Just Incredible. Fauci, Jesse Eisenberg, and more at Georgetown’s Earth Day Performance
A letter from Dean Peter Marra on April 22, Earth Day, 2026
Friends,
I wasn’t sure if I was going to write an Earth Day message this year. Not because I’m not enthusiastic about the work that we can do together, but because I think there are many, many voices who deserve a platform today.
We had just the chance to hear from some last night at The Oedipus Project. We had folks like actor Jesse Eisenberg, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, as well as actors Mare Winningham, Bill Irwin, and others, read from Oedipus the King. Who would have thought that Dr. Fauci would give such an incredible read of the blind prophet of truth, Tireseus! Take a look at the piece about this from The Guardian published a few hours ago.
End of carousel collection.
But the gem of the evening was the incredible reflection from the community in Gaston Hall and around the world in virtual attendance.
We heard from folks like BS in Environment & Sustainability sophomore Megan Lu (BS-ES’28) and ECo/SFS climate scientist Megan Lickley discuss their reactions to this powerful performance. More of the community shared what it feels like to inherit a fate while leadership ignores inconvenient truths, and what it feels like when solutions proposed aren’t equitable or are ignored.
End of carousel collection.
Whatever you do matters, whether it’s in education, research, service, ways big and small, even if it feels indirect, like getting together in a room to discuss our world and to feel healing.
Just like in Oedipus, we have an opportunity to examine our inherited fate, right now. Let’s take a moment to stop and listen to our “prophets”—our scientists, our artists, our students, and our guts—and act together.
End of carousel collection.
Thanks to Derek Goldman and the Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics and Theater of War Productions for working with us to make this happen as part of DC Climate Week. All photos by ECo’s Malu Veltze.
With gratitude,
Pete Marra
Dean, The Earth Commons
Georgetown’s Institute for Environment & Sustainability
Laudato Si’ Professor | Biology and the Environment
Professor | McCourt School of Public Policy