Municipal Matters: Building Capacity for Local Climate Conversations (Online)

Join us for a discussion of how local governments can foster productive conversations about climate policies in today’s chaotic information environment.

This virtual event will launch a new report from UBC’s Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions entitled, “Municipal Matters: Building Capacity for Local Climate Conversations.”

We will be joined by Rosalind Donald, Assistant Professor of Climate, Environmental Justice, Media, and Communication at American University as well as Amber Bennett, Executive Director at Re.Climate. The webinar will also feature report authors who will discuss the main findings and paths forward.

Speaker bios:

Heidi Tworek, Professor of History and Public Policy, Director of the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions

Maddie Sides, CSDI researcher, co-author of Municipal Matters, and public policy student at the UBC SPPGA

Ghassan Hamzeh, CSDI researcher, co-author of Municipal Matters, and public policy student at the UBC SPPGA

Rosalind Donald researches how climate change communication can be made more just and effective by examining the links between histories of environmental injustice and the current climate debate. She holds a PhD in Communications from Columbia University and was a Postdoctoral Associate in Environmental Justice and Communication at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Before she began her PhD, she was Deputy Editor of Carbon Brief, a climate science and policy website, where she specialized in climate communication and disinformation.

Amber Bennett is one of Canada’s top climate communication strategists and capacity builders. Amber works with groups across the country, bridging the gap between research and practice. She led the groundbreaking Alberta Narratives Project and supported much of the foundational work to pilot and build Re.Climate.