Unknown: Hello and welcome to
our library lecture series
"Transforming Our World"
centered on our changing
climate. My name is Elizabeth
Hollenbeck, and I'm the Outreach
and Instruction Librarian at
South Texas College and
moderator of this talk. This
fall semester STC library will
publish an episode of this
series on the first Thursday of
each month at 3 p.m. that covers
the many facets of our
surroundings: our natural
environment, the upcoming
election, social movements, and
personal health and self care.
Each episode will feature at
least one visual artist as well
as professionals from other
fields and will include both
local and non local
perspectives. We're also having
a live poetry workshop series
and community poetry anthology
that is tied in with these
topics as well as a call for
artwork. Please see the links
below for more information and
check the STC library blog and
the Library Art Gallery social
media for updates. For today's
talk, we have with us artist
Erica Daborn who earned her
Master's of
Fine Arts from the Royal College
of Art in London, and who taught
at the School of the Museum of
Fine Arts in Boston. In
addition, we have Ernesto
Herrera, who earned his Master's
of Science in Biology from the
University of Texas Rio Grande
Valley. He's a wildlife
biologist and board member at
the Frontera Audubon Society
here in McAllen. Last but not
least, joining us from Spain, we
have Tamara Mekler, who earned
her Masters from Stanford
University in Earth Systems,
Sustainability and Conservation,
and she co-founded FortunaCools,
an enterprise that makes coolers
from coconut fiber waste, a
sustainable alternative to
styrofoam for small scale
fishing communities in the
Philippines. With that, Welcome,
everyone. And how's everyone
doing?
Good.
Yeah. Great.
Yeah. Doing well, hi Elizabeth.
Hi, thank you so much for
joining us today. Would everyone
like to introduce themselves and
share with our students and
viewers a little about what you
studied and how you came to work
in this field in your current
role. I can
start with Tamara. Okay. Yeah.
Well, that was a great
introduction. Thank you,
Elizabeth. I'm Tamara Mekler. As
Elizabeth said, I'm the
co-founder and COO of
FortunaCools, a startup that
makes coolers out of coconuts
instead of plastic or styrofoam.
I did my undergrad in Human
Biology and my Masters in
Conservation and Sustainability,
and I've always been really
passionate about the interaction
of people and nature, and
particularly how we can work on
redefining that relationship for
the benefit of both. So for me,
that has meant focusing
particularly on how we can work
together with local communities
to manage both the use and the
conservation of natural
resources and in particular,
doing that for the sake of
sustainable development with
these communities. And while I
was a grad student at Stanford I
was involved in a design and
business school that actually
gave me the opportunity to do
exactly that. So we partnered
with an NGO in the Philippines,
and worked with the local
communities to harness a local
resource. In this case, it was
coconut husks, which is an
agricultural waste products from
from the coconut meat industry.
And with these partners, we work
to improve the livelihood of the
farmers and fishing communities
in a sustainable way. And so
I'll tell you a little bit more
about Fortuna later, but that's
essentially how Fortuna was
born.
Thank you.
How about Erica?
Yeah. Hi. Yes, my name is Erica
Daborn. I live currently now in
Mexico full time. I've moved
from the US permanently about
five years ago. And as Elizabeth
said, I taught for a lot of
years at school and Museum of
Fine Arts in Boston primarily
teaching drawing. So drawing has
become my major focus over a lot
of years, I came to working on
this project called "Dialogues
with Mother Earth," which I
started about 10 years ago. The
I think initially I, I moved
from, you know, I'm obviously
making paintings drawings for
many years. Gallery based work
that which never sold and, you
know, got very interested in and
worried about climate change.
But I didn't start the project
until I think, a group of
students we would be just
talking, critiquing their work.
And it seemed always at the end
of every critique. Students
would be talking about climate
change, and why is nobody doing
anything this was, you know,
over 10 years ago, and then we
will get into these
conversations. And so I actually
started a class, a drawing class
where we would work on these big
drawings and the focus became
our relationship to the animal
world and that's really
galvanized me into deciding that
I needed to find a vehicle for
my own anxieties about climate
change. And I began this
project, these 10 murals. And
initially, you know, obviously I
made one and then I made the
commitment that I wanted to make
10 and in fact, now I made 12.
So
excellent. And Ernesto.
Hi. So, my name is Ernesto
Herrera. I'm a wildlife
biologist in the Rio Grande
Valley. I kind of went through a
few little confusing moments in
college. I'm sure a lot of
people do right. I eventually
ended up taking a class in
herpetology and another one in
animal behavior. And those two
classes really taught me about
what's a little bit about what's
in the Rio Grande Valley. As a
child. I had an endangered
species or threatened species of
lizard in my backyard called the
Texas Horned Lizard. A lot of
people know them as Horny Toads
are Horned Toads. They're
actually a species of lizard
that nowadays is very scarce.
You can't really find too much
in the Rio Grande Valley or in
the rest of Texas. And so I, you
know, that's something that I
noticed throughout the years and
when I got to take this
herpetology class, which is a
study of reptiles and
amphibians, I kind of you know,
I found out that it wasn't just
in my backyard that it was that
it was missing you that started
it was really missing everywhere
else. So that kind of really
inspired me to start looking
more actively to to help out
our, our native species within
the Rio Grande Valley. I have
always loved animals, right? And
so I ended up with a, you know,
a Bachelor's in Biology and my
mentor kind of helped me out and
to get a, you know, go ahead and
work on a Master's in Biology as
well. So I, you know, I still
once again came out of a
Master's not really knowing what
I was going to do. And I looked
for an internship within the
City of McAllen and someone you
know, within City Hall told me
to go to the McAllen Nature
Center, which is before it was
called the McAllen Botanical
Gardens. And it had just
reopened like maybe a month
before I asked about this. And
he told me to go check out that
place. I got hired as an intern.
And I started getting into the
work of becoming a naturalist.
And it was there that I really
got to apply my knowledge in
biology and learn so much more
about the Rio Grande Valley.
It's to the point where I
learned all about our native
birds I learned, you know, our
different native reptiles,
amphibians, plants. And so it
was also there that I got a
chance to educate students and
educate other people. You know,
especially kids and families
that came into the Nature
Center, I got a hold bird walks
and plant walks and talks to
them there. And that's kind of
what kind of took me into my
next job, which is now you know,
as a wildlife biologist, I, you
know, was able to network there
and meet people and actually
have a more, I guess, active
role within environmentalism in
the Rio Grande Valley. That's
Great. Well, thank you again for
being here. We're delighted to
have you. In this series, among
many things, we're interested in
how to connect artists with
other sectors and professionals,
and ask what roles artwork has
played in the conversation of
our changing climate. Images are
sometimes the most powerful
language when discussing topics
that are often polarizing or
difficult for people to
understand. And I'll now share
my screen so we can show the
homepage of Erica's website to
give viewers an idea of what her
art exhibits look like. And then
we'll also look at some of
Erica's individual artworks.
Erica, can you talk specifically
about your work and why you
created it and what you hope to
achieve by creating it?
Yeah, well, when I started the
project, um
the issue really was an enormous
amount of denial about climate
change, you know, I would
following this program coming
out of Yale, which monitors, you
know, deniability and who's,
who's acknowledging climate
change exists and who doesn't
and the figures, the percentage
figures because they collect
data, pretty horrific. And it
seemed to me that scientific
evidence and scientific data did
not really reach most people. If
you couldn't see it actually
happening in front of you. Maybe
you would if you're in a storm,
but hey, we always have storms,
don't we? What's the difference?
It seems that we needed a
different approach or I needed a
different approach. And so the
idea really of moving this
project into the future. So the
images are as if they are seen
from the future as a record of
something that happened in the
past. So the idea of the mural
is also traditionally something
where you record historical
events. So the idea of the mural
was, these were historical
events that actually happened.
And we're looking at them from
the future. And this is where
they are. So the one you're
seeing now which is called
"Ahab's Revenge," if you've ever
read Moby Dick, you know, that,
you know, the idea of Ahab's
revenge really is in the end,
even though he didn't at the
time, Ahab's come back to get
his revenge on the whale by
polluting the ocean and here is
this whale where is actually
covered and caught in plastic
detritus. Some people think it's
inside the whale. Sometimes
think it's outside the whale,
maybe it's both. And on the
right hand side, you have people
just carrying on as if nothing
happened, there is still at the
beach they're having playing
games and making sand castles.
And that to me, that was trying
to find an image if you like a
story that people could relate
to. And interestingly, this has
been the most, oh, could we say
well received image of the
series? I think people really
get this. They've been to the
beach hopefully. And they
understand that this is just
going on. And these people are
not seemingly aware of what is
right there behind them. Yeah.
So this one which is called
"Save Our Seeds," relates more
to the idea of say Monsanto and
the taking over of genetic
material for plants, that that's
become ownership that that a
corporation can own genetic
material that actually we should
all be sharing and which we own
we own jointly. And that we're
not caring for if we allow these
corporations. So a lot of this
work has undercut underpinnings
of really being anti corporate
dominance of the of the
environment. So, "Save Our
Seeds," here are these, they're
all women. They always end up
being women who are going off in
this in this in this boat with
these various seeds to a safe
place. That's really the idea of
that. And so the idea there,
there's imagery that people can
relate to, they can see the
seeds, they see the people. It's
very accessible that the idea
was you kind of could read it,
and you could see the story and
you could think about it, along
with these, which you're not
seeing here. Are the captions,
which describe what's actually
happening in the past, you know?
So when you look at them in, in
a situation of, say, an art
museum, you're also reading this
caption, which tells you what
happened in the past what we're
looking at. So that as I said,
they're very accessible to the
general public. And in the show,
for example, which I had in
McAllen at IMAS in McAllen, we
had a lot of children coming in
there. We actually had a child
one time when I was actually
there myself, this little boy
had come in on a school group,
and he brought his parents back
in on the weekend to to, you
know, to see the show because he
was impressed by it. So trying
to reach families to regular
people, who maybe don't go to
art galleries, and to just
access information about science
from a place of story really
One thing I think that really
stands out with your artwork is
how you've used scale to
communicate ideas. Could you
talk a little bit about that in
your work?
Yeah, these are all roughly
about 15 foot long by about by
six foot tall. The scale is, as
I said, related to the idea of
the mural, they were designed to
be in the original installation,
as if they had been drawn on the
wall. You go into the future,
you believe you're in the
future, and you're looking at
these drawings that somebody
recorded. They relate a lot to
the idea of cave drawings.
Where, you know, the big
influence was the the "Cave of
Forgotten Dreams" a documentary
by Werner Herzog who went into
this cave in France, deep in
this cave where these drawings
have been made 30,000 years ago
and never been seen before. So
that they relate also to that
the idea you're documenting for
the future. You know, this is
what? And there were other
influences, too. There was a
film called now, I can't
remember. But the film that did
the same idea, like why didn't
we do anything? We knew this was
happening. We did nothing. This
one's particularly about water.
These people are queuing for
water. And the irony of this is
when I first showed this one, or
I was working on it, I was
showing it in at a museum in
Massachusetts, sorry, a
university in Massachusetts. And
there were these I knew I was
working on this image of these
were lining up for water.
They're being monitored by close
circuit, you know, cameras, and
they've all got numbers so they
can get their water. And that
very day that I went to talk
about this work. There was an
image on the front page of the
New York Times of people in
Puerto Rico queuing for water
literally like this, you know,
there they were waiting, no
water they were with there  you
know receptacles. So you know,
it's close the all of this is
very close to us now this was,
you know, as I said made this
series over a period of about 10
years.
To others on the panel, what
kind of artists or designers
work in your field? Or have you
ever used artwork in conjunction
with or to support your work?
And how do you think artists can
further incorporate into the
work?
First of all, Erica, thank you
for sharing that artwork. It's
very beautiful. I hope I get a
chance to see it in person
because I'm sure it's a lot more
impactful when you can see the
scale of it. So one of the key
aspects of our business at
Fortuna particularly at this
early stage, is really all about
storytelling. You can have an
amazing idea or business. But if
you can't communicate it, you're
not going to be able to get
people excited about it. And if
there's one thing you need to be
successful, it's it's really
just people, all sorts of
people, you're going to need
people on your team, you're
going to need advisors,
investors. So in thinking for us
how we could best tell our
story, we've always been really
aware of the power of visual
media. So photography,
videography, these are really
amazing tools to get people to
understand what we're talking
about, to empathize with the
communities that we work with in
the Philippines to to get a
better idea of what a product
looks like and how it might feel
and perform. And, yeah, I think
particularly these days when a
lot of conversations that used
to be in person have turned
virtual, even more we can we can
rely on on a lot of visual
storytelling tools to to have
more meaningful conversations
and I actually did a minor in
art practice as an undergrad and
I'm an amateur photographer. And
I found that that actually has
been quite helpful as well, in
terms of being able to create
some of our own content for, for
telling the story of our own
business and product. But
besides that, we're also
starting to work with some
professional videographers and
designers. We're actually
getting ready to kick off a
Kickstarter campaign. So that
does involve a lot of a lot of
more visual storytelling and
design so definitely stay posted
for that. And I think I can
share just a couple of the
photos, some some of the key
photos that we use to, to to
share our business and our
product with others. So I'm just
sharing my screens here. This is
it's not our latest design, but
this is what our coolers made
from coconuts look like. They're
designed to last years, not
millennia, like the other
plastic alternatives out there.
Oh, let's see? Yeah. And so you
know, it was all inspired by the
farmer, these are coconut
farmers in the Philippines who
feeds really low margins for for
the coconuts, and they don't
have a market for the husks,
like I said, it's just
agricultural waste that actually
piles up on their farms. You
know, the first time that we saw
this, this massive pile of just
discarded coconut husks, it was
it was really impactful for us.
And I think maybe this is
another another case where scale
really matters. And actually
being there and seeing how big
this pile is. But I think some
of that can communicated via pho
os, and then also being able to 
ut a face to the people that we 
ork with. So this is Rochie, one
of the women that we've been wor
ing with on for three years and
she's she's been an amazing par
ner, as well as Edgar here who
s, you know, loading up some coc
nut fiber into a truck to be tak
n to the factory where we mak
 our coolers. So yeah, it's jus
 some images about some of our
day to day operations and our
key partners that work with us 
n these coconut coolers
That is excellent, thank you.
If I can add to what Tamara also
mentioned, same thing you know
in my field. I think photography
is one of the things that
definitely helped out the most.
One of the as a naturalist when
there's this website that came
out called a inaturalist that
kind of really helps people kind
of connect with nature and it's
it's a it's amazing. And so
basically what you do is you
take a picture of something, and
then the online community helps
you ID it and it's, it's great
as a as an amateur naturalist,
you can learn more about what's
out there. But also citizen,
scientists have been able to
gather data from that and learn
more about, you know, different
species on where they're moving,
how they're doing in general,
their range is getting larger or
smaller. And so that's kind of
one of the places where I've
been able to connect with people
a lot, especially in the
naturalist world. I have met a
lot of photographers and that's
where we've really been able to
kind of share share experiences
there. So, let me see if I can
share my screen here. But
basically, you know, I that's
where I got into photography as
well. And I was able to my way
of kind of really showing people
what's out there. Do you see my
screen? Yes. Okay. was kind of
really showing the small world a
lot of people don't really get
to see kind of like the detail
for example, like this scorpion.
We saw this at a night hike
under a blacklight. And it was
just you know, you can see
everything up to like its eyes,
right. And I think this is
something that like really
excited a lot of people whether
it's like, you know, other
naturalist or just people that
were coming to the night hikes
for the first time, being able
to see it up close, and then
putting it on a screen. It's
like really exciting for them.
Here in this next picture I was
trying to really focus on on
just this a white-winged dove's
eye and just like the beauty of
it, like how close it how it
just kind of how it stands out
compared to the rest of the
white window. We were bird
banding there. So I had someone
had a in their hand so I was
able to really get a close
picture of it. We have this
pencil cactus with these blooms.
Normally you can't find a pencil
cactus within shrubs here in the
Rio Grande Valley, but the only
time you see it in the year is
when it's blooming, and you can
that's when you can really find
it you know out in the desert
areas. And so this is another
really good example of some just
some of the flora that's
available here. This insect as
well, this was tiny, it's like
less than an inch big. But just
one of the one of the things I
really liked about these
pictures were being able to see
all the pollen grains kind of on
there and this insect is kind of
just having a feast there. What
else do I have? This a wolf
spider. You can see all its
little eyes here and just the
texture but in general normally
we're kind of terrified of
spiders we, we either like SWAT
them away or get rid of them as
soon as possible right but then
being able to see it in this
picture you get to see a lot
more detail. That's kind of like
I said, this is what really
excited me about macro
photography, you're able to
bring up these little animals
that normally we just don't pay
any mind to them and blowing
them up and we would just show
them to other people. And
lastly, this kind of connects to
what I'm doing now. This bee,
this is a cactus bee. Once again
you can see the pollen grains on
it. They have beautiful eyes.
This is a one of the native bees
one of the many native bees that
you can find in the in the Rio
Grande Valley and so once again,
it's just exciting to see you
know, things that normally you
can't see. Here this is a water
lily people don't didn't even
know water lilies existed in the
valley, this is an area that's
typically very dry except for
the river, right. But when we
get rains, like we did with the
past hurricane a few weeks ago,
we get these ponds that fill up
and just they come to life with
water lilies and find thousands
and thousands of them. And this
is just a good example of a
bright blue one that I found out
there. And lastly, just one of
my favorite pictures that I've
taken just these, again, two
tiny bees that were extremely
photogenic and gave me a chance
to quickly take a picture of
them up close the for some
reason they were sitting there
and staring at me, and I was
like, okay, well, this is a
really good chance to to get a
look at them. But yeah, like
Tamara mentioned, this is a good
way I think photography, I'm an
amateur photographer here,
right? And I just learned little
by little, and it's been able to
help me connect with others and
get them to learn more and then
learn more of myself about
taking pictures and being able
to show these to others. So this
picture, actually right now it's
on display at IMAS as well,
because there's a there's a
pollinator.
There's a "Pollinator in Action"
display right now where one of
my one of my mentors in
photography, she's documenting
all the native bees in the Rio
Grande Valley. And she did this
already in New York. This is she
decided to come here now her
name is Paula Sharp. And so she
has this this gallery right now
where they're just kind of
showing all her pictures and
they kind of entered us in a in
a contest and I was able to get
one of my pictures in there,
thankfully and so, yeah, I think
this is a great medium more than
anything to connect others with,
with just biology in general.
beautiful photographs.
Yes. Thank you all for sharing.
We just have a few minutes left
for today's discussion. So is
there anything else that you'd
like to share with students for
example, any advice for staying
motivated? Or any advice for
those who would like to become
more involved? anyone
You want to go ahead Erica?
Go Go.
Yeah, I mean more than anything,
one of the things I wanted to
mention is just keep keep trying
you know, get keep getting any
opportunities you can go for
them. It's a it's been a roller
coaster for me to get to where I
wanted to be. And I love my job
right now. But it is it did kind
of take a while to like just
like poking you know, connecting
with different people talking to
different people in the field.
And eventually, you know, you'll
be able to get to where you
want. I saw a tweet. Recently by
this one girl, she got a job
with the US Fish and Wildlife
Service and she's like, I got my
dream job, right. And she's like
in it. You know, it just took 19
months in an internship, getting
paid, 19 months in an unpaid
internship and you know, she
said like three degrees and so
on and so forth. She like listed
all these things, but she got to
where she wanted, right, and and
that's what that's the big
message she was trying to kind
of portray, you know, depict
right that she just had to like
really continue going and going
until she finally got to where
she was so just don't give up,
you know, keep moving and you'll
you'll eventually get to where
you want to get to.
Yeah, I think what I've realized
through my work is that there's
an infinite number of avenues to
do meaningful work. You know, I,
I never really imagined myself
in the world of business. And
it's it's a social enterprise,
but it's still not an avenue
that I thought I would pursue.
But if you haven't, if you're
open minded and creative about
looking for opportunities when
other people didn't see them,
like for example, we never
really imagined that a piece of
trash like a coconut husk would
inspire cooler business, but if
you keep that open mindedness
and out of the box thinking,
which I think actually artists
are more likely than than anyone
to have that sort of mindset.
And then I just would encourage
you to use that skill to find
ways to drive positive change
around you. And along with that,
just another reminder, I think
Ernesto was was referring to
this a little bit as well but
just the power of partnerships.
Like our work at Fortuna really
would not have been possible
without the support from NGOs
and advisors and other
entrepreneurs, designers,
obviously, the local communities
in the Philippines. And so I
would encourage you to seek out
opportunities to connect with
others and learn about their
work and what what they're
passionate about, and just
finding ways to collaborate.
Yeah, I would say, we are in a
really serious crisis, this is
not going to go away and it's
going to get worse and worse and
worse, and it needs everybody to
participate in whatever way you
can. And you if you have
relatives who don't believe it,
as my sister doesn't believe in
climate change, you just keep on
about it. You know, you keep
annoying them, you go out on the
marches, you read stuff, read
this book "Uninhabitable Earth"
by David Wallace-Wells,
excellent book. "This Changes
Everything" by Naomi Klein, this
is an absolute must read for
anyone interested in climate
change. So you read and you
support other people who are
trying to do whatever they are,
and you keep doing it. You know,
just keep doing it as you guys
have said, and be be open to
different ideas, listen to other
people. Listening is really
important. A lot of people think
they know everything. Nobody
knows everything. So absorb,
listen, form partnerships relate
to other people. And we need to
do this all together, you know,
and this is what this COVID
problem has shown us that if we
don't work together, it gets
worse and worse and worse.
Thank you. I appreciate that.
This has been a fascinating
discussion. On behalf of STC
library, I'd like to thank our
panelists for joining us today
and contributing your time and
expertise. To our viewers, we
hope you've enjoyed the
conversation today and have been
inspired. Once again, thanks to
our thanks again to our
panelists. It's been a pleasure
to have you with us. And to our
viewers. Thanks for tuning in.
We hope you continue to be safe.
