Category: On The Environment

Michael Méndez: Climate Policy and the Environmental Justice Movement

Michael Méndez: Climate Policy and the Environmental Justice Movement

Climate change is fundamentally about people. In California, environmental justice activists have galvanized around human impacts of climate action—such as air pollution, poverty alleviation, and green jobs—to build a policy response that focuses on local communities and public health. Dr. Michael Méndez, assistant professor of environmental planning and policy at the University of California, Irvine, joins Charles Harper (YSE ’22) to discuss his book, Climate Change from the Streets: How Conflict and Collaboration Strengthen the Environmental Justice Movement, and the sometimes contentious history of incorporating environmental justice and the concerns of low-income people of color into climate change policy.

Hana Vizcarra: Climate Risk and Wall Street

Hana Vizcarra: Climate Risk and Wall Street

U.S. financial regulators lag behind other countries in requiring corporations to disclose their financial risks from climate change. Hana Vizcarra, staff attorney at Harvard Law School’s Environmental & Energy Law Program, joins Charles Harper (YSE ’22) to discuss the financial sector, climate risk disclosure, and how courts and President Biden’s SEC can improve climate reporting. Hana contributed a chapter to the recently released book, Values at Work: Sustainable Investing and ESG Reporting, which explores how companies, investors, and regulators can respond to pressing environmental and social issues.

Aisha Saad: Improving Corporate Sustainability Reporting

Aisha Saad: Improving Corporate Sustainability Reporting

Aisha Saad, a Fellow of the Program on Corporate Governance at Harvard Law School, joins Jhena Vigrass (YSE ’22) to discuss the current challenges of corporate sustainability reporting and investing in ESG funds. Aisha contributed to the recently released book, Values at Work: Sustainable Investing and ESG Reporting, which explores how companies and investors can respond to pressing environmental and social issues.

Sue Biniaz: The Future of International Climate Cooperation

Sue Biniaz: The Future of International Climate Cooperation

Sue Biniaz, a lecturer at Yale Law School and former lead climate lawyer for the U.S. State Department, joins Jhena Vigrass (YSE ’22) and Charles Harper (YSE ’22) to discuss what might lie in store for the Paris Agreement and international climate cooperation after the U.S. election in November.

Tatiana Schlossberg: The Hidden Impacts of our Consumption

Tatiana Schlossberg: The Hidden Impacts of our Consumption

Tatiana Schlossberg, an award-winning journalist and author of Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don’t Know You Have, joins Jhena Vigrass (YSE ’22) and Charles Harper (YSE ’22) to talk about individual consumption and action on climate change.

Amanda Maxwell: Capital, Resilience, and Trade in Latin America

Amanda Maxwell: Capital, Resilience, and Trade in Latin America

Amanda Maxwell, Director of the Latin America Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council, recently spoke with Alix Kashdan (FES ’20). Amanda discussed sustainable capital for Latin America, climate change challenges in the region, and challenges and opportunities in North American trade.

Barry Hill: The Constitutional Right to a Healthy Environment

Barry Hill: The Constitutional Right to a Healthy Environment

Barry Hill, a visiting scholar at the Environmental Law Institute and an adjunct professor of law at Vermont Law School – as well as the former Director of the Office of Environmental Justice at the EPA – joins Alix Kashdan (FES ‘20) and Liz Bourguet (FES ‘20) to talk about the constitutional right to a healthy environment.

Thomas Lovejoy: Biodiversity on a Changing Planet

Thomas Lovejoy: Biodiversity on a Changing Planet

Thomas Lovejoy, university professor in the Environmental Science and Policy department at George Mason University and dedicated conservation biologist, joins Alix Kashdan (FES ’20) and Liz Bourguet (FES ’20) to talk about the importance of biodiversity in the face of climate change.

Commissioner of Connecticut DEEP Katie Dykes

Commissioner of Connecticut DEEP Katie Dykes

Katie Dykes, the Commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, joins Alix Kashdan (FES ’20) and Liz Bourguet (FES ’20) during the Yale Environmental Dialogue to talk about her new role as Commissioner, including her energy goals for the state and what she is most excited to work on.