I attended Peterson Toscano’s presentation/show/lecture/performance on the relationship between different issues such as LGBTQ and climate change and intertwining them in a way that we can connect everything together. It was a very interesting and entertaining hour of  Mr. Toscano putting on performances, 3 acts for us, to relay information about not only his own struggles with being gay but connecting it also with issues of religion also. Rather than just another guest speaker who stands up to give a lecture, this was a very different and fun approach to allow the audience to become more engaged and for him to connect with us. To start out, the audience gained knowledge of him learning that he is both religious and gay. In attempting to connect these issues together, he started with his first act about the “Homo-Nomo”. This was about his time when he was fighting the urge to be gay and belonged to this homo nomo halfway house. This was an eye opener for me at least as he was explaining how anti-gay everyone was back then and how much he went through to “un-gay” himself.  In this act, he touched on why he went though these great lengths such as conversion therapy and this homo nomo halfway house. At this time in the world, “GRID” aka AIDS was such a fear and the doors were shut for most LGBTQ individuals. Moving on to act 2, Peterson touched on issues more related to the bible. He told the story of Jacob and Esau, speaking about the son of Jacob, Joseph. Joseph was given a “princess dress” and loved to wear it but was not accepted by his brothers. The way that Peterson went about these acts was very entertaining as he got very into the characters and accents. And the third act was a dramatic shift, to climate change. He took character of a man from the Bronx, his father, and spoke about climate change. He did this is an entertaining way including polar bears and making jokes about them, but also at the same time calling upon the issue of climate change. Through this last act, he shifted back to the story of Joseph and stated that the story of Joseph was actually a climate change story. He for sure left me with my brain confused but eager to find connections between all these different topics, especially trying to walk away with a mind-set of sustainability and how this can all be related. But I guess that is the point, that everything is connected! To me, one of the coolest things about all of this is, how he embraced who his true identity and is using it to influence and inspire many. Rather than successfully converting himself, he stood up to himself, and the world, and Peterson is trying to change the world all for the better through this, even climate change! That is what I was thinking about after I left the event in how much of a different approach he took. He takes risks and makes it work, and in return I have much respect for him. Trying to wrap by brain around this and connect it to one of our student learning outcomes, I realize that all of this includes the aspect of the triple bottom line. Environmentally, economically, and especially sociably, Peterson’s show left us with an idea of the connection between all three of these. In terms of environmentally, his connection with climate change and environmental rights leads us all to be more conscious of our day to day choices, such as water management to prevent droughts! The reason I say this is because Peterson emphasized on the specific issue of droughts when it was called to his attention was due to this, pasta production was going to be negatively impacted! This humorous connection between his love for pasta and not wanting climate change to affect that brings up the idea of instrumental value and viewing nature in that way. This means, that Peterson believes in the goddess of nature and the environment for the goods and services that it brings about, pasta for example. In terms of economics, he does not harp on this too much but we can just get an understanding of the amount of money that some LGBTQ individuals spend to possible convert themselves back to possibly straight. With many more people spending just as much money as him on this, it creates a large industry of conversion, but one that many people might see as not only wrong but in the long run, sustainability speaking, having no good impact anywhere. And mainly, socially, Peterson well represented the LGBTQ community and his pride showed through his meaningful acts and attempts to relate everything together. It is not a me world that we live in, but as us one. And Peterson tries to emphasize this through the triple bottom line and calling upon action from our hearts towards not only climate change but the struggles that members go through in the LGBTQ community.

The Office of Sustainability was a big part of putting this together for us lucky members of the audience and even handed out goodies at the door including pens, pins, and phone accessories! I thought this was an overall excellent experience, and I encourage all of you if you ever get a chance, to try and engage yourself in something outside of your comfort zone! That is what I did with this event, thinking that it is not normally something that I would attend so I took a chance and ended up loving it!