Phius Quality Assurance Manager Tony Lisanti provides a rundown of the recent Rockland Leadership Forum on Climate Change.
On Friday, Sept. 23, The Columbia University Climate School hosted a Rockland Leadership Forum on Climate Change. The event was held at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) located in Palisades, New York overlooking the Hudson River.
Having earned several degrees including graduate level, I still could not help the feeling of being on the wrong side of the velvet ropes at a VIP event. How did they allow me on Columbia's campus?! Regardless of my insecurities of treading on hallowed academic grounds, the event and Columbia’s Climate School’s mission and values are of great interest and in line with those of Phius (and the topics that will be discussed at PhiusCon 2022).
The mission of the school is stated as follows:
“Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory seeks fundamental knowledge about the origin, evolution, and future of the natural world. Our scientists study the planet from its deepest interior to the outer reaches of its atmosphere, on every continent and in every ocean, providing a rational scientific basis for the difficult choices facing humanity.”
The campus is the heart of the Columbia Climate School and is its largest unit, with an annual budget of $70 million (federally funded) and is one of the largest employers in Rockland County, where the campus resides. Some of their achievements include mapping ocean floors, research in predicting El Nino events, enforcing nuclear test bans through seismic detection, building the first lunar seismometer to be used by the Apollo astronauts, providing key evidence in plate tectonics, and being a leader in understanding the mechanisms of climate and sea level change.
The event was hosted by Rockland County’s Director of Economic Development Lucy Redzeposki and was headlined by Maureen E. Raymo, Ph.D., the co-founding dean of the Columbia Climate School and Director of LDEO. The forum also featured panelists Melissa Everett Ph.D., the Executive Director of Sustainable Hudson Valley; Mark Maloney, of Orange and Rockland Utilities; and Timothy Hoffman of Columbia Technology Ventures. Attendees included local government representatives, sustainability coordinators, architects, engineers and business owners from the region. The purpose was to bring local government, sustainability experts, and business leaders together to discuss how each can assist one another.
Dr. Raymo presented compelling data to support the trend on climate change and highlighted some of Columbia’s research in combating it. Examples included the first carbon capture sequestration project facility in Iceland, completion of the first successful experiments for carbon capture and sequestration as well as having 3 of the 15 teams chosen under Elon Musk’s X-Prize Carbon Removal competition located at Lamont-Doherty – pretty impressive stuff.
The presentation continued with local accomplishments such as Rockland County’s Education initiatives with middle and high school students. There was also a focus on social equity and how incorporating climate change into local planning initiatives, particularly in disadvantaged communities, needs to be a priority.
The forum then provided a series of short presentations from each of the panelists. Melissa Everett outlined the work done by Sustainable Hudson Valley through numerous organizations including Cornell Cooperative Extension, Scenic Hudson, and numerous Counties and not-for-profit organizations stretching from the New York City border up to the Hudson Highlands. Some of the work has resulted in a more regional thought and planning process for siting large-scale renewable energy projects where they would be least objectionable.
Mark Maloney of Orange and Rockland Utilities summarized the most recent residential and commercial programs and available funding for efficiency upgrades and electrification. Timothy Hoffman represented the venture capital portion, discussing how Columbia Technology Ventures supports and incubates local businesses. Several businesses that benefited from their business incubator were on hand, including Urban Electric Power which performs research and manufactures commercially available alkaline-based batteries for residential, commercial and even utility-scale back-up power and energy storage. I am personally familiar with this company and have toured their plant here in Rockland several times.
The Forum wrapped up with short breakout sessions during which each of the panelists hosted a roundtable discussion on ideas, innovations and ways to cooperate and communicate. I sat in with Melissa Everett to discuss regional challenges with the built environment and how we can take advantage of opportunities to include Phius building standards.
The challenge in this area north of New York City is how to attract business to the region in a sustainable way. There is a tendency for economic development representatives to tread lightly when courting prospective companies while simultaneously not scaring them away. In the end, there was agreement that we all have much more to do, but we recognized there is a tremendous amount of expertise and now funding available to further efforts of combating climate change. There was a commitment to continue this regional “conversation” and approach.
The Forum was not intending to solve the problems in 3-4 hours, but rather raise awareness and share knowledge. Clearly all the pieces are in place, as are the aptitude and expertise to attract business in a more climate-responsible manner. I was able to extend a personal invitation to Dr. Raymo to attend PhiusCon 2022. She expressed great interest and mentioned she would try to send a representative if she could not attend herself. If she – or a representative from Columbia – attends PhiusCon, that can only lead to good things.
