Making Connections at The Collider
The Collider’s lobby is always buzzing with activity. Photo courtesy The Collider.
By Lindsey Nystrom, Communications Specialist at The Collider, Asheville, NC - May 2020
I’ve been working at UNC Asheville’s NEMAC — the National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center, an applied research center of that university and a key member of The Collider — for about a year and a half as a GIS Intern. Until the COVID-19 pandemic, I’d been doing a lot of my work at The Collider.
The NC Climate Science Report, released in March 2020, provides an assessment of historical climate trends and potential future climate change in the state assuming a “business as usual” approach to greenhouse gas emissions. Photo courtesy of NCICS.
Maycock worked on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on 1.5°C of Global Warming, which he says was very high level and technical. He explains that the IPCC works in six-to-seven-year cycles and performs a full suite of assessments of climate science, impacts, and mitigation efforts. As part of the current report cycle, the IPCC produced three special reports, including the 1.5°C report — which Maycock says was basically a response to the Paris Agreements’ formalized warming targets of 2°C and 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures. The report explored whether or not it’s possible to limit global warming to these temperatures, what the different impacts would be between the two warming scenarios, and what is needed to meet each goal.
Along with the USGCRP team, NCICS also supported the 2016 report, The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment (known commonly as the Climate and Health Assessment). The Climate and Health Assessment expanded on the Third National Climate Assessment’s chapter on human health and elaborated on four major threats: Temperature-related deaths and Illnesses, air quality impacts, vector-borne diseases, and water-related illnesses.
Jim Fox (center), the recently retired director of NEMAC and a Collider board member, with former NEMAC intern Metis Meloche (left) and me, Lindsey (right).
I appreciate that every face I see there is a friendly one, and I get to meet new people all the time! There is a shared understanding of the urgency and importance of climate work and inclusiveness in the content of the work itself. Each week, The Collider hosts its Climate Community Coffee Hour, which functions as both a networking event and an opportunity for community building. It’s one of my favorite parts of the week because I get to talk to people about their work and see their passion for what they do. As someone new to Asheville and the professional world, I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to get to know the community and the work being done within it.
I’ve met so many wonderful people with great ideas that I decided to ask a few of them to describe why they love The Collider in hopes of sharing the awesomeness that goes on here!
Kelsey, hugging a tree. It’s what she likes to do. Photo courtesy Kelsey Hall.
Kelsey was one of the first people I met in Asheville, and she is now both a good friend and a daily dose of inspiration! She started as a Collider volunteer during her freshman year at UNCA, worked part-time as The Collider’s Events Assistant, interned with Collider member FernLeaf Interactive, and is currently interning with NEMAC. She is the epitome of The Collider’s power to connect and grow professional relationships to create meaningful, important products for our planet. Here’s what she had to say:
What is your role at The Collider and how did you end up here?
The Collider is actually one of the reasons I moved to Asheville.
I was looking at opportunities in Asheville for internships, careers, community engagement, etc., compared to other colleges and universities I was considering. I found out about The Collider through NEMAC, which was linked on the UNCA Environmental Studies department website. I then came to learn about NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information and how Asheville was a major climate hub in the US. I saw that Asheville had a lot of incredible opportunities to offer in regards to climate studies and career options, so I decided on UNC Asheville.
I started volunteering at The Collider in January of 2018 at their ClimateCon conference, then eagerly signed up to volunteer once a week. I demonstrated a dedication and passion for the space and work, so I was hired as the Events Assistant three months later. For almost a year and a half, I spent a lot of time at The Collider as a part-time employee, booking and organizing event logistics.
I engaged with so many incredible people and community organizations through this work, but I also created relationships with many Collider members just from working in the space. This is how I met the good folks at NEMAC and learned about their important work. Knowing my academic and professional interests, Ian Johnson mentioned to me one day that a GIS internship was opening up and encouraged me to apply. I started at NEMAC in April 2019 and worked on the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation coastal resilience assessment project through the summer. It was truly a rewarding experience.
This past fall, I decided to shift my focus at NEMAC to something more aligned with my interest in science communication and climate policy. The NEMAC staff was so supportive of my desire to explore a new area of work that I was re-hired as a Climate Resilience intern for both NEMAC and FernLeaf (November 2019–February 2020).
If you summed up The Collider in just a few words, what would they be?
Supportive, driven, collaborative, visionaries, innovative
How does The Collider help you succeed in your work?
All of the experiences I’ve had at The Collider have supported me both professionally and personally. I’ve learned so much during the past couple of years, and I’ve gained incredible professional experiences and connections.
What is your favorite memory of The Collider?
Climate Con and Climate City Expo were some of the most memorable experiences for me at The Collider. It was such an awesome experience to see the whole Collider community come together to pull it off. I learned so much and met so many amazing people!
Ginger Kowal is an ecologist, software developer, and potato peeler. Image courtesy Ginger Kowal.
Ginger Kowal
I met Ginger at one of The Collider’s Coffee Hours. A NEMAC colleague introduced us, but I had heard her name praised many times before! Ginger is an ecologist and developer of open-source analytics tools, and works remotely for the Natural Capital Project based at Stanford University. You can see her portfolio here.
What is your role at The Collider and how did you end up here?
I work in The Collider’s co-work space. I like being a part of the community and appreciate how informal it is. I try to make the Coffee Hour every Friday, and I attended the open house event in March, which was terrific. I work remotely for a research group based out of Stanford, and I’m the only one here in Asheville. It’s called the Natural Capital Project (NatCap), and it’s really neat! We do research and make software to help capture the value of nature for human well-being. We study ecosystem services and make models that quantify ecosystem services. I’ve been working for NatCap for almost six years and have been working remotely for most of that time. I just started working from The Collider last fall, and I wish I had joined much sooner. It’s been so awesome both personally and professionally to work there — I’d highly recommend it.
I have a lot of work to do on my own, so I really appreciate the balance and availability of Get-Shit-Done-Time with spontaneous conversations and spaces that feel more personal. Usually if I’m in [the co-work space] looking at my computer, I get my work done and it’s quiet and productive, but I appreciate that there is also space to hang out. I always end up engaging in conversations with folks in the kitchen area, which I enjoy. The people who work at The Collider are amazing, and their personal stories and work are fascinating.
Sometimes it can be lonely working remotely because all of my colleagues are far away, but interacting with others at The Collider has been really good for my mental health. I grew up in Asheville and would love to have my work based here, but it hasn’t happened because the opportunities for my line of work are elsewhere. When choosing places to work from, knew I wanted to connect with other people who are working on environmental issues, software development and data work, and are interested in open-source software. So I asked myself, “Where are those people in Western North Carolina?” The answer was obvious: The Collider!
How would you sum up the Collider in just a few words?
Beautiful space, inspiring, pleasure to spend time here, community of good people who are simultaneously tied together by common interests and shared values. By joining The Collider, you can count on meeting a diverse group of people who share your core values but come at common issues from various angles.
How does the Collider help you succeed in your work?
Human interaction! I went to UNCA with fellow Collider member Ellie Johnston, Climate and Energy Lead for Climate Interactive, before we worked together at The Collider. I’ve been really inspired by Climate Interactive’s climate modeling tools. I also develop models and there are a lot of similarities between our work and theirs, but there are also some major differences. Most of our models are on the prescriptive side, meaning they provide an exact answer or a map. People may ask, “What’s the change in carbon storage or sediment load with this landscape change?” Unfortunately sometimes our models are not as effective as they could be because people are looking to them for that specific answer. Climate Interactive’s En-ROADS climate model is more of a conversation starter and an educational tool. I’m excited to apply some of the social aspects that En-ROADS provides to my organization’s models. It’s been helpful for me to have Climate Interactive as an example of a way to do my work differently and inform decisions and social processes.
Ellie, NEMAC’s Dave Michelson, and my own awareness from the press and community drew me to The Collider. Ellie and I would go hiking together but never talked about work, so it’s been interesting to learn about their tool and see it evolve. I’m incredibly proud of Climate Interactive — in fact, I just told some of my colleagues about En-ROADS and how it was developed here in Asheville and at MIT. It’s great to be able to discuss common interests, products, and services with my peers.
The neat thing about The Collider is that most of us who work here are connected to bigger networks in and beyond Asheville. There’s this common misconception that climate and data work isn’t being done in Asheville, and The Collider proves that’s not true. I am constantly saying to myself, “Wow! I didn’t know people are doing that in Asheville!” And that’s awesome!
What is your favorite memory of The Collider?
Most days when I come home from work I tell my husband, “I met this really cool person today!” That happens all the time! One day, in the kitchen, Jim Fox from NEMAC was heating up lunch at the same time as me and I hadn’t introduced myself to him, but somebody said, “Hey Ginger!” and he looked at me and said, “Ginger…were you a NEMAC intern?” He remembered me from way back in the day! That was really special.
Last thoughts?
I think the importance of face-to-face conversations is obvious if you’re working from home or remotely, and it’s what many people probably need more of in their lives. Conversations about things that matter and important problems that we need to address collectively, like climate change, need to happen face-to-face. Having ways to get together and have meaningful conversations is critical right now, and having a venue and community to have these discussions is priceless. The Collider is good for Asheville and good for the world.
Jane Margaret and her awesome smile out hiking. Image courtesy Jane Margaret Bell.
Jane Margaret Bell
Jane Margaret came to The Collider in the fall of 2019. She works at Ecosystem Services (ES), a company based out of Charlottesville, Virginia, as an Ecological Restoration Designer. Jane Margaret and I also met at one of The Collider’s Coffee Hours. She is always someone I can look to for a smile!
What is your role at The Collider and how did you end up here?
I’m here because I wanted to work in a co-working space after I was switched into a remote position. I was first hired to be part of a startup office that was in Weaverville. My co-worker at the time left the company, and we decided to close our office location until another engineer could be hired.
At the time, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to keep my job in Asheville and work remotely, and I started looking for other opportunities. I spent a lot of time having casual interviews with other companies about potential job opportunities, and every time the conversation shifted to collaboration and opportunities to work together. A number of organizations really wanted ES to stay and continue to thrive here in Western North Carolina, and Blue Earth was a big one. I knew Tim Ormond, co-founder of Blue Earth, because I had worked with him before, and I had heard about his organization’s fantastic mission. They were at the top of my list to reach out to.
The situation of me losing my job, or thinking I would, led me to develop many new collaborations. From the beginning I kept thinking I needed to be at The Collider. This is where I belong and where I can network and collaborate, and ES especially needs to be here to help facilitate our relationship with Blue Earth and other similar companies.
I worked remotely for about eight months, but it felt like forever. Eventually, we hired Amy Longcrier and decided to open an office again. We moved to The Collider, and since day one The Collider has been exactly what I needed and thought it was going to be.
It provides an environment that is inspiring and structured and makes me feel excited to leave my house and be productive each day. It helps me mentally get into the groove of my work.
The startup culture supports people that are deeply dedicated to what they are doing. I like that everyone has independence and seems happy in their work. There are a lot of visionary people here that see the big picture and want to stop the climate crisis, which is exciting for someone like me who has felt siloed and stifled in my own work at times. Before I struggled to feel like other people understood my ideas, and I didn’t have much of a networking or professional social outlet, but at The Collider, I have definitely found what I was looking for.
If you summed up The Collider in just a few words, what would they be?
A climate-centered co-working space that is a community of businesses and researchers and institutes, many working directly or indirectly to solve climate-related problems. It’s also an important events space because of the availability of public presentations and movies to the public. I love going to those events and inviting friends because it can feel isolating to do this work. The community engagement is really helpful on that front too. I appreciate that The Collider has a lot of science-heavy events that are really well communicated to the public.
How does The Collider help you succeed in your work?
Having a professional, modern office space shows that we are invested in the community and helps us present professionally to clients. It’s more of a feeling than a tangible thing. I want my clients and partners to feel comfortable and also energized when we have meetings, and I’m happy to say The Collider makes a great first impression! It’s helpful to come to a space like this on a low-energy day and have my spirits lifted through the people and the space around me.
What is your favorite memory at the Collider?
The public presentations have been amazing. The presentation of NEMAC+FernLeaf with the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy about developing a dataset and hotspots that guide conservation work was a really cool integration of different types of data. A lot of what was driving their work was geologic data and the presence of steep slopes and rocky outcroppings, which I hadn’t thought of previously, so that was really fascinating.
I’d love to see my company move towards more resilience-related planning and analysis. Low-impact urban development and green stormwater management are also really important to me, and I think a lot of people at The Collider have experience and knowledge on that subject which could potentially be very helpful. The question is how do we turn our concrete jungle into a living ecosystem? I’m excited to engage the The Collider network in order to answer that question!
This is just a sampling of the extraordinary people who come together to do great things at The Collider. There is amazing work being done here, and despite interruptions (eh em…a global pandemic), we’ve been able to continue making the world a more climate-conscious place. From the conversations we have while microwaving our lunch to well-planned community events, The Collider is a home for anyone interested and passionate about our planet and connecting with others.
