I dash down to the United Nations to participate in the latest talks on the future of planet stewardship, grab a quick lunch with the Ambassador from Seychelles who is seeking innovative policy advice, and then head to a meeting with mayors from across the world who are teaming up to take action on climate change. During my formative years in the Natural Resources Conservation (NRC) program at UBC’s Faculty of Forestry, I never thought my career trajectory would take me from the temperate rain forest of the West Coast to the bustling urban jungle of New York. Now instead of lacing up my caulks and running transects, I shine up my shoes and advise leaders on international climate change policy.
Global climate change is potentially the greatest risk to the resilience of our ecosystems, and threatens to undo many of the tremendous gains we have made in conservation and management over the past decades. Countries around the world are negotiating a new global climate change agreement due to be agreed in Paris at the end of this year and implemented from 2020. At the same time, however, there is growing attention to the initiatives by cities, regions, companies, and civil society groups around the world that are already acting to mitigate climate change and adapt to its effects. My work with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) seeks to build linkages among these diverse spheres to catalyze greater collective action and hope for the future.
Words that I read in my final year at UBC are now ringing true in my life, as the late Nobel laureate in economics Elinor Ostrom emphasized, “global solutions, negotiated at a global level—if not backed up by a variety of efforts at national, regional, and local levels—are not guaranteed to work effectively.” To the contrary, they are virtually doomed to fail. The mantra of “thinking globally and acting locally” that I adopted during my undergraduate years has been brought to a new level in my current undertakings.
I came to my position at NRDC by way of graduate studies at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. I never would have dreamed of attending the school if it hadn’t been for Dr Sally Aitken. During an informal conversation with her following a graduate school advising session, she suggested that I look into Yale’s offerings as it ft the professional program I was seeking. The policy-oriented Masters in Environmental Management program perfectly complemented the rigorous multi-disciplinary foundation the NRC program had helped me to forge. However, I hadn’t exactly come to the NRC program in a bee-line.
I initially enrolled in the Faculty of Arts at UBC, as I was eager to explore the full diversity of the university’s offerings and find a field that resonated with my passions. I happened to take the Introduction to Conservation course with Dr Peter Arcese and was immediately enthralled with the integration and application of the diverse disciplines of biology, sociology, anthropology, and political science that I had studied in silos through other classes. I soon learned that ironically the courses I had selected to explore were precisely the first year program requirements for the NRC degree. I knew that I had found my calling.
The Faculty of Forestry, and the NRC program in particular, truly nurture students’ abilities to make real impacts in peoples’ lives and in the world. The scientific discipline and cross-disciplinary skills the program cultivates are indispensable in my day-to-day job of translating the latest climate science into policy options and recommendations for leaders of all stripes. Some of my fondest memories from the NRC program were tromping around the alpine, grasslands, and aquatic ecosystems with world-renowned professors and world-class classmates. I am deeply grateful for the privilege to be part of the Faculty of Forestry’s global community, united across diverse urban and rural ecosystems the world over.
From Branchlines Spring 2015