisis, the rate of infection amongst farmworkers in California was as high as 1 in 3. These ‘essential’ workers do not have the luxury of working from home; nor can most of them afford to take sick days without economic security or employment protections. With tests costing upwards of $30, agricultural labourers cannot afford to pay for their own tests. The lack of state or corporate testing provisions means that the testing rate has been less than 5% of what would be required to keep these workers safe. As a result, the mortality rate among Latino agriculture workers in California has recently risen by 59%.

This drawing is a nod of respect and thanks to these essential workers, as well as a call for all of us to work towards policies reflecting the true value of agricultural labour and migrant rights.


Jake Kahane completed his Economics and Sports Analytics degree at Syracuse University. 

Jake was born in Oakland, California and has also lived in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. His maternal family is from Mexico. 

As a passionate traveller, Jake has visited eighteen countries and hopes to keep expanding that list.

Human-Nature Relations & Ecocentric Voices

Anastasia Golub's art of "Earth Eye"

“Earth Eye” by Anastasia Golub

This piece intends to amplify the voice of the Earth and its non-human entities, including Water, Land, Plants, and Animals. The blue rim represents our Sky; the oranges, reds, and browns represent the planet’s surface, where the majority of interactions between humans and non-human entities interactions take place.

Clouds of muddy colours mixing together symbolise anthropogenic climate change and environmental damage. An abundance of angry, scary red serves to warn just how damaged humanity’s contemporary relationship with the Earth is. There are a few bright spots of green and blue, acknowledging areas where harmonious relationships still persevere, but these are far and few in between.

Though these interactions do not look pretty, Nature remains interconnected and actively responding. Vein-like lines symbolise the agency of non-human entities, which are all part of the same pulsating, breathing system: the rooted yet sprawling ‘eye’ of Earth.


Anastasia Golub graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in graphic design and a minor in Environment and Society. 

Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Anastasia has always been passionate about social justice issues, and invested her time at Syracuse learning how to make the world a better place for everyone.

When shes not working or studying, Anastasia can be found painting, playing her guitar, and watching the sunset.

photograph of Anastasia Golub

Nature v. Nurturedby Ryan Dee

Nature v. Nurtured represents the agency of non-pristine plant life. To juxtapose the way we view cultivated flora and wild plant life, the artist superimposed two photos shot on 35mm film. One photograph displays wildflowers growing in an abandoned lake-side park in Soap Lake, Washington. The other photograph was taken in the famous Palm House at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, England. 

Non-pristine nature is largely ignored by scientists, ecologists, and conservationists. Currently, most of the work being done to protect Kingdom Plantae focuses on returning environments to a pristine state or preventing damage to those already in this condition. Little attention is given to the everyday landscapes that surround us. Yet, the majority of the Earths surface is covered by non-pristine plant life, which provides critical support for human life. Agriculture, the majority of carbon sequestration, water filtration, soil creation, and the shoring up of hillsides are just a few of the necessary processes that wild plants provide. Additionally, non-pristine plant life are the first lifeforms to recolonize deserted landscapes, providing the foundation for full ecosystems and biodiversity to return to an area. 

Nature v. Nurtured highlights the power of non-pristine plants while showing our current obsession with an ideal image of nature.


Ryan Dee is a Bandier student at Syracuse University.

photo of Ryan Dee
Nina Finley's watercolor depicting a fence and tree with a human resting underneath

[Play the video to hear the artist read their statement aloud.] 

“Portrait of a Future” by Nina Finley

“This watercolor shows my imagined future of a world without borders. I decided to depict the temperate rainforest that I’m from in Washington State and British Columbia. And this painting takes place at what was once the nation-state border between Canada and the United States, but all that remains of that sort of militarized, impermeable border is just a rusted out fence that a tree has fully consumed. 

“And in the second part of this art, I tried to title this piece. But I couldn’t come up with just one title. I was trying to show that while the Tree is the central figure that meets the eye, I don’t want to think of this painting as a portrait of a Tree, as a bounded individual that’s highlighted. 

“I think of it as a portrait of a River, because all the water that drips through the leaves and the mass is part of the River. What happens to that water happens to the River. 

“I think of it as the portrait of a Virus. Because where do viruses like SARS-CoV-2 come from? Well, they often come from forests, from wild spaces. And if those aren’t disturbed by things like borders, then the viruses can continue to live in that habitat – and we don’t end up with a pandemic, but we still have that diversity of organisms, including viruses, in place. 

“I thought it might be the portrait of a capital, because in this imagined future, political decisions don’t just take place within privileged walls, but the voices of many more stakeholders are powerful: including the Land and the Water, and many, many forms of human and non-human life.”


Nina Lester Finley is a disease ecologist from Seattle, where she was raised among the moss and tidepools of the Pacific Northwest. After graduating from Whitman College with a BA in biology-environmental studies and completing a Watson Fellowship, Nina earned an MSc in One Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Royal Veterinary College as a Marshall Scholar. She is now pursuing an MA in Biography and Creative Non-Fiction from the University of East Anglia. 

Nina’s research and creative practice investigates possibilities for multispecies justice at the intersection of public health and ecosystem restoration.

“Burning Steelhead” by Cyrus Farner

This acrylic painting represents the negative effects that climate change is having on North American cold-water fish species. Fish such as salmon, steelhead, and other salmonid varieties are becoming more vulnerable as water levels drop and water temperatures rise during increasingly warm reproduction seasons. Indigenous cold-water fish species populations in the northwest portions of the US and Canada are increasingly threatened.

Many Indigenous Peoples hold close ties with these cold-water fishes, revering them for the sustenance they provide. Indigenous mythologies have been inspired by the strength demonstrated by these fish as they swim hundreds of miles upstream to reproduce. But despite the incredible power held by these fish, they are not able to directly speak for themselves or redress climate change without partnership from humans. This painting is thus a vehicle for their advocation. “Burning Steelhead” reminds us that we need to acknowledge the many other non-human beings that share this Earth. We must slow climate change not only for ourselves but also for them.


Cyrus Farner pursued a degree in Wildlife Science and Wildlife Management at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He is a proud member of the Seneca Nation of Indians from the Cattaraugus Territory in Western New York.

An avid outdoors person, Cyrus draws inspiration from the natural world. His Indigenous background has allowed him to connect with the environment in a unique way. He is passionate about conservation across Turtle Island (North America) and rekindling Indigenous culture, especially through the reclamation of language and heritage traditions.

photograph of Cyrus Farner
Cyrus Farner's acrylic painting depicting a steelhead fish with a bright orange sky
Christine Chesnais' painting of a tree, the leftside an idyllic blue-skied scene and the right a sky alight with fire in the midst of deforestation

“Lungs on Fire” by Christine Chesnais

Trees are often described as ‘the lungs of the Earth’. Trees are the reason humans have clean air to breathe. They serve as habitats for countless species of birds, insects, and other smaller animals. Yet even as trees serve these amazing roles, humans take them for granted, failing to be adequately concerned about the impact our actions have on them. Whether through mass corporate deforestation or individual backyard landscaping, humans are heading down a dangerous path by taking our planet’s lungs so casually for granted.  

This painting illustrates the conflicting reality of trees: the positive roles they play in our environment, and the harsh consequences they experience due to human greed and shortsightedness.


Christine Chesnais from Marlborough, Massachusetts, studied political science with an additional major in Environment, Sustainability & Policy. 

During her time at Syracuse, Christine took part in the “Sustainability on Trial: Environmental Justice in Northern Europe” Signature Seminar Abroad, examining green urban systems in Scandinavia. 

After graduating in May 2021, Christine headed to Nashua, New Hampshire, to spend time with her older sister.

“Water speaks only in current” by William Schuyler

This digital poem gives voice to our fresh water sources.


poetry transcript:

Fresh water

Speaks only in current

Those with Privilege need only turn a knob to find it

It keeps us living

and our furry friends hydrated

But we take it for granted.

and overuse it when the rain will do

Then we let it run off

Picking up toxins on the way

We dilute our water with poison

The privileged won’t notice for now

But they will…

It will all bubble to the surface



William Schuyler studied Acting at Syracuse. He holds a particular passion for outdoor theatre, and has produced multiple shows in his hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia. When he’s not on stage, William enjoys traveling outdoors, especially in America’s National Parks.

photograph of William Schuyler
WaterisScreaming - Allison Kaufman.mpg

“Water is Screamingby Allison Kaufman

Water has no voice. If it did, it would be screaming for our help. Humans are composed of 60% water, so it is a vital part of our existence and yet, we treat it so terribly. The Ocean and other bodies of water are home to an extraordinary abundance of marine life. Yet we dump sewage, plastic, chemicals, and other waste into them all across the world every single day, causing a great deal of damage.

In many Indigenous cultures, water is treated with respect and is honored along with other natural wonders such as plants and animals. Those who practice Animism, the attribution of a soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena, exercise a similar admiration. Although it cannot speak, water is given a voice amongst these people. While it cannot invoke change on its own, it can influence people who can fight for that change.

In this poem, the author uses personification numerous times to encourage the reader to ask themselves “would you treat your body like we treat the ocean?” The majority of people on Earth continue to make decisions that negatively impact our water supply without knowing or fully understanding the severity of the consequences. Kaufman hopes that when people read this poem, it gives water a voice.


Allison Kaufman took part in the Syracuse University course in Fall 2021.

“STOP” by Nia Nephew

This painting recognises the Ocean as a Living Being whose rights are regularly violated and ignored by human systems.

In truth, the Ocean has immense power: physically through floods and tsunamis; relationally through a sense of wonder many humans feel when gazing upon or swimming within it. The Ocean gives power to the many living species it shelters and feeds. And two of every three breaths we take come from oxygen produced by the Ocean. Caring for this living relative should be a universal value, and yet humanity continues to harm and exploit it.

This piece depicts the Ocean waving a stop sign toward the viewer. Symbolism within the piece includes the changing colours:  the Water starts as a lovely blue, but becomes darker and darker, representing pollution. In so many ways, the Ocean is begging us to stop polluting. In doing so, the Ocean is speaking not only for itself, but for all of marine species, the many Peoples who rely on its ecosystem, and the future generations to come. Will we listen?


Nia Nephew studied Accounting at Syracuse University. She hails from the Seneca Cattaraugus Indian Reservation near Buffalo, New York.

photograph of Nia Nephew
Nia Nephew's painting of the Ocean waving a stop sign

And When it Rains, it Poursby Vanessa Luangaphay

This painting represents the distress and upset of water as if it were a living being. Every day, plastic, chemicals and other forms of harmful waste are being dumped into bodies of water all around the world. Water is a provider, a home, and covers roughly 75% of the surface of Planet Earth, thus taking up the majority of the frame within this piece of art. The eyes seen in the work personify the water, provoking empathy in the viewer by providing a relatable perspective. “And When it Rains, it Pours” represents both the emotive state of the human body (sadness through expelling tears) and the body of water’s response to the ongoing climate change crisis (extreme weather). The artist chose to use watercolor in order to symbolize the intertwinement of art, nature and life.


Vanessa Luangaphay took part in the Syracuse University course in Fall 2021.

Collective Action & Community Resistance

“See Us as One Voice” by Julia Evans Asano

“See Us as One Voice” is a protest sign created with the purpose of visualizing the complex, intricate relationship each stakeholder holds in supporting the planet we live on. The stakeholders identified through the images of hands represent the different identities of people, the natural environment, government and policies, and innovation. Each hand is the same size to show equality of importance when tackling these issues. 

The hand that symbolizes people also encompasses smaller hands with various skin tones and the LGBTQ+ rainbow colors. These are reaching outwards toward the palm of the bigger hand, which represents people from all races, nationalities, religions, etc. who are striving for more visibility.

The plants and natural phenomena entangled around the hand to the right symbolizes and emphasizes the growing impacts of climate change and human decisions that are harming the natural environment. 

The voices of those who are not normally heard play a pivotal role in bringing awareness to systemic issues that impact humans and the environment. Thus, progress can only be made after reevaluating such issues and using innovation and governmental policy to evoke long-term change.


Julia Evans Asano graduated from Syracuse University in December 2021 with a degree in International Relations and Geography.

photo of Julia Evans Asano
Riley Smith's digital art piece blending traditional imagery of Guan Yu with the actions of Xiao Zhen Xie

[Play the video to hear Riley and Michael discuss the meaning of this piece.] 

“Warrior” by Riley Smith with Michael Kwan

This digital painting is a tribute to the strength and resilience of the Asian community throughout history. The piece is modelled after a contemporary statue and an older painting depicting Guan Yu, a renowned military general in China during the late Han dynasty (two thousand years ago) and an ancestor of the artist’s boyfriend. The artist blends well-known imagery of Guan Yu with visuals representing Xiao Zhen Xie, a 70-year-old Asian American who was victim of a hate crime in March 2021. Xiao Zhen Xie fended off her attacker with a wooden board, and though a Go Fund Me campaign brought in over a million dollars to support her medical expenses, she has donated everything to combat racism. 

Xie has said that “she hopes the younger generation of Asian Americans can all stand up for one another, and hope they can stick up for the elderly” (translated from Cantonese). Through this piece, the artist hopes to emphasise the power of a people, rather than only the hardships they face. The intention in doing so is to chip away at the system of injustice that continuously delivers a sparse and prejudicial narrative about the Global Majority. 


Riley Smith graduated from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, where she earned a BS in Conservation Biology with a Minor in Native Peoples and the Environment. Alongside her studies, Riley was part of the Sexuality and Gender Association, Philosophy Club, the Make A Person Smile Club, and the Syracuse Environmental Education Coalition. She hopes to work as an environmental interpreter. 

photograph of Riley Smith

“Protest Photography” by Leigh Vo

Though often dismissed as phone-obsessed and lacking attention spans by older generations, Gen Z have proven their capacity for collective action and the power of social media for community organising. “We have found strength in unity and numbers and have used that through protests, petitions, and the spread of information on social media platforms.”

This collection of portrait photography captures the diversity and spirit of Gen Z activists. The centre photo was taken at a Black Lives Matter march in Houston in 2020.


Leigh Vo is a dual Marketing and Advertising major in the Syracuse University Class of 2024. Originally from Houston, Leigh loves dance and photography.

a collection of portraits photographed by Leigh Vo

“Ecothot” by Donnie Monk

Donnie Monk is Director of Community Organizing at Ecothot, an environmental organisation using collective action techniques to promote sustainability and environmental justice. Learn more about Donnie’s work this semester in this article from The Daily Orange, Syracuse’s student newspaper.


Donnie Monk graduated with a degree in Environmental Studies and Policy from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Collaborative Music Videos

Raise Your Voice Labs applies methods of musical peacebuilding, facilitated dialogue, and circle singing to help groups find their common ground, share concerns, and voice their collective identity through musical co-creation. Echoing a major tenet in environmental justice, the process is as important as the product: being heard and actively engaging in decision-making is crucial to community empowerment and just outcomes.

Each semester, the Raise Your Voice team guides the creation of a collaborative music video featuring key takeaways from the class and spotlighting student creations. Learn more about the course themes through our growing library of original songs.

“The Wrong Amazon is Burning”

The key message behind the first Raise Your Voice project was simple, based on a few popular protest phrases about corporate control, state violence, and environmental injustice: “The wrong Amazon is burning, and the wrong ICE is melting”.

“To the Seventh Generation

The Climates of Resistance: Seven Generations” project brought together scholarship and art to produce a music video emphasising Indigenous teachings of past, present, and future solidarity with all Life.

Ask the Land

The Spring 2022 course community reflected on Indigenous practices of Land Acknowledgement. “Ask the Land” is not about superficial or performative acts of settler-colonial recognition, but rather calls for us to engage equitably with Land and nature as living relatives.

Lip Service (Change)

Through “Lip Service (Change)”, the Fall 2022 students call out uncritical allyship and performative actions, demanding material support for substantive change.