Listening to Pros at Work

By Anne Stephenson,
Campus Outreach and Climate Fellows Coordinator
Clean Air-Cool Planet

Anne Stephenson

 

As some of our reader might remember, Jennifer, Claire and I are teaching an on-line Carbon Management Course for the new UMASS Dartmouth Certificate in Sustainable Development.  We recently interviewed our friend and colleague Brett Pasinella, from the UNH Sustainability Academy, for the benefit of our students.  But the conversation was so interesting, we thought our blog readers would enjoy listening too!  Tune in to me and Brett talking about the challenging transition of greenhouse gas inventory to carbon management plan, and about how specific reduction goals have changed the UNH community’s attitudes towards energy projects. 

In the second file, Brett takes time to describe how he and his colleagues tackle the challenge of evaluating the communication, education, and participatory elements of carbon reduction projects, and not just energy dollars or tons of carbon saved.  Brett also shares his tips for succeeding in the growing field of carbon management and how one succeeds at “being a jack-of-all-trades and a master-of-none”. 

So tune in!  And tell us what you think!  At CA-CP we think one of the most challenging aspects of carbon management is ensuring that inventories become reduction plans, and that those reduction plans, in turn, become institutionalized in the everyday workings of an organization.  UNH has done both better than most.  And like the excellent participant in our sustainability community that they are, they are remarkably open about the challenges they face(d).   Click here to hear their story!  (click title to play – right-click, then save-as to download)

Transition to Plan

Evaluating Projects

Postcards from the Edge

By Anne Stephenson,
Campus Outreach and Climate Fellows Coordinator
Clean Air-Cool Planet

Anne Stephenson

A title of a great film, but actually the title should read “Postcards that Saved Me from the Edge”.  This week I was the (seemingly random) recipient of two lovely postcards from Sue and Karen.  Sue and Karen are the power-houses behind random acts of postcard kindness — sending pep talks in the mail.  And I was the happy recipient of these two kind notes below:

 

Googling “postcard underground” and the two authors revealed no blog chronicling their good deeds, so I’m forced to say thank you on our blog, and hope that they know that their postcards made my week… month even.  Doing carbon management and global education work can be downright lousy sometimes, especially when even your favorite escape, reading the New Yorker in the bubble bath, is ruined by their excellent and now all-too-frequent global warming reporting.  Damn them.  And I drive to work (drive mind you, not bike) in freak storms and heat waves more and more often.  And don’t even get me started on the Governor’s race in Maine… discouraging. 350 seems a long way away.

But truly one of the most hope-inspiring things we do at Clean Air-Cool Planet is to help young professionals get started in the field. The enthusiasm and savvy the fellows bring to our organization makes 350 seem suddenly attainable. It was lovely that Sue and Karen stumbled on the program and told us to keep up the good work. We will. And we’ll keep up our other work too!

In the spirit of Sue and Karen, I thought I’d send a postcard to another colleague myself.  After all, that’s the name of another movie, right?  Pay It Forward?

Dear Julia,

With our desks just two feet away for the past year, I couldn’t help but notice that you’re the mom of three. I think you deserve a pep-talk postcard for being a working-mom who educates her children about sustainability at every turn… somehow between the office, soccer, and homework; your kids share your passion and commitment to low-carbon eating and energy conservation.  They know more about PV panels than any other NH-ites under the age of 13, and their knowledge of renewables and technical solutions is paired with an appreciation for the great outdoors. While I will never take myself (let alone any babies) outdoor camping with no tents, or winter camping (eye rolling), I have enormous respect for the priority you’ve placed on educating them about our planet.

Thanks for being a workplace inspiration for sustainability outside of the office!  Keep it up! Your kids will be the one who solve this thing, right? Annie.

A New Class of Leaders

By Claire Roby
Carbon Accounting Coordinator,
Clean Air-Cool Planet

Last week we held the closing reception for our third year of the Clean Air-Cool Planet Summer Climate Fellowship program. We had great projects and Fellows in 2008 and 2009, but I think something truly special happened with this year’s six fellows.       

As always at the conclusion of a summer’s Fellowship program, the staff at CA-CP and invited guests heard the results of each fellow’s project, from analyzing life cycle data for CA-CP’s CHEFS project to working with our partner VHB to research how innovative carbon management solutions can be transferred from one sector to another. You can read more about each of their projects here.       

Like their predecessors in “classes” past, this year’s Fellows – in addition to the valuable on-site job experience – also received several different opportunities for professional development, from presentations by CA-CP’s Brooks Yeager on short-lived climate forcers to a discussion led by CA-CP’s Dr. Anne Stephenson and former climate fellow Dovev Levine on how to choose a graduate program.

Anne with the 2010 Fellows

But the most fulfilling part for me, as a former Fellow and a current CA-CP staff member, was coming back three months after meeting the summer fellows to witness their transformation into a team of six committed climate professionals. At the closing reception in Portsmouth’s 100 Club, the six of them presented our office with a beautiful potted plant—autographed in sharpie! They thanked CA-CP for the mentorship and support they had received over the summer, and the next morning most of them launched an impromptu trip to Boston to hang out with each other for the weekend.

Perhaps it was the camp-like initiation they underwent back in June at Laudholm Farm in Wells, Maine; maybe it was the smaller “class” size; maybe it was that five of the six worked on projects close to Portsmouth and so got to know and spend time with each other. Whatever the case, this group “clicked” in a way that truly made their work and experience “larger than the sum of its parts.”

The Fellows with CA-CP staff

This is not, of course, to take away in anyway from the amazing work of our past fellows – several of whom joined us on the 19^th for the soiree send off for this year’s group. We still cite the work of our Fellows past – and enjoy hearing of their continued successes, which only serves to confirm Clean Air-Cool Planet’s good fortune in having found, year after year, talented, bright and energetic young people for our Climate Fellows program.  

I think I can speak for our whole office when I say that we were delighted to send this year’s Fellows off as a new class of trained, inspired young climate professionals. While each of the CA-CP and partner programs are delivering solutions to global warming, contributing to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, what is even more important is leveraging these programs to create a cadre of the experienced professionals necessary to implement the economy-wide reductions and adaptations we so vitally need.