Climate change and sustainability have taken a central focus in our country as we find out more about how our everyday lives affect the environment we live in.

“Countdown to Climate Catastrophe: Who Must Lead?” is a student-led panel discussion that will address the impending threat climate change presents and how students can take action to protect Earth’s future.

The event will take place Thursday, Nov. 29 at FirstEnergy Auditorium in Franklin Hall. The event starts at 6 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

“I think it’s really important because its easy for students to ignore,” said Audra Gormley, a senior public relations major who will participate in the panel. Her focus for the event is practicing sustainability on a personal level and how that translates into working for a company in the future.

“Students need to educate themselves about sustainability because it’s going to be very prevalent in our reality as we enter the workforce,” she said.

In October, the United Nations issued a report warning that if the world doesn’t drastically change its efforts to combat climate change within the next 12 years, there would be significant changes to the world, including rising sea levels, impacts on ocean temperatures and worsening weather including droughts, floods and extreme heat.

The panel will include Gormley and four other Kent State Students: Michaela Judy, a senior business management major, Jessica Saralino, a senior environmental conservation biology major and the current president of Net Impact, Erik Smith, a Ph.D student who also works as a research assistant in the Department of Geography and Andrews Boateng, a senior geospatial analyst with the Davey Resource Group.

“I think we need to think about global climate change and how businesses can help impact that,” said Gormley when asked about what she is looking forward to hearing about from the rest of the panel. “Businesses are capital and we are a consumerist society so I think they take a big part of being part of a solution.”

Jacob Majka is the CCI reporter. Contact him at [email protected].