Public Events

Event Description

Heather Masson-Forsythe Public Talk: Fashion as Activism: How Centering Local Communities Can Drive a Global Movement Towards Circular and Sustainable Fashion Future   Dr. Heather Masson-Forsythe argues that we already have all the tools to build a sustainable future––the barrier to creating that future is not a lack of technology, but rather a capitalist marketing battle. There is no shortage of widely-known information about the harms of unsustainable lifestyle practices, yet widespread behavioral shifts and meaningful policy adoption have proven to be too slow to meet the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the climate challenges we're already facing. Still, most people want clean water, safe food, beautiful natural spaces to visit, and to not perish in an unprecedented extreme weather event. However, we lack clear, accessible, and scalable pathways for action that factor in human psychology. In this talk, Dr. Masson-Forsythe will dive into why the fashion industry is one of our biggest environmental threats and explore clothes-swapping as a case study for building community and explore how technology can help scale sustainable action that can grow and last.   Sharing from her experience building Communitique, a social meetup app driven by local community member clothes swapping, Dr. Masson-Forsythe will explore how modeling activism after popular shopping, social, and gaming apps can build a more sustainable fashion ecosystem. Can we take insights and methodologies from capitalism and turn it against itself? After being downloaded thousands of times in more than 24 countries in its first few months, Communitique's findings suggest yes. The free and community-driven sustainability model of the app has larger implications for shifting consumer behavior, environmental policy, and technology research and development. The presentation will be accessible for students while presenting innovations of interest to faculty members across disciplines.   Heather Masson-Forsythe, PhD is the founder of Communitiqe, a new and rapidly growing meetup app for donating and swapping clothes locally. Her expertise and experience spans multimedia science communication, science policy, and Biochemistry and Biophysics. Dr. Masson-Forsythe's viral science communication work has been featured in Forbes, International Business Times, and more. She served as an Executive Branch AAAS (American Association for Advancement of Science) Technology Policy Fellow at the US National Science Foundation, Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, Office of the Assistant Director, where she focused on understanding how STEM research can drive tangible impact. Her current work on Communitique is informed by these insights, which include gamifying sustainability metrics from choosing secondhand clothes and harnessing technology to drive climate activism through a circular fashion economy.