Students fast for climate action, typhoon victims

A group of about 18 students this week fasted in solidarity with commissioner of the Philippines Climate Change Commission Naderev “Yeb” Sa?o.

According to sophomore Ben Weilerstein, students from at least 68 educational institutions across the country participated in the fast in order to raise awareness about Typhoon Haiyan, which claimed thousands of lives and left thousands more destitute when it hit the Philippines in early November. The disaster, the participants in the fast said, was a direct result of climate change.

Sa?o yesterday concluded the 12th day of his fast in an effort to stand with the Filipino people as they continue to suffer through the storm’s aftermath. He called for concrete action against climate change in Warsaw, Poland, where representatives of world governments came together on Nov. 11 at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 19).

Weilerstein said that he has been fasting for five days — beginning on Monday and continuing today — and has consumed nothing but a single cup of juice daily. Junior Dan Jubelirer chose to fast for two 24-hour periods at the beginning and end of the week.

“I’m trying to use the power that I have right now in making this choice to tell people that we won’t always necessarily be able to [make the choice to fast] if we don’t get serious about stopping climate change,” Weilerstein said.

On Monday and Thursday, fasting students sat in demonstration with empty plates at Dewick-MacPhie Dining Hall to bring their fast to the attention of the student body, Weilerstein said.

“I was sort of frustrated because I want people to realize it’s not something that you can walk just away from,” Weilerstein said. “Yes, you can talk to me and then you can go on with your life, but I want you to think about this afterwards, realize what is your role in causing climate change, what is your role in preventing climate change, what is it that you owe to the world as [an] American.”

Sophomore Sarah Killian explained that participants are fasting to different degrees, with some people giving up one meal and others going days without consuming solid foods. She planned to fast for two or three 24-hour periods during the week.

“For me, there is something in feeling uncomfortable for one day that reminds you we have so many comforts here — not just with food, but the comforts of living that we don’t realize is not shared by everyone else, especially in places that are disproportionally affected by climate change,” Killian said. “Those discomforts could be made very real for us in the near future.”

The process began when students from Tufts and Brandeis University held a meeting to discuss bringing the fasting movement to their campuses, according to Weilerstein.

“Once I heard [that students at other schools were] doing it, I felt like ... we [needed] to do this at Tufts,” he said.

An email thread about the fast began within the fossil fuel divestment network, Jubelirer said. Participants also made conference calls to various schools asking students to get on board with the effort.

Killian emphasized the importance of the fast to garnering attention for the cause.

“I think a big part of movement is bringing people into climate consciousness, and actions like this are good because they’re instrumental but also because they make a statement,” Killian said.

For Weilerstein, the fast serves as a reminder of the privileges that have been taken away from climate victims.

“I have the ability to just decide that I’m going to stop eating, and I can decide when I’m going to start eating again,” he said. “One of the scariest things is that in the Philippines, there are people who haven’t eaten as long as I have or longer, and not of their choice because climate change has caused a situation where they don’t get to decide that.”

Weilerstein said that the possibility of a similar food shortage in the United States exists because of climate change.

“[It] can seem distant, but that could be a future reality here, too,” he said. “There could be a time when we don’t get to decide when we want to eat and not eat.”

According to Jubelirer, Tufts students collaborated with college students across the country on an open letter calling for climate justice at COP 19. The letter, posted on a WordPress site called “Stop the Madness Solidarity Fast,” is addressed to the Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern and State Department negotiator Trigg Talley.

The letter, which insists that Typhoon Haiyan was not a natural disaster but a direct result of global climate change, was emailed to Stern and Talley and will soon be printed and faxed to them as well, Jubelirer said.

“These students at a hundred schools have been fasting all week saying you, [Stern and Talley], need to do your jobs and do something meaningful here and not just blow it off,” Jubelirer said.12