Category: <span>Uncategorized</span>

Welcome to the Danger Ozone: The Negative Health Effects of Surface Ozone

Do you like to breathe? I hope so, because it’s an involuntary action that keeps us alive. Of the air I can breathe, clean air is my favorite. Polluted air is not clean air. Not only is it not fun to breathe (think of car exhaust), but it’s detrimental to your health. …

That Bites: How Climate Change Increases the Spread of Mosquito-Borne Diseases

Did you know that climate change has a lethal “bite” that may cost thousands of women their health, their lives and their future? “I spent ages blaming myself, the government and constantly asking myself why this happened to me.” This is how Vanessa Oliveira expressed her feelings of guilt and remorse after …

Nonprofit Leadership in New York City’s Energy Sector

As I’ve mentioned in my previous blogs about working for NYSERDA, New York City is going through a major energy transition. The State and City governments are both looking at ways to drastically change the energy landscape to include more distributed renewable sources of generation and to reduce energy usage, …

Bard College Students Organize Nationwide Dialog on Climate: Students in 20 States to Talk with Policy-Makers

For the last nine months, four students at Bard College in New York’s Hudson Valley have been meeting in a basement office on campus. Their mission: to catalyze a nationwide conversation about state-level action on climate change. Undergraduates Xaver Kandler and Maggie Berke, and environmental policy graduate students Meredith Lavalley and …

Energy, Climate, and Citizenship Education: An Interview with Eban Goodstein

On Monday April 4th, thousands of college and university students will be participating in the Power Dialog. Students and supporting faculty will engage in face-to-face dialogs with top environmental and energy officials in dozens of states. The topic? State-level action to help meet the US climate commitment of 30% cuts in …

My Time in Oaxaca

  Having the opportunity to come to Oaxaca and closely study the region’s water crisis and reform process was a great experience. It gave me the chance to learn more about the politics of water but also to understand those politics in relation to how a lack of access to …

El Pedregal: A Slow-Water Vision for Oaxaca

We met Señor Juan José Consejo, Director of the Institute of Nature and Society of Oaxaca (INSO ), again on a cool morning in the mountains above the central valley. Upon stepping out of the van I immediately noticed the contrast between the urban center of Oaxaca de Juarez and …

Oaxaca 2016: Rainwater Harvesting

Author: Kevin Zhou      Photo Credit: Gabrielle Weiss On our second day in Oaxaca, we were fortunate to have an INSO staff member, Vincent Aba, introduce us to the Intelligent Water Use Program (PIA). PIA is one solution to solve the shortage and cost of water for users in the city …

Oaxaca 2016 – Arriving in Oaxaca

Author: Gabrielle Weiss, CEP Student Our class arrived in Oaxaca late on Monday the 25th and on Tuesday morning, we began our studies. We walked down the cobblestone streets of the colonial center of the Ciudad Oaxaca de Juárez (Oaxaca City) toward the central square, called the Zócalo. Flanked by …

Trip to Japan: Education and Agriculture

Written by Elisabeth Darnell My name is Elisabeth Darnell and I was fortunate enough to receive funding from the Henry Luce Foundation to study organic agriculture in Japan. I graduated from Bard College in the class of 2015 with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental and Urban Studies. During my studies, …