{"id":25612,"date":"2025-10-27T12:14:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T16:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?post_type=story&#038;p=25612"},"modified":"2025-10-29T12:51:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T16:51:37","slug":"addressing-the-globes-polycrisis","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/27\/addressing-the-globes-polycrisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Addressing the globe\u2019s polycrisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<iframe allow=\"autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *; clipboard-write\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"175\" style=\"border:0;width:100%;max-width:800px;overflow:hidden;background:transparent;\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/addressing-the-globes-polycrisis-with-lou-leonard\/id1608025510?i=1000733304368\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized hang\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Louis_Leonard_Aug_27_2025-15-1024x683.avif\" alt=\"man sitting at table talking into podcast microphone\" class=\"wp-image-25613\" style=\"width:378px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Louis_Leonard_Aug_27_2025-15-1024x683.avif 1024w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Louis_Leonard_Aug_27_2025-15-300x200.avif 300w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Louis_Leonard_Aug_27_2025-15-768x512.avif 768w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Louis_Leonard_Aug_27_2025-15-1536x1024.avif 1536w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Louis_Leonard_Aug_27_2025-15-2048x1365.avif 2048w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Louis_Leonard_Aug_27_2025-15-1200x800.avif 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The mission of Clark University&#8217;s School of Climate, Environment, and Society can be summarized in one word, according to Lou Leonard, the school&#8217;s D.J.A. Spencer Dean, and that word is impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;For the last 10,000 years or so, the world has been in what many call the &#8216;Goldilocks period&#8217; of climate: not too hot, not too cold &#8230; The bottom line is we&#8217;ve left that period,&#8221; says Leonard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<aside class=\"wp-block-group alignright boxout hang has-clarku-background-color has-dark-green-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-63b668eb9777d6947b49701322708e29 is-content-justification-left is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-12dd3699 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">School of Climate, Environment, and Society<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/CES_Kickoff_15_Sept_2025-186-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"students table on campus green\" class=\"wp-image-25064\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/CES_Kickoff_15_Sept_2025-186-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/CES_Kickoff_15_Sept_2025-186-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/CES_Kickoff_15_Sept_2025-186-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/CES_Kickoff_15_Sept_2025-186-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/CES_Kickoff_15_Sept_2025-186-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/CES_Kickoff_15_Sept_2025-186-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Where students design community\u2011centered solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-a89b3969 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-green-background-color has-background has-text-align-center wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/climate-environment-society\/\">Discover degrees and programs<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;There is no magic key that&#8217;s going to solve this problem,&#8221; he continues. &#8220;It is going to take the collective work of everyone, and every step that we take matters. Every quarter of a degree of warming that we don&#8217;t experience saves lives.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the world faces a polycrisis of climate, biodiversity loss, and social disruption, Leonard says Clark students will reach out into the community to learn hands-on how they can contribute to building a healthier planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The nature of these problems is that they are a result of the intersection of politics, economics, culture, and technology,&#8221; says Leonard. &#8220;The real world doesn&#8217;t operate in disciplinary boxes. It operates in the messy middle where everything comes together, so that is part of the way students will learn.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Challenge. Change.<\/strong>&nbsp;is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/4UuYAjq1d3Hq45cjwxoCNL?si=6b052bc643fa4288\">Spotify<\/a>\u202for\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/challenge-change\/id1608025510\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile has-clarku-background-color has-green-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-9917df3c872ee07b60b6bcef82da8fd3\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--10);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--10)\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/CES_Kickoff_15_Sept_2025-63-1024x683.avif\" alt=\"professor talks to students on campus green\" class=\"wp-image-25619 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/CES_Kickoff_15_Sept_2025-63-1024x683.avif 1024w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/CES_Kickoff_15_Sept_2025-63-300x200.avif 300w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/CES_Kickoff_15_Sept_2025-63-768x512.avif 768w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/CES_Kickoff_15_Sept_2025-63-1536x1024.avif 1536w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/CES_Kickoff_15_Sept_2025-63-2048x1365.avif 2048w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/CES_Kickoff_15_Sept_2025-63-1200x800.avif 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">More climate conversations on Challenge. Change.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/02\/18\/the-art-of-addressing-sea-level-rise\/\">Studying Sea Level Rise through Maps and Poems with Professor Christina\u00a0Gerhardt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/11\/21\/xprize-award-honors-work-of-clark-geographer-research-team-in-the-amazon\/\">Birds, Bats, and Amphibians: How Ecoacoustics Identify Rainforest Species with Geography Professor Florencia Sangermano<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/10\/09\/taking-the-temperature-of-global-health\/\">Taking the Temperature of Global Health with Professors Ellen Foley and Tsitsi Masvawure<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The mission of Clark University&#8217;s School of Climate, Environment, and Society can be summarized in one word, according to Lou Leonard, the school&#8217;s D.J.A. Spencer Dean, and that word is impact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":25613,"template":"","meta":{"story_color":"var(--clarku-color-green)","story_headerImg":-1,"section_label":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[223,241,239],"displayed_author":[237],"featured":[494],"topic":[529,131,176,134],"class_list":["post-25612","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clark-community","category-environment-sustainability","category-worcester-world","displayed_author-melissa-hanson","featured-secondary","topic-climate","topic-climate-change","topic-podcast","topic-school-of-climate-environment-and-society"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Addressing the globe\u2019s polycrisis | ClarkU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/27\/addressing-the-globes-polycrisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Addressing the globe\u2019s polycrisis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The mission of Clark University&#039;s School of Climate, Environment, and Society can be summarized in one word, according to Lou Leonard, the school&#039;s D.J.A. 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