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KEYNOTE: 9:00 - 9:55 AM (EDT)
Robin W. Kimmerer
Author: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
As a writer and a scientist, her interests in restoration include not only restoration of ecological communities, but restoration of our relationships to land. She holds a BS, MS, and PhD in Botany. She is the author of numerous scientific papers on plant ecology, bryophyte ecology, traditional knowledge and restoration ecology.
10:00 - 10:55 AM (EDT)
Dr. Lily Odarno
Director of CATF’s Energy and Climate Innovation Program, Africa
She leads CATF’s effort to address the dual need of expanding affordable energy in developing economies and building a global decarbonized energy system. Her work focuses on development-centric energy transition pathways, utility markets, and technology innovation for low-carbon energy development in Africa.
Dr. Peter Reich
Professor; Director of the Institute for Global Change Biology (IGCB) at UMich; Distinguished McKnight University Professor
Dr. Peter Reich, a renowned expert in forest ecology, has conducted global change research on plants, soils, and ecosystems across a range of scales.
Reich’s work is multi-faceted and touches upon various aspects of terrestrial ecology, attempting to link fundamental physiology with community dynamics and ecosystem structure and function, within the context of the myriad of global environmental challenges that face us. This includes studying the effects on ecosystems of rising CO 2 and associated climate change, biodiversity loss, and wildfire.
Presentation: A guide to stopping climate change and enhancing social justice: a global perspective
11:00 - 11:55 AM (EDT)
Neeshad Shafi
Climate Activist & Co-Founder, Arab Youth Climate Movement Qatar
Neeshad’s work encompasses mainstreaming climate change issues across sectors and at multiple scales from national to local. His passion for youth advocacy and grassroots work in Qatar lead to visible impact when he co-founded the Arab Youth Climate Movement Qatar, a first, registered, Independent, youth lead grassroots non-profit association in the State of Qatar. His work in Middle East region has supported private sector, NGO’s, governments and multinational agencies in taking evidence-based decisions and deliver impact on the ground.
Dr. Frederick W. Miller
NIH Scientist Emeritus; Former Head of Environmental Autoimmunity Group; Co-established of the International Myositis Assessment and Clinical Studies Group (IMACS); Established the Myositis Genetics Consortium (MYOGEN)
His work in the field of autoimmune diseases spans four decades and involves many aspects of the environmental risk factors, epidemiology, immunology, genetics, pathogenesis, evaluation, and treatment of immune-mediated diseases.
Presentation: The Roles of the Environment and Climate Change in the Increases of Autoimmunity and Autoimmune Diseases
12:00 - 12:55 PM (EDT)
Eric Fine
Project Manager, Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
Expanding work into Latin America to support partner organizations at Yale, managing fellowships, presenting research and tools, and running workshops on climate communications. Prior to YPCCC, Eric was an outdoor educator taking people on expeditions throughout the Americas and Europe. Watching glaciers recede in Patagonia over ten years inspired him to pursue a Masters of Environmental Science at Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental.
Charlotte McCurdy
Assistant Professor, The Design School; Senior Global Futures Scientist, Global Futures Scientists and Scholars
Charlotte McCurdy is an assistant professor of industrial design in The Design School. She is an award-winning designer and researcher who works at the intersection of emerging technology, futures, and existential threats. Her work on carbon-negative materials, “After Ancient Sunlight,” debuted as part of “Nature — The Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial” in 2019, won the Experimental category in the 2019 FastCompany Innovation by Design Awards and was most recently on view at The Design Museum, London. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, CNN, Dezeen, Wallpaper, and Vogue, and has been supported by the MacArthur Foundation, Swarovski, The UN Office for Partnerships, and Science Sandbox. She is an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University where she teaches courses at the intersection of climate change, design research, and experimental design. She holds a MID from the Rhode Island School of Design and a BA in Global Affairs from Yale University.
Presentation: Fashion, Algae, and Tangible Visions of a Regenerative Future
2:00 - 2:55 PM (EDT)
Dr. Renée Lertzman
Climate Psychologist and Author
She pursued a Master of Arts in environmental communications at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, where she worked with renowned researchers in rhetoric, geography, anthropology, and psychology. She then went on to complete my PhD at the Cardiff University School of Social Sciences in the UK. Her PhD focused on people living in the Great Lakes region, leading to her premise of the “myth of apathy.” It also sparked the topic for her TED Talk in 2019 on why we need to focus first and foremost on “attuning” to the very real anxieties, ambivalence and aspirations many of us are experiencing, the “double binds” that can leave many feeling stalled out and paralyzed, and what to do about it.
Presentation: Becoming Guides: The psychology of climate leadership
Dr. Tessa Hill
Professor at College of Letters and Science at UCDavis; Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences; Professor at Bodega Marine Laboratory; Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute
Research interests include climate change, both past and present, and understanding the response of marine species to environmental perturbation. Tessa leads an industry-academic partnership to understand the consequences of ocean acidification on shellfish farmers on the Northern California coast.
3:00 - 3:55 PM (EDT)
Dr. Robert Dubrow - Canceled
Robert Dubrow, MD, PhD is Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Yale School of Public Health.
In 2015, moved by what he sees as the greatest public health challenge in this century, he committed himself to a new direction in the field of climate change and health, and became founding Faculty Director for an initiative that grew into the Yale Center on Climate Change and Health, for which he continues to serve as Faculty Director. The Center utilizes research, education, and public health practice to help safeguard the health of human populations from adverse impacts of climate change and human activities that cause climate change. The Center works with academic, government, and civil society partners and aims to make local, national, and international impact and to integrate social justice into all of its work. Dr. Dubrow's research focuses on adverse health effects of heat and air pollution. He also has interests in the benefits and harms of air conditioning, in climate change and health in the Caribbean, in health equity issues as they relate to climate change, and in early warning systems for vector-borne diseases. His previous research focused on the epidemiology of cancer and HIV.
Presentation: Climate Change Mitigation: Protecting the Health of Current and Future Generations
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