Fighting climate change through "shared vision and purpose"

What are the challenges IBES faces in terms of translating research into viable solutions?

One of the key lessons I’ve learned is that we need to make things concrete for folks on the ground. That can take any number of different forms, but saying that heat extremes are going to increase tenfold in the next decade is a very abstract concept. It really doesn’t land until it’s your city that’s the hotspot for a scorching heat wave. Then, all of a sudden, it’s everybody’s concern. It can’t continue to be this way.

Brown has the capacity to change the narrative around climate change to one that is grounded in science and data and contains accurate information that the average person can relate to and understand. As somebody who’s been engaged in climate communication for years now, I’ve learned that communications skills are critical to a comprehensive approach to climate solutions. Faculty need to be effective communicators and stewards of their own expertise in the broader communication landscape.  

Brown students are among the most ardent climate activists in the nation. How will you involve more students in IBES work?

Before I arrived at Brown, I had read quite a bit about the advocacy roles that students have played in climate solutions on campus and how we can center climate justice as a particular theme. If we’re aiming for durable, replicable climate solutions, those solutions must be grounded in justice and equity. That’s something that really leverages Brown’s ethos and Brown’s history. But, it’s critical that we don’t think of students as having to always be self-organizing and self-sustaining. We are a community of faculty, students, and staff who can and should work together in shared purpose. Part of that involves keeping IBES aligned with student groups that already exist and making sure they have access to our resources and expertise. 

There’s an opportunity for students to leverage this campus as a laboratory for low-carbon technologies, policies, and practices. I think they’d love nothing more than to be part of a change that will also give them new skills.

What are the key resources for IBES that you would like to have supported through philanthropy?

We need to grow our faculty expertise in specific areas through targeted fundraising. We don’t have many joint appointments with engineering right now. We don’t have many joint appointments with policy folks and economists. I’d also like to provide the sustained support and infrastructure for large teams to tackle this complex set of challenges. It generally takes multiple years to bring these kinds of teams together to compete for large funding opportunities at the federal level. 

Then, there’s the next generation. How can we build up our educational offerings to engage more students? Master’s programming could bring in students from outside of Brown, people from all different walks of the professional landscape, to think about what kind of training they need to contribute to climate solutions.

Why should donors be interested in giving to support IBES at this moment in time?

Brown has an opportunity to be a global leader in the space of climate solutions. Climate change impacts every aspect of our lives already. In my mind, there’s no greater challenge of our day, and there’s no greater time to make progress on this challenge. Brown is a place where useful climate change models can take root, and it could be the place where the solutions become part of its legacy.

So many of the pieces are already in place here, but we do need to find ways to bring them together and do so extremely quickly. That’s going to require near-term resourcing. With help, we can put something together that will have the lasting, scalable impact that this challenge demands right now. It is Brown’s for the taking, if we can come together in shared vision and purpose.