Mini Grant: Climate Cafes

Timeline

Spring 2025

Description

Affiliated program: SCALe Mini Grant

Summary

Led by undergraduates Felicia Wang and Coral Lin, Climate Cafes are informal weekly gatherings designed to offer a supportive space for the Duke community to engage in conversations about the emotional, social, cultural, and political dimensions of climate change and how it all connects to campus.

Goals

Climate Cafes provide an inviting space to build community across people in various departments, schools, organizations of Duke’s campus. This community serves five main purposes:

To create a safe and welcoming space for members of the Duke community (students, faculty, and staff) to feel the often-isolating and deep emotions that come with the climate crisis, such as eco-anxiety, eco-guilt, grief, loss, solastalgia, but also hope, joy and love.
To nurture a culture where people can lean on each other for support and talk about what they are experiencing because we believe that community is the only solution to climate despair.
To elevate emotional storytelling and feminist values (care-based, regenerative) as important aspects in the climate movement and expand the diversity of perspectives and learning in climate discussions.
To help plug attendees into spaces in which they are interested across campus. For example, many students have lots of great ideas to improve campus sustainability, but don’t know what staff members are already working on, and vice versa. Climate cafes bridge this disconnect in information sharing and encourage students, faculty, and staff to be proactive in seeking out the change they wish to make.
To inspire collaboration across schools and departments, because the climate crisis is all hands-on deck.

Experience and Learning Outcomes

Student leaders design and facilitate the Climate Cafe discussions and actively outreach to partners to enrich the exchange of input and widen the perspectives represented at the table. By bringing in a diversity of people, many of whom do not already think about climate change or think about it in different ways, Climate Cafes create a community where all can contribute to climate solutions. Each cafe is themed and co-hosted with different campus organizations to address gaps in the climate space and invite a variety of groups around campus to participate.

Student Leaders

Felicia Wang, Coral Lin, Claire Stafford, Lila Bragard, Angela Zhao, Joseph Yan, Anya Diaz-Hawkins, Luna Abadía, and Aisha Shen

Staff Supporters

Bryan Koen (Project Advisor), Sophia Masciarelli

CLimate Cafe Partners

Duke Nicholas Institute, Duke Office of Climate and Sustainability, Undergraduate Environmental Union, Duke Climate Coalition, Project Earth, Duke Math DEI Committee, The Smart Home, Ciceronian Society, Duke Energy and Climate Club, Black Student Alliance, Black Women's Union, NAACP, Duke MEM/MBA Club, Environmental Law Society, BRASA, American Grand Strategy, Alexander Hamilton Society, Hong Kong Students' Association, Birding Club, Our Urban Future, Mixed People's Association, Remote Area Medical, Duke Pamilya, Mi Gente, Beyond Borders, Multicultural Organization, and more!

CONTACT

Contact Felicia Wang during Spring 2025 to co-host or discuss collaboration opportunities. All organizations across schools and departments are welcome.
RSVP to be added to the Climate Cafes mailing list.
Review the Climate Cafe's calendar of climate events
Follow Climate Cafe's Instagram @dukeclimatecafes for the latest updates.