Last fall, I attended the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21), where I met Joyce Coffee, a self-described “Midwest-based adaptation maven” and an advocate for corporate sustainability solutions. I recently reconnected with Joyce to discuss the role of adaptation in global climate leadership and how governments, nonprofits and businesses are innovating …
By Sanaz Arjomand, M.S. in Environmental Policy 2016 As I’ve seen firsthand as the American Farmland Trust (AFT) New York Policy Intern, it is an exciting time to be an agri-environmental advocate in New York State. From Governor Cuomo’s record-breaking $300 million Environmental Protection Fund budget proposal to nationally-ranked farmland …
What does leadership in energy efficiency policy look like? www.genesys-project.eu Energy efficiency is an enormous field with numerous different stakeholders, such as utility companies, non-governmental organizations, and the general public. Although each group can vary in its goals and methods of affecting change in the energy efficiency arena, they all …
Big Sky Country. What runs through your mind when you read those three words? A never-ending canopy of blue skies, perhaps? The wide open spaces of ranch land, home to cowboys and cattle? Or crystal-clear rivers teeming with trout, meandering through green meadows bordered by snow-capped peaks? For me, and …
While conservation efforts are often delineated by geographical region, their impacts are worldwide. Leading and participating in this charge can be overwhelming, but I had the opportunity to speak with two leaders who embrace this challenge to get work done. Kate Brown and Cate Owren are two amazing people I had …
Having the opportunity to come to Oaxaca and closely study the region’s water crisis and reform process was a great experience. It gave me the chance to learn more about the politics of water but also to understand those politics in relation to how a lack of access to …
We met Señor Juan José Consejo, Director of the Institute of Nature and Society of Oaxaca (INSO ), again on a cool morning in the mountains above the central valley. Upon stepping out of the van I immediately noticed the contrast between the urban center of Oaxaca de Juarez and …
Author: Kevin Zhou Photo Credit: Gabrielle Weiss On our second day in Oaxaca, we were fortunate to have an INSO staff member, Vincent Aba, introduce us to the Intelligent Water Use Program (PIA). PIA is one solution to solve the shortage and cost of water for users in the city …
Author: Gabrielle Weiss, CEP Student Our class arrived in Oaxaca late on Monday the 25th and on Tuesday morning, we began our studies. We walked down the cobblestone streets of the colonial center of the Ciudad Oaxaca de Juárez (Oaxaca City) toward the central square, called the Zócalo. Flanked by …
Wicked problems call for new institutions! The problems that the world and society are facing today are of the very complex and intractable sort, wicked problems that span value systems, disciplines, and knowledge bases. Climate change is one of these. It is an economic, scientific, and social issue of spectacular …
