Climate Week NYC

Inside Out Group Action 

This event is over.

Join us at the Inside Out Photobooth truck to have your portrait taken and to share your story ahead of Climate Week NYC for Portraits on Climate and Health: Dreams We Carry, a group action installation of the Inside Out Project, a global art platform created by French artist JR that helps communities around the world stand up for what they believe in and spark global change by taking local action. Since the Project’s creation in 2011, more than 560,000 people have participated in 152 countries and territories.

The Photobooth truck will be parked on the Columbus Avenue side of the Museum, in Theodore Roosevelt Park, from Monday, September 9, through Wednesday, September 11.

Beginning at 11 am each day, the public is invited to have their portrait taken and to provide personal testimony.

• You’ll be asked to reflect on the question, “As climate change reshapes our lives, what stories of transformation and dreams of a healthier future do you carry with you?”
• Select images will be displayed in the Portraits on Climate and Health: Dreams We Carry photography installation in the Museum’s Ellen V. Futter Gallery beginning Monday, September 23. Your portrait may also be featured in a projection in the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation during Climate Week NYC (Monday, September 23–Friday, September 27). These installations are part of Canopy, Wellcome’s citizen art and science festival, bringing health to the heart of Climate Week NYC.
• An online gallery of the portraits and testimonies will be available on the Inside Out Project’s webpage.

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7 pm

Join us for an extension of the Museum's Margaret Mead Film Festival with a showcase of documentaries by Indigenous filmmakers with the Wayfinders Circle, an alliance of 15 Indigenous peoples supported by Nia Tero, Pawanka Fund, and the World Union of Indigenous Spiritual Practitioners, organizations that support Indigenous guardianship of our planet globally.

This powerful collection of short documentaries brings audiences closer to Indigenous communities worldwide, showcasing their leadership in sustaining our planet during a time of global climate change.

From the lush forests of Borneo to the territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy to the Northern Territory in Australia, witness the inspiring stories of Indigenous guardianship and self-governance, as communities work to preserve rich ecosystems, ensure food and water security, and protect cultural diversity for future generations through preservation of language, sacred sites, spirituality, and the passing of traditional knowledge.

After the screenings, join filmmakers and key players in a moderated talkback.

Indai Apai Darah (Mother, Father, Blood)
Directed by Kynan Tegar
Dayak Iban, Indonesia | 2024 | 16 min
New York Premiere

Throughout the island of Borneo, an explosion of palm oil plantations has led to mass deforestation and forced many Indigenous peoples to allow logging of their sacred forests in exchange for immediate profits. However, in the Indonesian village of Sungai Utik, elders of the Dayak Iban people have been able to repel these extractive companies and protect the surrounding forests.

This short documentary, written and directed by 18-year-old Sungai Utik filmmaker Kynan Tegar, follows a young girl who makes a magical discovery while out in the woods and learns of the brave deeds of her elders. Indai Apai Darah is a love letter to the trees, rivers, and birds that surround Kynan's village, as well as to the aging leaders who were able to safeguard their livelihoods. As Sungai Utik elder Apai Janggut says in the film, “The Earth is our mother, the forest is our father, and the river is our blood.”

Indai Apai Darah has premiered at Mountain Film (May 2024), is a finalist for the Jackson Wild Media award, and is screening at Blackstar Film Festival (August 2024).

Niitsitapi (The Real People)
Directed by Bryan Gunnar Cole
USA | 2024 | 14 min
World Premiere

Niitstitapi (The Real People) traces the North American continental divide, marking the beginning of the traditional territory of the Blackfoot Confederacy, an ancient alliance of Blackfoot people who, along with the buffalo, have always inhabited a vast area of mountains, rivers, lakes, and short grass prairie that stretches from the Rocky Mountains into the Great Plains.

Today, the Blackfoot Confederacy is comprised of the Sitsika Nation, Kainai Nation, and Piikani Nation in Canada, and the Blackfeet Nation in the U.S. Despite being forced onto reserves and compelled to assimilate in bleak residential schools during the 19th and 20th centuries, the Niitstitapi from these Blackfoot Confederacy communities all share the same language and culture and cooperate to protect and preserve their land and way of life. Through the eyes of members of each of the four bands, Niitstitapi explores themes of cultural revival and permanence and how those values are practiced in daily life.

Ngarridurndeng Kured (We Going Home Now)
Directed by Emma Masters
Australia | 2024 |18 min
World Premiere

Kuwarddewardde—the Rock Country—is home to the Binninj Newarddeken, People of the Rock Country who have always inhabited this remote corner of what is known today as Northern Territory, Australia. For millennia, the Binninj Newarddeken looked after the Rock Country and took care of it for their ancestors and their children, especially when it came to fire. Binninj Newarddeken clans actively burned areas in the savannahs, grasslands, and rainforests to protect from large, devastating wildfires. But, beginning in the late 18th century, colonialization by the British disrupted the Binninj Newarddeken’s connection to the land and ended their traditional use of fire. The result was the spread of massive wildfires decimating areas of this pristine ecosystem. Dean Yibarbuk, chairman of Warddeken Land Management, a First Nation’s owned non-profit and knowledge keeper of Binninj Newarddeken, lays it plain: “Without people, those wildfires took place. It’s a lonely country waiting for people to return.”

Free with RSVP

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7 pm

Climate action rooted in science empowers us to create a resilient future, where cultural strategies and policy change transform challenges into opportunities for a healthier and more equitable world.

Join us during Climate Week NYC for a conversation that will explore innovative perspectives and approaches that help us live as part of natural ecosystems and address the pressing global challenge of climate change on health. Museum President Sean Decatur will moderate this conversation, investigating the pivotal roles of scientific research, policy initiatives, and cultural strategies in creating actionable solutions that aim to create a more sustainable and healthier future for all.

Panelists

Priya Basil is Wellcome Canopy's International Writer in Residence and an author, essayist, and activist known for her insightful exploration of themes like identity, migration, and belonging. Her acclaimed works include the novels Ishq and Mushq and The Obscure Logic of the Heart, as well as her nonfiction book Be My Guest: Reflections on Food, Community, and the Meaning of Generosity. Basil is also a co-founder of Authors for Peace, an initiative advocating for global disarmament and social justice.
 
Jainey Bavishi is the assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and deputy NOAA administrator. In this role, Bavishi is responsible for providing agency-wide direction regarding climate resilience, fisheries, and coastal and ocean programs. Previously, Bavishi directed the New York City Mayor’s Office of Climate Resiliency, overseeing climate strategies for the nation’s largest city, and she served as associate director for climate preparedness at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. 

Dave Chokshi is an expert in public health, policy, and health equity. He is most known for his leadership in New York City’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and creating a robust team with NYC Health and Hospitals as the inaugural Chief Population Health Officer. Chokshi’s research in the past has focused on creating overdose prevention centers for NYC and the positive impacts of these centers on the local community, centering a reflective lens. Additionally, his research promotes an understanding of the return on investment of city-wide decisions such as the COVID-19 vaccination campaign and contributes to discourse on the relevance of investing in public health.

Tolullah Oni is an urban epidemiologist at the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge. Her work involves transdisciplinary urban health research aimed at generating evidence to support the development and implementation of healthy public policies in rapidly growing cities. She examines meso- and macro-level determinants of diet and physical activity in the contexts of urbanization and climate change worldwide. 

In Conversation with Sean Decatur: Healthier Futures in a Changing Climate is part of Canopy, Wellcome’s citizen art and science festival, bringing health to the heart of Climate Week NYC.