Global and national leaders in sustainability and climate came together last week, alongside students and researchers from the Columbia Climate School, for an afternoon of meaningful discussion on “the most critical issue of our time: climate change,” as Alexis Abramson, dean of the Columbia Climate School, noted in her opening remarks.
As part of this year’s NYC Climate Week, the Climate School Showcase highlighted the Climate School’s role as a hub for diverse expertise, perspectives and disciplines by fostering collaboration to address some of the complex challenges of the climate crisis and their effects across sectors and communities, and to brainstorm solutions for a more sustainable future. The sessions included conversations, interdisciplinary panels, student presentations and even plant-based snacks provided by Impossible Foods.
The showcase was an “opportunity to convene leaders from government and industry and academia alongside our own faculty and students and researchers to spark new ideas, shared bold approaches and drive meaningful action together,” Abramson told attendees, before introducing the first speaker, Armando Paíno Henríquez Dajer, minister of the environment and natural resources of the Dominican Republic.
In conversation with Jeff Schlegelmilch, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Henríquez Dajer discussed his Ministry’s collaboration with Columbia World Projects, on a pilot network of community resilience centers in the Dominican Republic, which aim to strengthen local capacity and climate adaptation plans.
If we don’t change the mentality of the people through education about climate change and sustainability, we cannot make a difference, Henríquez Dajer said. “Since the resilience center project was presented to me, I fell in love with it. We are trying to bring climate change understanding to poor and marginalized communities so they can prepare for the changes that are going to be happening,” he said; these centers “will change lives and save lives.”
Despite contributing only 0.1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the Dominican Republic is one of the countries that is very vulnerable to climate change, said Henríquez Dajer. He pointed to the sargassum invasion that has been blanketing most of their coastland and affecting all of their industries, including tourism and fishing, as one visible consequence of climate change, along with longer droughts, higher temperatures and a changing rainy season.
“We need to work together as a region,” Henríquez Dajer added. We know the climate crisis is too big to solve as a single country, he said.
“If we don’t do our job [in the fight against climate change], these actions are going to impact the whole planet directly or indirectly. Some fights take years, others take decades. But what we cannot do is quit,” he said.
Next, Abramson introduced Rob Bonta, the attorney general of California. “He has led California’s effort to defend and advance clean car and clean energy standards. He has taken strong enforcement action against corporate polluters and worked to ensure that environmental justice is a priority in statewide climate policies. His leadership reflects California’s role as both the national and global model, demonstrating that ambitious climate action can go hand-in-hand with equity and justice,” she said, before Bonta joined her on stage.
“Litigation is one tool in the toolbox. But I will respectfully submit that right now is the time to use all tools in the toolbox” to tackle climate change, Bonta told the room.
“Now is an important moment. I know it’s a time of concern, anxiety, maybe sadness, maybe even fear. And I understand all those feelings, he said. “Sometimes people want to turn away from what we’re seeing because it’s too much. They want to turn off the television because we’ve had enough of the bad news. And I understand that, too.” Turning away, he continued, does not make the issues go away.
“There are many more chapters to be written in the story of New York…of California, in the storyline of America. And you and I, we’re going to write it together,” Bonta said. “Democracy thrives on participation…People power is the most potent power that there is.”
To the students in the room, Bonta offered these closing remarks: “Continue to be truth seekers, truth tellers, rely on the facts, follow the science. That’ll lead you to good places….I will always bet on American ingenuity and the American people to tackle any problem, even the ones that seem existential, like climate change.”
Next on the agenda was a fireside chat with Abramson and Peter McGuinness, CEO of Impossible Foods, who spoke about the many opportunities and challenges of producing and popularizing plant-based meat to carnivores, flexitarians, vegetarians and vegans alike.
“You can’t just go to everyone and say, you need to immediately stop eating meat, or else, right? It’s going to be a progression. These are habits that are ingrained in people’s lives for hundreds of years,” McGuinness explained; you can promote gradual change. Marketing sustainable and plant-based products that are better for the environment can be tricky, he said, because unfortunately “just not enough people care about it—and that’s upon us to change. If you want a big business, and you want to get as many people to try your product, you want the widest aperture possible, so we’re centered around delicious and nutritious.” If we have a delicious product, he added, then “the more food is consumed and the more mission is realized.”
Reflecting on his career and leadership, McGuinness said, “Careers are not a straight line…there are going to be some fits and starts. It’s that persistence over the resistance. It’s that perseverance. It’s the combination of confidence and humility….Go after something that you like and you’re passionate about, so at least you have fun while you’re doing it.”
In “Shaping the Next Generation of Leaders,” students from the inaugural cohort of impact lab scholars presented projects from their work across five fields: food, energy, water, built environment and disasters. Initiatives ranged from creating plastics policy toolkits for New York State to addressing concerns about critical mineral mining in local communities to building decision-support tools for a variety of stakeholders (community-based organizations, policymakers, finance professionals) after a natural disaster, and more.
To close out the event, a panel discussion on “Impact in the Classroom, the Lab and the World,” moderated by Jeff Shaman, senior vice dean of the Climate School, invited four researchers and educators from the Climate School to talk about the importance of applied research and fieldwork in equipping students to bridge the gap between learning and leadership. The panelists were Kristina Douglass, associate professor of climate; Radley Horton, professor of climate; Johanna Lovecchio, director of impact programs at the Climate School’s Office of Engagement and Impact; and Vicki Ferrini, senior research scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, which is part of the Climate School.
First and foremost, researchers must focus on “community and building trust,” said Ferrini, who works with scientists and institutions all over the world to map the ocean floor. “What we do as scientists and practitioners is valuable, but if we’re not connecting to the people who have the potential to benefit from the work that we’re doing and join us and elevate and accelerate, then we’re missing a big opportunity.”
“Whatever your area of expertise, your experience and interest is, it’s going to be intersectional with climate and broader issues,” said Horton, and it’s vital to lean into the complexity of climate issues and to involve diverse decision makers.
“Partnership is a huge feature of the world” and the work we do, said Lovecchio. “We are really thinking through how we can reverse this one-way street of research to practice.”
“One of the most exceptional things about the Climate School is how diverse the students are,” Douglass said, not just in interests and background, but in terms of their career goals in every possible sector all over the world. They serve as an important reminder that “it is going to take everyone and the best of everyone to address the climate crisis,” she said.
As researchers, across disciplines, Douglass said the key role they can all play is figuring out the right questions to ask. “If we don’t get the right questions, it doesn’t really matter how fancy the techniques might be or how much data we have, we’re not necessarily going to come up with any kind of answer, results or solutions that are ultimately going to be helpful,” she said.