As 2023 wrapped up, so did the first semester of the Northeast Climate Hub’s Graduate Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Fellows Program (GradCAMP).
The program kicked off in the fall with the acceptance of 20 scholars. This year’s central theme is Climate Equity. Over the next four months, the GradCAMP Speaker Series provided the opportunity for these scholars to engage with seven climate equity professionals from across North America. This series covered a variety of equity and justice topics including: a history of environmental and climate justice, health equity, tribal relations, urban agriculture, transformative change, and the inequities of flooding in the Northeast region. Notable contributions to the series were from Professor Gerald Torres of Yale University Law School who provided scholars with tangible examples of how tribal relations and natural resource conservation can coincide with co-creation and co-management, Dr. Maya Gislason of Simon Fraser University who gave insight into the equitable steps of climate adaptation planning for small communities outside of Vancouver, and Dr. Kristin Reynolds and Tagan Engel who shared case studies of urban agriculture in New York City. While a few of the speakers focused on research specific to the Northeast region, the scholars were also able to understand equity issues on a broader national scale. They found themselves relating and comparing case studies from across the country to their own individual work.
Moving forward, scholars will integrate what they learned from the Speaker Series into their existing climate and working lands research. They will team up in small groups to present webinars throughout the spring semester, which will be publicly available on the Northeast Climate Hub website.
The program will conclude with an in-person workshop on May 15th and 16th at Rutgers University. The workshop will provide an opportunity for scholars to create Climate Equity Factsheets that will share with the public the insights of their year of equity studies. The workshop will also feature an Equity and Justice Career Panel and site visits in the Newark, New Jersey area to provide scholars with insights into local climate equity issues.
Speaker Series