As part of my year-long climate adaptation leadership program, our cohort is participating in three intensive, in-person sessions at different locations throughout the Pacific. The first week was in Hawai’i, exploring impacts from climate change and adaptation strategies in place across the state. Before we did anything else, we spent some time in the classroom examining priority issues and best practices for engaging local communities.
I was skeptical of the term “beneficial electrification” when I first heard it, mostly because I knew that more than half of our electricity in Pennsylvania was generated using fossil fuels. But when electric appliances are used in concert with energy efficiency measures, cleaner energy sources, and smart grid technology, beneficial electrification represents a meaningful step in addressing the climate crisis.
As my climate change leadership program continues, we’re exploring important topics about who gets to make decisions, what approaches might be effective, and why people might be resistant to change. During our first four months of virtual sessions, I’ve been thrilled to see themes from my own work come up in discussions that are relevant across our cohort, whether we’re talking about theory or practice.
This post marks five years of Radical Moderate! I had a lot of choices for topics related to the fifth anniversary gift of wood, but my recent examination of ‘90s nostalgia reminded me of an important cause I encountered as a young environmentalist: deforestation. There are many contributing factors to this big issue, but there are also some things we can do to help.
It’s been a long year, and I was feeling too burned out for resolutions (of which I usually make at least 10). But what if I made a resolution to have more fun… and backed it up with my own data on how to do that… and employed a color-coded spreadsheet? I’m embarking on something I’ve never done before: committing to one single resolution.
My cohort of climate leaders has already met a few times to kick off our year together in the Indo-Pacific Leadership Lab. I am thrilled and honored to be part of such an incredible group of people, and I’m already wrestling with some difficult concepts – notably that I can’t solve climate change on my own, and that we won’t solve it in our lifetime.
It was a frustrating and disappointing week at work, with some losses for public health and climate action. I told my team that “if it were easy, someone would have figured it out already.” That said, I am grateful for the opportunity to figure it out with 15 other leaders from around the world this coming year as part of the Indo-Pacific Leadership Lab.
In honor of Climate Week and our need for stronger, swifter climate action, this post examines the new Allegheny County ordinance calling for the creation of a Climate Action Plan, which will reference Pennsylvania’s and Pittsburgh’s existing plans. Therefore, it’s important we understand the assumptions and omissions present in these example Climate Action Plans and how their approaches will shape the county’s next steps.
After years of intermittent research and data collection, I’m ready to share what we already knew: we’re saving money by using less energy! But how much, and how long until we recoup the costs of the weatherization work we had done in our attic in May 2021? We’ll never know for sure, but this exercise was a fun exploration of that complex question.
Spring yard cleanup time is here, and I need to find the most effective and responsible way to deal with the weeds and brush that I’m pulling out of my yard. I was discouraged to learn that our municipality sends yard waste to the landfill (despite all the trappings of a closed-loop compost program), so I have to take matters into my own hands.