A Virtual Symposium
From Concept to Action
A Pathway to Climate Justice
Friday, June 26, 2020
9:15am - 5:15pm EDT
Join us for our one-day virtual symposium!
About the Symposium
Climate change is an undeniable reality with severe consequences that will affect every sector of the global economy and touches every aspect of our lives. Our survival as a species requires a combination of greenhouse gas emission mitigation and climate change adaptation. However, the transition to greater climate resiliency is not guaranteed to be inclusive on a global scale or within societies. Wealthy, developed nations -- which have historically contributed the overall majority of existing greenhouse gas emissions -- will not necessarily face or feel the worst consequences of climate change. High-income countries are more likely to have economic resources to recover from extreme weather events compared to developing nations. Even within high-income countries, for example the U.S., economic resources are not uniformly distributed and often lower-income and historically marginalized communities bear the brunt of the changing climate.
Climate change threatens three sectors fundamental to human survival: health and livelihood, food and water availability, and economic and national security. Addressing these needs within a climate justice framework is crucial to ensuring that every inhabitant of our planet can thrive. As we transition away from a fossil-fuel based economy to one based on clean and renewable energy sources, we must be mindful of how this transition will influence the labor and educational skills needed to thrive in a cleaner, automated economy. We need to embrace a transition in the energy sector towards smaller, more resilient grids that are not subject to blackouts and ensure continuous access to power regardless of economic ability. Through all of these transitions, we need to ultimately address the fundamental question: Who will “pay” for mitigation and adaptation in a non-regressive manner? This symposium will have six panels on Food, Water, Health, Labor & Education, Financing, and Energy to address these points and encompass various aspects of climate justice.
This symposium is organized by the Energy and Climate Affinity Group of the AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowships Program. Please contact organizers at aaas.stpf.climate.justice@gmail.com
Posting on social media before/during/after the symposium?
Use our hashtag #Sci4ClimateJustice
Meet Your AAAS S&TPF Hosts
The views expressed at this symposium are the views of AAAS S&TPFs in their personal capacity and do not represent the U.S. Department/Agency they serve or its policies, or those of the U.S. Government.
Symposium Coordinators &
Climate & Energy Affinity Group Co-chairs
Caitlin Keating-Bitonti
AAAS S&TP Fellow
U.S. Department of State
Catherine Pomposi
AAAS S&TP Fellow,
USAID
Rukmani Vijayaraghavan
AAAS S&TP Fellow,
U.S. Department of Energy
Symposium Organizers, Panel Leads and Moderators
Ashley Pierce
AAAS S&TP Fellow, National Science Foundation
Ashley is an environmental scientist, her graduate work was focused on measuring and tracing sources of atmospheric pollutants. She is interested in science education and communication and building sustainable solutions to pressing environmental issues.
Kathryn Jackson
AAAS S&TP Fellow, DOE, Water Power Technologies Office
Katie's interests include intersections of water, environment, and material science. She earned her PhD working on a novel method of in-situ nanosilver and nanocopper formation in ceramic porous media for point-of-use drinking water applications with field work in South Africa. She currently is a Fellow working on the HydroWIRES Initiative at DOE, focused on understanding, enabling, and improving hydropower and pumped storage hydropower's contributions to reliability, resilience, and integration in a rapidly evolving electricity system.
Andrew Fang
AAAS S&TP Fellow, USAID
Andrew is a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow in the Office of Energy and Infrastructure at USAID. His prior research focused on the air pollution and health benefits of urban climate action in US and Chinese cities, including work estimating the health benefits of California's Cap-and-Trade program in disadvantaged communities. Andrew holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy.
Jenell Walsh-Thomas
AAAS S&TP Fellow, US Fish & Wildlife Service
Jenell is an environmental social scientist. For her PhD, her research focused on improving climate change communication through a mixed methods evaluation of the use of metaphors used to explain climate change concepts. She is dedicated to bridging the gap between science, policy, and society through strategic outreach, communication, and partnerships.
Nicole Scharko
AAAS S&TP Fellow, Environmental Protection Agency
Nicole Scharko is interested in how science and policy can work together to improve public health, especially regarding indoor air quality and how changes to the building operations may reduce exposures to indoor air pollutants.
Raleigh Martin
Congressional Science Fellow, American Geosciences Institute
Raleigh is a geoscientist with a research interest in understanding the formation of rivers and other earth-surface landscapes. Since 2017, he has been fully engaged in science policy, first as an AAAS S&T Policy Executive Branch Fellow working to increase public access to federally-funded research, and now as an AGI Congressional Science Fellow working on legislative efforts to address climate change.
Lyla Fadali
AAAS S&TP Fellow, Department of Energy
Lyla is a mathematician whose research interests include topological quantum field theory and related topics in low-dimensional topology. She is currently a AAAS S&T Policy Executive Branch Fellow hosted at the Department of Energy, where her work focuses on energy efficiency in manufactured housing.
Julian Reyes
AAAS S&TP Fellow, U.S. Department of State
Julian Reyes is a climate scientist who has experience working with a diverse set of stakeholders including farmers in rural communities and technical experts at international climate negotiations. His previous research focused on climate risks on agriculture using data analysis and visualization techniques.
Hannah Rabinowitz
AAAS S&TP Fellow, Department of Energy
Hannah is a geophysicist working on energy and water resilience as a AAAS S&TP fellow at DOE.
Pamela Thompson
AAAS S&TP Fellow, Environmental Protection Agency
Pam is an ecologist with a research background in understanding the effects of habitat fragmentation and climate change on plant-pollinator interactions, and bat ecology and conservation. Her work as a Fellow at the EPA is focused on using GIS and innovative data to minimize pesticide exposure to endangered species.
Jamie Meadows
AAAS S&TP Fellow, Department of Energy
Jamie is a microbiologist with a research background in bacterial engineering to produce biochemicals from renewable feedstocks and bacterial physiology and how it relates to pathogenesis. Currently as Fellow, she works on advancing the sustainable bioeconomy through innovative technologies.
Megan DeCesar
AAAS S&TP Fellow, Department of Energy
Megan is a AAAS S&TP fellow in the Solar Energy Technologies Office. Her background is in astronomy and astrophysics. At the DOE, she works on strategy for increasing the use of solar energy, with areas of focus including recycling and circular economy, open-access solar energy data, solar paired with pollinators and other agriculture, increasing community solar and other solar integration in states, and most recently, integrating solar into new home construction.
AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the largest general scientific society in the world. The Science & Technology Policy Fellowship (STPF) program offers hands-on opportunities to apply your scientific knowledge and technical skills to important societal challenges. After a yearlong assignment in the executive, legislative or judicial branch of the federal government in Washington, fellows become members of a large and influential network of policy-savvy leaders in government, academia, industry and nonprofits.
Learn more at stpf-aaas.org