SLEEPLESS NIGHTS, A BROKEN TOASTER, & LOTS OF DUMPSTERS

Circularity, Collaboration, and Climate Change

There I was at home—a theatrical designer accustomed to telling stories with stuff, and a new mother surrounded by kid clutter—when my vacuum broke. And the toaster, and the strap on my backpack. I cared about the environment, in theory at least. I rinsed my yogurt cups and brought my little canvas bag to the supermarket. But at work, backstage, I created thousands of pounds of waste. Every year, every show, every season, I filled dumpster after dumpster with trash. I also knew that, backstage, it was possible to fix that vacuum, that toaster, that backpack. Why was it so hard to get anything fixed offstage?

The reality is that the systems through which we make, obtain, and dispose of our stuff are vast and entrenched, and harmful to both people and planet.

Those broken objects were the first steps on a path that has taken me from designer to entrepreneur to circularity expert to leadership in climate education in higher ed. I have drawn on my backstage expertise not only to fix toasters (and tons of other stuff) through Fixup, the pop up repair shops I founded and ran, but also to build new interdisciplinary and inclusive programming that brings people together to collaborate on innovative and equitable climate solutions.

From Barnard’s Circular Campus to interdisciplinary networks at the Columbia Climate School, I am an entre- and intrapreneur with deep expertise in circularity, and deep faith in the need for radical collaboration for climate action.

• ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY ENGAGEMENT
  COLUMBIA CLIMATE SCHOOL

• PROFESSOR OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE & DIRECTOR OF CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY
  BARNARD COLLEGE

• CO-CREATOR OF THE SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION TOOLKIT

• FOUNDER, FIXUP

• YALE UNIVERSITY

• HARVARD COLLEGE