Climate & Sustainability
As the climate changes due to human activities, our projects focus on how society contributes, responds, and adapts to these challenges.
CECE at Climate Week NYC 2026
CECE had a busy week attending Climate Week NYC 2026. CECE Director Dana R. Fisher kicked off the week at an event cosponsored by TED Countdown, the Wellcome Trust, and the Conspirators on Sunday where she spoke on a panel about what it takes to turn attention into action. On Monday, CECE released our new report “Mapping the Ecosystem of […]
[Article] We Need to Stop Talking Like Climate Change Is Partisan
CECE Director Dana Fisher co-authored the piece “We Need to Stop Talking Like Climate Change Is Partisan” for TIME with Dr. Katharine Hayhoe. The piece, which highlights what we all need to learn from climate communicators (and is based on our new landscape assessment), can be read here.
CECE Releases New Report on Climate Communication at Climate Week NYC
A team of CECE Researchers, including Director Dana R. Fisher, Assistant Director W. Chris Jayko, and collaborating researcher Lorien Jasny of the University of Exeter, have released “Mapping the Ecosystem of Climate Communication in the US and Canada: A Landscape Assessment.” The research was conducted in partnership with the Talking Climate Collaborative with funding from […]
[Report] Amplifying Sustainable Procurement at American University
Dr. Garima Sharma (KSB), Dr. Sarah Iverson (CAS), and Dr. Nicole Darnall (KSB-SPA) recently published a new report “Amplifying Sustainable Procurement at American University”. This work was supported in part by their CECE Faculty Research Incubator Project– Systems Lens to Increase Sustainable Procurement Success: Co-creating Insights to Bolster Employee Engagement. You can read the full report and […]
Apocalyptic Optimist: Stop Worrying About AI Doomsday. Worry About This.
Big Tech frames generative AI as effortless digital magic, but the reality involves centralized power, hidden and exploited labor, and massive environmental costs. In this episode of the Apocalyptic Optimist, sociologist and AI ethics expert Dr. Alex Hanna joins CECE Director and host Dr. Dana R. Fisher to cut through corporate hype, expose the real-world […]
[Article] Are Cherry Blossoms DC’s Polar Bears? Investigating the Links Between Local Seasonal [...]
Dr. Rosalind Donald (SOC), Dr. Malini Ranganathan (SIS), and Aarushi Sahejpal (KSB) recently published a new study of DC’s local climate reporting asking how journalists cover climate change and to what extent they reflect the realities of those most exposed to its effects. This work was supported in part by their CECE Faculty Research Incubator […]
Apocalyptic Optimist: 1.6 million parents are fighting back!
How does Mom’s Clean Air Force connect with 1.6 million parents and keep them engaged during these challenging political times? In this episode of The Apocalyptic Optimist podcast, Dana R Fisher sits down with Moms Clean Air Force Director and Co-Founder Dominique Browning for a conversation on how caregivers across the country are turning protective love and […]
Apocalyptic Optimist: This Meteorologist was Fired for Communicating Climate
When meteorologist Chris Gloninger linked extreme weather to climate change, he didn’t expect death threats—or orders to censor his science. Choosing integrity over the camera, Chris walked away from a 17-year television career. In this episode of The Apocalyptic Optimist, host Dr. Dana Fisher explores Chris’s journey from a silenced newsroom to the front lines […]
Apocalyptic Optimist: The Most Overlooked Climate Solution Isn’t Technological
In the latest episode of The Apocalyptic Optimist Podcast, best-selling climate writer and strategist, Dr. Katharine Wilkinson, joins host Dana R. Fisher to unpack a critical, yet largely ignored, crisis in our advocacy networks: mass burnout and a loss of talent. Listen to the conversation and join us as we navigate the shift from climate […]
Apocalyptic Optimist: How to Break Through Big Oil’s Disinformation
Outarguing climate deniers with numbers and facts won’t work. Exposing the corporate puppet masters will. In the latest episode of The Apocalyptic Optimist, Harvard historian and legendary myth-buster Naomi Oreskes joins host Dana R. Fisher to discuss how we shatter corporate climate propaganda. The path forward does not live in arguing facts with bad-faith actors. […]
[Article] Prenatal Harmattan exposure and birth size: identifying sensitive windows in pregnancy
In their new paper ” Prenatal Harmattan exposure and birth size: identifying sensitive windows in pregnancy”, CAS Assistant Professor Gabriella Meltzer and colleagues leveraged data from the Ghana Randomized Air Pollution and Health Study (GRAPHS) to determine whether prenatal exposure to the Harmattan season impacts newborn size and whether there are critical windows of exposure. […]
[Article] Aspirin and Preterm Birth Among Pregnant People With Increased Heat Exposure: Secondary [...]
In their new paper “Aspirin and Preterm Birth Among Pregnant People With Increased Heat Exposure: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial,” CAS Assistant Professor Gabriella Meltzer and colleagues examine if low-dose aspirin modify humid heat’s effect on preterm birth incidence? You can read the full article here.
Climate & Sustainability Experts
Abeer Y Al-Eryani
Energy Transition Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Environment, Community, & Equity
Robert Albro
Research Associate Professor, Center for Latin American and Latino Studies
Michael Alonzo
Associate Professor, Environmental Science
Julie A. Anderson
Associate Program Director, Masters of Science in Sustainability Management (MSSM)
Valentina Aquila
Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental Science
Barbara Balestra
Director, Environmental Sciences Teaching Laboratory, Micro-Lab.
David Bartlett
Hurst Senior Professorial Lecturer, Department of Management
Kristine Beran
Professorial Lecturer, Department of Environmental Science
Robin Broad
Research Professor, Department of Environment, Development, and Health
Jenn Brown
Program Manager, Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy
Claire Brunel
Associate Professor, Department of Politics Economics and Governance
Anny Cárdenas
Assistant Professor, Biology
Ernesto Castañeda
Director, Center for Latin American and Latino Studies
C. Anne Claus
Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
Ken Conca
Professor, Department of Environment, Development, and Health
Nicole Darnall
Arlene R. and Robert P. Kogod Eminent Scholar Chair in Sustainability
Parthiban David
Senior Associate Dean, Kogod School of Business
Leah Ding
Director, Center for AI Research in the Sciences and Humanities
Rosalind Donald
Assistant Professor, Public Communication
Todd Eisenstadt
Research Director, Center for Environmental Policy
Larry Engel
Associate Director Center for Environmental Filmmaking
Dana R. Fisher
Director, Center for Environment, Community, & Equity
Scott Freeman
Senior Lecturer, Department of Environment, Development, and Health
Julie A. Gonzalez
Environmental Justice Postdoctoral Fellow, CECE
Garrett Graddy-Lovelace
Provost Associate Professor, Department of Environment, Development, and Health
Edward Guetti
Professorial Lecturer, Department of Philosophy and Religion
Matthew Hartings
Associate Professor, Chemistry
David Hunter
Professor of Law, WCL Program on Environmental and Energy Law
Sarah Iverson
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology
W. Chris Jayko
Assistant Director, Center for Environment, Community, & Equity
Kyra Jones
Senior Operations Manager
Victoria Kiechel
Senior Professorial Lecturer, Department of Environment, Development, and Health
Chelsea Koch
Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Science
Mariana Koutsopoulos
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Environmental Science
James Lee
Researcher-in-Residence, Environment, Development, and Health
Megan Litke
Director of Sustainability, Office of Sustainability
Maya Livio
Assistant Professor, Climate, Environmental Justice, Media and Communication
Stephen MacAvoy
Associate Professor, Department of Biology
Andrew Martinez
Assistant Professor, Economics
Magnolia Mead
CECE Fellow & Research Assistant
Gabriella Meltzer
Assistant Professor, Environmental Science and Health Studies
Sara Nawaz
Director of Research, Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal
Simon Nicholson
Co-Director of the Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy
Jennifer Oetzel
Research Professor, Department of Management
Marcos A. Orellana
Director, Global Toxics and Human Rights Project
Angela Pashayan
Professorial Lecturer, Department of Environment, Development, and Health
Claudia Persico
Associate Professor, Public Administration and Policy
Natalia Piland
Research Assistant Professor, CECE
Malini Ranganathan
Associate Professor, Department of Environment, Development, and Health
Jesse Ribot
Professor, Department of Environment, Development, and Health
Thurka Sangaramoorthy
Professor, Department of Anthropology
Judith Shapiro
Director of Graduate Studies, Dept of Environment Development and Health
Garima Sharma
Assistant Professor, Department of Management
Sauleh Siddiqui
Professor, Environmental Science
William John Snape, III
Professor and Director, WCL Program on Environmental and Energy Law
Stacey Snelling
Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities Lab
Maggie B. Stogner
Executive Director, Center For Environmental Filmmaking
Rona Taylor
CECE Collaborating Researcher
David J. Vázquez
Associate Professor, Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies
Andressa Monteiro Venturini
Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Science
Rachel Weiss
Program Manager, Center for Environment, Community, & Equity
Paul Yoo
Assistant Professor, Finance