This is Jireh Deng, your new Diverse Sources intern. I’m excited to be sending you weekly sources for the next six months!

The 26th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (aka COP26) started this past Sunday Oct. 31 in Glasgow, Scotland, and continues through Nov. 12. Governments will reevaluate their commitment to lowering emissions as greenhouse gas levels reach record highs. 

The sources we highlight this week can help journalists reframe and expand conversations around climate change to understand how creative language sparks environmental activism and how the Midwestern and Intermountain regions are adapting to green economies.

Craig Santos Perez is an Indigenous Chamoru (Chamorro) from Guam who is an associate professor at the University of Hawai’i, Mānoa’s English department where he teaches eco-poetry, creative writing and Pacific literature.

The body of his poetry and scholarship seeks to explore the environmental urgency of our time and the impacts of global capitalism on ecology. Perez’s work has received numerous awards, including the 2011 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Poetry and the American Book Award. Perez is the co-founder of Ala Press, a publisher committed to Pacific literature. 

Christelle Khalaf is the associate director of the University of Wyoming's Center for Business and Economic Analysis and a faculty member in the department of economics. She is a labor economist with a focus on economic development, and studies regions in the U.S., especially Appalachian Ohio and Wyoming, that are heavily reliant on natural resources.

She conducts research on energy management across state government, industry and other groups. Previously, she was an economist with Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, analyzing the impacts of solar energy deployment in Appalachian Ohio.

Other sources of interest this week

Obesity has increased in America during the pandemic, with Black and Latino communities experiencing the brunt of health disparities. 
 
Lesley Green-Rennis is a professor and chair of the health education department at City University of New York, Borough of Manhattan Community College. She has over 13 years of experience in public health research and is certified in group fitness and wellness. Her expertise is in public health history, health disparities and social determinants of health. 

Sources of the Week on the news

Read:

• Georges Benjamin was quoted in a Scientific American editorial about new state laws that give politicians control of public health.
• Michelle Singletary writes on the pros and cons of paying off mortgage debt early in The Washington Post.
• Mustafa Santiago Ali shared with Vice about the urgency of climate change activism in Black and Latino communities.

Listen:

• William E. Spriggs appeared on All Things Considered  to discuss why a record number of Americans left their jobs in August. 
• Kristin Henning spoke to All Things Considered on the issue of police applying excessive force to Black children. 
• Gita Gopinath was interviewed on Face the Nation about President Biden’s proposed infrastructure bill.
• Christina Greer talked about police who refuse vaccination rules with Ari Melber on The Beat.
• Walter M. Kimbrough discussed the plight facing HBCU’s with Biden’s current economic package on The Takeaway.

Thanks to all who have been utilizing sources.npr.org!