Join Climate Defiance and the Cooper Climate Coalition at The Cooper Union for the WORLD PREMIERE of episode 4 of The Price of Milk - The Kids Are Not Alright.

In school cafeterias, milk is inevitable. Even as younger generations trend towards dairy-free lifestyles—and students of color speak up about lactose intolerance—cartons of milk continue to find their way onto lunch trays. At 17, Marielle Williamson launched a lawsuit against the Los Angeles School District and USDA, fighting for her First Amendment rights to challenge the ubiquity of milk in schools. Her battle is kindred to the work of Leslie Martinez, a policy advocate who represents communities living with the effects of climate change and dairy pollution.

Screening to begin at 6:30pm in The Cooper Union Great Hall. Panel to follow featuring -

Producer Jen Maylack

Recent work includes producing the docuseries The Price of Milk, and co-producing projects like Netflix’s Britney vs. Spears and Amazon’s Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe. She began her television career working in late night comedy, before shifting into documentaries as an Associate Producer on projects including the Emmy News and Documentary nominated At The Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal on HBO. Jen earned her Master’s in Environmental Policy and Regulation from The London School Of Economics.

Director Nicholas Bruckman

Nicholas Bruckman is an Emmy-nominated director and founder of People’s Television, a NYC- and DC-based creative studio producing award-winning films and storytelling campaigns for the world's leading brands, foundations, and social movements. His feature documentary Not Going Quietly, about healthcare activist Ady Barkan, won both the Audience and Jury Awards at SXSW and was released to critical acclaim in theaters nationwide and on Hulu. His follow-up, Minted: The Rise (and Fall?) of the NFT, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released by Netflix earlier this year. Most recently, his docuseries The Price of Milk—which uncovers the hidden story behind the iconic “Got Milk?” campaign—had its world premiere at Tribeca in June.

Journalist Chloe Sorvino

Chloe Sorvino is a journalist whose work focuses on food, agriculture and climate change. She's the author of Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed and the Fight for the Future of Meat (Simon Element 2022) and leads coverage of food, drink and agriculture as a staff writer at Forbes Magazine. Over a decade of reporting at Forbes has brought her to In-N-Out Burger’s secret test kitchen, drought-ridden farms in California’s Central Valley, burnt-out national forests logged by a timber billionaire, and Costco's rotisserie chicken slaughterhouse in Nebraska. Sorvino serves as a steward on the Forbes Union unit council. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, NPR, the Financial Times, BBC, New York Magazine, Fast Company, Civil Eats, Modern Farmer, Salon and many more. She was featured in the documentary series The Price of Milk, which made its Tribeca Film Festival debut in 2025. She is a Cornell-certified Master Food Preserver.

Student Activist Marielle Williamson

Marielle Williamson is a dual degree sophomore majoring in International Relations and Public Policy at Duke University's campus in Kunshan, China. Her work bridges international advocacy and policy reform, from initiating a USDA lawsuit, to lobbying in Washington on food and agriculture bills--including the recently passed FISCAL Act. On campus, she leads an animal and environmental advocacy club, where she has hosted prominent voices like ethicist Peter Singer. Fluent in French and English, and proficient in Mandarin and Spanish, Marielle aspires to work on global climate policy with a focus on food systems.

Moderated by Cooper Alumna Alisa Petrosova

Alisa Petrosova is a first generation-Ukrainian-Armenian artist, writer, and narrative strategist shaping how the climate story is told across culture and media. She currently leads Strategic Communications at Spherical, a regenerative research and design studio. Petrosova’s work spans consulting on climate narratives in Hollywood—serving as a researcher and world-builder on Apple TV+’s Extrapolations—to exploring inherited understandings of place through urban design and coalition-building. After earning her master’s from Columbia Climate School, Petrosova became Director of Climate Storytelling Programs at Good Energy, where she worked with showrunners, studio executives, and writers to bring climate themes to the screen and helped shape industry-leading consulting services. Currently, she is developing a film with animator Gaia Alari on the experience of being homesick in one’s own home due to environmental degradation. Her work has appeared in NPR, Grist, and Frieze Magazine, and she frequently speaks at institutions such as Columbia University, NYU, and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2024, Petrosova was named a Grist 50 Climate Leader for her innovative contributions at the intersection of culture and climate.

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