Location
Campus Center, Smith College
Start Date
5-10-2019 10:30 AM
End Date
5-10-2019 12:00 PM
Description
Join Jana Ganion from the Blue Lake Rancheria and Kit Batten, an independent climate change consultant previously at Pacific Gas & Electric to talk about a zero-emission future and your role in it. We will discuss insights and lessons learned from the clean energy and sustainability field through our work to shape a grid of the future. If you don’t yet know exactly what you want to do or you are have been working in these fields for decades, join us to talk about sustainability, electrical grids, climate, international diplomacy, the future, and you.
Seeing with a Climate Lens
Campus Center, Smith College
Join Jana Ganion from the Blue Lake Rancheria and Kit Batten, an independent climate change consultant previously at Pacific Gas & Electric to talk about a zero-emission future and your role in it. We will discuss insights and lessons learned from the clean energy and sustainability field through our work to shape a grid of the future. If you don’t yet know exactly what you want to do or you are have been working in these fields for decades, join us to talk about sustainability, electrical grids, climate, international diplomacy, the future, and you.
Comments
Katharine (Kit) Batten is a recognized expert in climate-change policy and international development with fifteen years of sustainability leadership in the private sector, government, non-governmental organizations, and academia. She is a Professor of Practice at Arizona State University and a consultant on climate change and risk management. In previous roles, Dr. Batten led a company-wide initiative to increase the climate resilience of Pacific Gas and Electric’s (PG&E’s) operations and infrastructure, as well as the resilience of the communities PG&E serves. Dr. Batten has also served as a political appointee in the Obama Administration, as the Global Climate Change Coordinator at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she led the agency’s efforts to implement climate-resilient, low-carbon sustainable development programs in more than 40 countries, and as science advisor to the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. She has also held positions in the offices of Senator Dianne Feinstein and Senator Joe Lieberman. In academia and non-profit sectors, Dr. Batten has served as Executive Director at the University of California, Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy; as senior science and policy fellow and program director at the H. John Heinz III center for Science, Economics and the Environment; and as senior fellow/managing director for energy and environmental policy at the Center for American Progress. Dr. Batten earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Oberlin College and master’s and doctoral degrees in ecology from U.C. Davis.