Climate change is not a new topic, but the topic of talking about it might be. Lisa Fitzpatrick is the Director of the MMAD (Motion and Media Across Disciplines) Lab at the University of Minnesota Duluth and is a proponent of instigating climate change action with conversation. "If there's a problem and you don't want to talk about it, you can't solve it," says Fitzpatrick.
Going forward, Fitzpatrick intends to utilize the MMAD Lab for content creation and also to get out into the community to create spaces for conversation and for art. "[Art is] a really good way for people to express themselves and express their feelings," says Fitzpatrick. "All the different arts... get people to understand and communicate because it's about human connection."
The conversations (or lack thereof) around climate change have become polarizing and are oftentimes politicized, but for Fitzpatrick chatting about the weather feels like a return to a bygone time. "It used to be that weather was the topic that anyone could take about, and now it's become a bit fraught," says Fitzpatrick. "Let's just talk... It is a normal thing to talk about."
