Author: Pam Berns
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Sustainability Nonprofits: Jobs with a Purpose
By Kirstie Dabbs Jobs in sustainability can be found in all sectors, from corporate to policy to nonprofit. Unlike government and for-profit organizations, nonprofits are specifically structured to serve a public benefit through their core mission, which all their activities are meant to support. This structure gives employees the opportunity to bring their values…
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The Divestment Movement
Will Fossil Fuel Divestment Usher in a New Era of Sustainable Growth? By Melanie Mason The fossil fuel divestment movement is gaining momentum as a large scale energy transition is underway. Over the past 5 years, major players have begun to divest from the fossil fuel industry and many financial analysts and environmentalists…
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Book Review: Silent Spring
Rachel Carson’s Groundbreaking Book Still Speaks to Us Today By Tamanna Mohapatra “In nature nothing exists alone.” This quote of Rachel Carson’s perfectly sums up the lessons from her groundbreaking book Silent Spring. First published in three serialized excerpts in the New Yorker in June of 1962, the book was published in September…
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Do the Math: Green Careers in Finance
Speaker Profile of EnterSolar’s Zaira Akhmedova By Pamela Berns Seven seems to be an auspicious number for Zaira Akhmedova. Her professional journey spanned seven years as she made her way from a degree in finance and accounting to her current position as Financial Strategy Manager at EnterSolar, one of the largest commercial solar developers…
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Community Solar Generates Economic and Social Power
By Ansh Sandhu Conventional power plants produce energy by burning fossil fuel to run turbines that produce electricity, which is then distributed via an extensive transmission system into our homes and businesses. Such systems are expensive to lay out, so utilities worldwide prefer to set these up in urban areas where the population density…
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Sustainability Goals Call For Ambitious Action
By Alexa Roccanova Though the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted business as usual, it has also heightened awareness of the fragile balance between nature and humanity. To some, the magnitude of the virus’s impact represents a culmination of enduring environmental, economic, and social issues. Sustainability presents a globally beneficial path forward; however, not unlike the…
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Interconnected Struggles: Sustainability and Racial Justice
By Melanie Mason and Kaitlyn Pohly The same structures that have landed us in the middle of our country’s current social unrest have disproportionately put people of color at risk for environmental hazards and health issues, including Covid-19. Social and environmental concerns are deeply interconnected, and those connections should inform the way that each…
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The Intersection of COVID and Climate: What Have We Learned?
By Kaitlyn Pohly In a post-quarantine, shelter-in-place, mask-wearing world, what does the fate of our climate look like? Amidst all of this upheaval, it’s hard to remember that just half a year ago sustainability was a rising priority on the public’s agenda; the debate about the climate and its subsequent socioeconomic implications was gaining momentum.…
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Interview: Reducing Greenhouse Gases from Buildings—Filling the Skills Gap
By Jude Jussim Tom Sahagian knows there’s no time left to dawdle in controlling the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from New York City’s buildings. The problem: There’s a shortage of people with the right skills to do it. Sahagian is not talking about policy wonks. “The life of the mind is not what’s going to…
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Film Review: The Story of Plastic
By Tamanna Mohapatra This documentary is in the same vein as the other popular “The Story Of…” series that first came to the public’s attention from founder Annie Leonard in 2007. I remember being very influenced by ‘The Story of Stuff’.” This movie is no different. The opening scene is a bit jarring yet…