We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Derek Jolley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Derek, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Since 2017, I have worked on a research project investigating climate change as an on-site field station crewman in the Alaskan arctic circle. This year, I spent a month of my summer living at the station collecting data on annual plant growth and death (trust me, the data are quite compelling). It’s a welcome diversion from my normal day-to-day community support activities, and offers me the rare opportunity to work alongside some of the most innovative and dedicated scientists I’ve ever met. Issues affecting our planet’s climate are serious, and it surprises me that so many still refuse to believe or accept the facts as they are. I’m grateful to be a part of this important research because it offers me a different medium from which I can help others: by contributing to a study which will ultimately help change legislative policy related to climate change action, both at home and abroad.

Derek, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I wear many hats. The first is a 28-year-old queer identifying industrial/organizational psychologist. In short, my field aims to enhance the ways in which human beings work together while optimizing the creative technology they use. I have many different arenas in which I do my work, but in each I show up as an organizer, optimizer, and someone aimed at maximizing the good work people can do together. I am happy to serve independent music, queer community support, charitably giving, biomedical research, climate change activism, mental health advocacy, and so many more areas in this way as an eager young scientist.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

We had a group of students visit the field station this year as part of a sponsored outreach classroom excursion. We were lucky to give them a talk and demonstration at our experimental garden. One of the students asked me what the point of science is. This question threw me for a loop at first. It’s funny how sometimes one can have a blinding flash of the obvious when a kid asks a question and you gotta come up with a meaningful answer as quick as you can. Well, I surprised myself with my answer. I told those students that the point of science is telling true stories, and helping garner change with those truths. Look at that. Science is the practice of telling true stories. This small experience in the arctic reiterated one of my closest-held core values: to create and support meaningful growth in an ever-changing world via truth, science, art, advocacy, and respect. I am grateful for this important re-learning of this crucial lesson.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I would highly recommend reading one of the original authors and key founders of the field of social psychology, Gordon Allport. His books investigate the origins and functions of prejudice, ingroup/outgroup facilitation, personality, religion, conflict, scapegoating, and so many more unconscious processes which drastically affect our daily experiences. I am currently re-reading his entire collection with the intention of re-humanizing my scholastic outlook. Check out some of these titles: “The Nature of Prejudice; Becoming: Basic Considerations for a Psychology of Personality; The Individual and His Religion: A Psychological Interpretation; ABC’s of Scapegoating; The Bigot In Our Midst: An Analysis Of His Psychology; The psychology of rumor; Tensions That Cause Wars” and so much more.

Contact Info:

• Website: derekjolley.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/djoll/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cuddledrug
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SummerHoldsTheEarth
• Other: https://TicketToRide.band/

Image Credits
All photos courtesy of Robin Drive Recordings.