HEAT hosts Climate Change Cafe

Like an ironic joke from Mother Nature herself, HEAT’s climate change awareness event was accompanied by unusually mild weather for the dead of winter.
Held on Feb. 23, the Hood Environmental Action Team’s Climate Change Café sought to encourage discussions about the environment in a casual atmosphere. The club offered refreshments, games, and opportunities for conversation from 12-2 p.m. in Whitaker 220.
“It’s about bringing awareness about climate change,” Callie Fishburn, a junior at Hood and HEAT’s president, said. “We’re trying to educate people about the issues.”
The club offered coffee, tea, muffins, hummus, fruit, and other refreshments for attendees. Questions about climate change were left on tables for students to discuss, and a game for measuring one’s economic footprint was displayed.
Most attendees had a name tag with an environmental science term placed on their backs as a guessing game.
Youssef Madkour, HEAT’s vice-president, described the café as “climate change awareness without being in your face.” He said that he hoped it would make students more proactive about the environment instead of nihilistic about its potential fate.
Tying into the event’s environmentally-conscious focus, the club invited Key City Compost, a Frederick-based composting service, to assist with the cleanup. Any trash noted as compostable was deposited into Key City’s bins for them to dispose of.
Dr. April Boulton, HEAT’s advisor and an associate professor of biology, said that she was optimistic about the positive impact the café could have.
“I hope it makes them change some of their habits that are unhealthy for the planet,” she said about the café’s visitors. “That’s always a goal for an event like this.”