The concept for Climate Control emerged from classroom discussions in my Social Change Filmmaking course, where I noticed a stark contrast between my own anxious, millennial response to climate change and the approaches of my Gen Z students. I was struck by the heroic ways their generation puts their bodies on the line for what they believe in. Already navigating inequities far beyond what I faced as a young person, they are now being tasked with saving the planet after a century of neglect and greed.
 

Cal Poly Humboldt has a long legacy of student activism, and making this a fully collaborative project with our campus community became a way to channel the helplessness we’d unearthed in class. It was essential to me that all students received professional wages and credits for their contribution on the project. Ours is a rural campus, with mostly first-gen students, where lack of access to internships and industry connections remains a significant barrier.
 

After being awarded an artist residency in Darmstadt, Germany, I shifted the focus of the film toward the protest occupation of the hamlet of Lützerath, which was being razed to expand the Garzweiler coal mine. My own family has ties to coal-mining in Appalachian Kentucky, and I’ve witnessed firsthand how extractive industries devastate rural communities.
 

My film work critiques techno-utopian ideals through an absurdist lens. “Climate Control” argues that AI is not currently a sustainable solution for creative collaboration or content generation. As such, we intentionally used no generative AI in any part of the film. “AI slop” is instead depicted with deliberately low-budget visual effects. 

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This project was supported through generous funding from the Cal Poly Humboldt College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Dean's Office, the Emeritus and Retired Faculty and Staff Association, and the Sponsered Programs Foundation.