Climate Tech Startup Ecobot Saves Wetlands
Climate Tech Startup Ecobot Saves Wetlands
The Collider, Asheville, NC - January 2020
Wetlands are critical to ecosystems in that they protect people, infrastructure, and assets from stormwater during an extreme weather event, reduce the impact of sea level rise, and sequester carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere — all increasingly vital defense benefits as storms become stronger and more severe, and flooding increases across the world. In short, wetlands help humans and ecosystems withstand and adapt to a changing climate.
Ecobot, a mobile application created by Collider members Jeremy Schewe and Lee Lance, is helping wetland scientists and ecologists gather data on wetlands across the United States 50 percent more efficiently than traditional methods. By connecting this data to planners and geospatial ecologists working on resilience models, Ecobot is building climate resilience for future generations.
Can You Solve the Climate Crisis?
Can You Solve the Climate Crisis?
A screenshot of the En-ROADS climate simulation tool in action.
By Mickey Snowden, Communications Specialist at The Collider, Asheville, NC - January 2020
Climate Interactive’s new climate simulator tool reveals what it will actually take to limit global warming to 1.5C by allowing users to role-play real policy decisions
Inconjunction with MIT Sloan, Climate Interactive released their brand-new En-ROADS tool, a cutting-edge online climate policy simulator that allows its users a chance to test a myriad of climate policy solutions in real-time and visualize a variety of climate impacts, at 2019’s COP25.
En-ROADS - Climate Interactive
En-ROADS is a System Dynamics model with origins in the MIT PhD theses of Dr. John Sterman and Dr. Tom Fiddaman. Recent…
The United Nations’ 25th Climate Change Conference, aka COP 25 (the 25th Conference of the Parties), was held in Madrid, Spain this past December. The purpose of this annual conference is to assess and accelerate each country’s efforts at addressing climate change in order to reach the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement — namely limiting global warming well below two degrees Celsius (2C) above pre-industrial levels with strong encouragement to reduce warming below 1.5C.
Climate Interactive is a think tank focused on building the kind of climate action needed to meet these goals through its hands-on climate simulators, games, workshops, and seminars. Founded by Co-Directors Andrew Jones and Dr. Elizabeth Sawin in 2010, Climate Interactive’s tools connect everyone from policymakers to laypeople with real, feasible climate solutions. The organization has had its second home at The Collider since 2016 where they have led climate simulation workshops and seminars for the Asheville public and developed their tools and resources for the wider world.
Ellie Johnston, Climate Interactive’s Climate and Energy Lead, says the value of En-ROADS lies in its accessibility — by adjusting emissions levels based on specific sectors like energy, land use, consumption and agriculture, policymakers can see the global impacts that greenhouse gases have on our climate.
Both Jones and Johnston were present at COP25 this year, along with nearly 27,000 other attendees. Johnston says that Climate Interactive showed up with the aim to showcase how their tools can build both ambition and action to help governments and their countries reach the climate goals outlined in the Paris Agreements.
From left to right: Andrew Jones, Ellie Johnston, and Bindu Bhandari of Climate Interactive at COP25 in Madrid. Photo courtesy Climate Interactive.
“Our tools can show governments that they have less time to reduce emissions than they may have thought. Bold action is needed now, and tools like En-ROADS substantiate this urgency by illuminating scientific research,” Johnston says.
Amy Harder, Energy Reporter for the news site Axios, called En-ROADS a “choose your own climate and energy adventure.” Unlike other climate modeling tools, En-ROADS was designed to be used by everyone from K-12 schools to churches — not just science researchers steeped in intimidating climate data. That being said, Johnston is clear that the tool’s primary audience is policymakers and business leaders who are in a place to make far-reaching decisions regarding climate change.
These decisions will have to be made sooner rather than later. The UN Environmental Programme’s annual Emissions Gap Report calls for a five-fold increase in emissions reductions over the next decade in order to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. That’s a 7.6 percent reduction each year. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 2018 report on global warming is clear that a 1.5C rise in global temperature will still come with a host of negative consequences, but a 2C temperature increase could present detrimental risks to crops, water, biodiversity, ecosystems, and ultimately human health and wellbeing.
According to Johnston, this only reinforces the need for more people to get their hands on En-ROADS. “In many ways, we are getting caught flat-footed in addressing climate change. There is a growing awareness around the issue, and an increase in people who want to take action, but many aren’t sure what it will take to mitigate the effects of climate change.”
En-ROADS (on the right-hand screen) being demoed at COP25. Photo courtesy Climate Interactive.
When it comes to analytics tools, there are many models available all over the world, but most aren’t made to be shared publicly in an interactive format. Johnston says Climate Interactive built En-ROADS around Senior Advisor and MIT Sloan Professor John Sterman’s adage that “Research shows that showing people research does not work.” In this effort to address climate change, the organization has found that facilitating interactive experiences that put people in a position to experience the full scale of action needed to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions is the best way to get people involved.
“It’s a small group of people who want to sit down and learn to use a computer model on their own. It’s a much larger group who is willing to show up to an event and have other people guide them through how to use that model,” Johnston says.
Young people participate in an En-ROADS Climate Action Simulation game during UN climate meetings in New York City. Photo courtesy Climate Interactive.
Climate Interactive knew that building a tool wasn’t solely enough, so the organization also created two hands-on experiences that can be led with groups in conjunction with En-ROADS: the En-ROADS Climate Workshop and the Climate Action Simulation game. Both the Climate Workshop and the Simulation game give people with little to no knowledge of climate change the chance to role-play a president or other policymaker who must make decisions that will directly affect the Earth’s climate.
“These experiences are completely unique and eye-opening for everyone. Participants will find out very quickly that cutting our global emissions is not an easy task,” Johnston says.
Explore ways to use En-ROADS on your own or in a group, and learn how you can lead your own En-ROADS event by visiting the tool’s webpage.
Bringing Climate Data to Life
Bringing Climate Data to Life
By Mickey Snowden, Communications Specialist at The Collider, Asheville, NC - March 2020
As Communications Liaison with The Collider, I have the unique pleasure of talking with our various members and partners about their newest climate products, services, and technologies. This week, I sat down with Dave Michelson, software designer at the University of North Carolina at Asheville’s National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center (NEMAC), and LuAnn Dahlman, science writer with NOAA’s Climate Program Office. We discussed their work on the latest update to the Climate Explorer — a web tool that provides interactive graphs and maps of climate information for every county in the contiguous United States — which was released at the end of January with the help of Collider members NEMAC and FernLeaf Interactive.
The Quiz Show that’s Tackling Climate Change
The Quiz Show that’s Tackling Climate Change
Photo courtesy Luca Zanon on Unsplash.
By Mickey Snowden, Communications Specialist at The Collider, Asheville, NC - March 2020
The Let’s Explore Africa competition is informing audiences about Africa’s impending climate issues and how each of us can make a difference.
Although Africa is the second-largest continent in the world, it remains largely unknown to many living outside its borders. This lack of information is what inspired educator and accountant Dr. Sandra Frempong to write her book, Let’s Explore Africa: Nations, Landmarks, and Cultural Resources. Through her research process, Frempong continued to develop questions about the continent and realized that creating an interactive quiz show could be the ideal way to engage learners.
The first competition was sponsored by Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College in Asheville, North Carolina, and the very first Let’s Explore Africa championship was sponsored by and held at Duke University in Durham. The Let’s Explore Africa competition has since spread to cities throughout the US, where students and adults of all backgrounds participate. The Collider, a climate innovation business center, has the pleasure of hosting the show at its downtown location where members and staff often participate.
Collider staff (Mickey Snowdon, left, and Miles Kish, right) and members (Jeremy Schewe of Ecobot, middle) participate in a Let’s Explore Africa competition at The Collider in December 2019. Photo courtesy Let’s Explore Africa.
When coronavirus has subsided, countries across the world will be scrambling to resurrect their economies, and they will be looking at the US as an example. If we return to “business as usual” — or worse, unrestricted economic growth at all costs — it will not only undo years of environmental policy but set a precedent for the rest of the globe.
Climate Entrepreneurs
Climate entrepreneurs need to find creative ways to stimulate the economy without contributing heavily to greenhouse gas emissions, undoubtedly an arduous task. But it is climate professionals who are most poised to provide solutions that will not only support the economy but advance progress on the climate crisis. Development of widespread clean energy projects could help us flatten our greenhouse gas emissions curve (which, by the way, doesn’t look so good even with the COVID-19 drop), and new software and technologies could provide users with the tools necessary to reduce our environmental impact and build climate resilience.
The African organization, Madiba & Nature, builds “Ecoboats” from reclaimed plastic bottles. These boats are lighter and significantly less expensive than the wooden canoes traditionally used by fishermen in Cameroon. Photo courtesy World Economic Forum Live.
What sorts of things can contestants expect to learn about Africa? Here’s a sampling:
It wouldn’t truly be a quiz on Africa if contestants weren’t asked about some basic African geography including names and locations of various countries and their capitals, plus natural features like rivers, lakes, and mountains.
Africa has more religions than scholars can keep track of, many of which fall under animism — the belief that all objects, even inanimate ones like stones, are living. Many African societies are also polytheistic, meaning they worship multiple gods. Let’s Explore Africa doesn’t delve deeply into African religions, but it’s worthwhile for contestants to brush up on which ones dominate which countries.
Understanding Africa’s natural resources are key to understanding the continent’s current and historical political atmosphere. Africa has an abundance of oil and gas, uranium, diamonds, tea, coffee, rare earth minerals, phosphates, and other resources. These resources are highly sought after, and as a result, inter-tribal conflict is common, as is environmental and economic instability.
Africa houses over 65 percent of the world’s arable land and more than 10 percent of its internal fresh water.
It’s difficult to discuss Africa’s politics and natural resources without mentioning the threat that climate change poses to the continent. According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Africa will be affected by climate change more severely than anywhere else in the world, despite the fact that it contributes the least greenhouse gas emissions of any of the world’s continents. In fact, Africans are already feeling the impacts of extreme heat, drought, flooding, landslides, and desertification.
Climate change is predicted to negatively impact crop yields and water security in the coming decades, problems that will affect the majority of Africans. According to the non-partisan research group, Afrobarometer, residents cite drought as the most significant weather pattern threatening agriculture on the continent.
A mother tends her plants in Sierra Leone. Photo courtesy Annie Spratt on Unsplash.
Decreased rainfall could affect African rainforests in unprecedented ways. Since these forests are literally the “lungs” of our planet in terms of carbon sequestration and oxygen production, any impacts on forest health will likely be dire.
Energy and agriculture demands are already straining the continent’s water sources, and population and economic development will exacerbate these needs. Unfortunately, climate change is expected to negatively affect water supplies through evaporative losses.
It is this urgency that has motivated Frempong to begin incorporating climate-specific questions into the show’s format in order to engage people of all ages and backgrounds on this universal issue. She says that being able to identify the threats climate change poses to Africa will give people a starting point for thinking of ways to mitigate their climate footprint and help the continent build resilience.
Let’s Explore Africa is currently held on the last Friday of every month (except for November and December) at The Collider in downtown Asheville beginning at 5 PM. Follow the link below to learn more and register for the next competition.
Climate Entrepreneurs Needed Now More than Ever
Climate Entrepreneurs Needed Now More than Ever
The Collider’s lobby is always buzzing with activity. Photo courtesy The Collider.
By Mickey Snowden, Communications Specialist at The Collider, Asheville, NC - April 2020
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s clear that climate entrepreneurs will play a critical role in responsible economic stimulation.
Author of The Lean Startup model, Eric Ries, defines a startup as “a human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty.” That’s exactly what is needed in a post-coronavirus world. After a major disruption such as a war, a natural disaster, or, in this case, a pandemic, visionary leaders are needed to provide a strong path forward. Because of their unique ability to innovate in times of chaos, these visionaries often take the form of entrepreneurs.
To highlight this fact, consider these businesses started by veterans:
John Pemberton started Coca-Cola after he was wounded in the Civil War.
Bill Bowerman founded Nike in 1964 after serving as a Commander in WWII.
Frederick W. Smith launched FedEx after achieving the rank of Marine Corps Captain.
But you don’t have to be a war veteran to start a successful business. In the age of coronavirus, we’re all veterans of a pandemic that has completely uprooted our most basic means of living. This setting provides the perfect opportunity for courageous individuals to design businesses that promote mitigation, adaptation, and resilience to climate change.
Lessons from COVID-19
One positive outcome of coronavirus has been an overall reduction in our collective ecological footprint. We’ve all seen the headlines: “Carbon emissions from fossil fuels could fall by 2.5bn tonnes in 2020”; “Coronavirus could trigger ‘largest ever annual fall in CO2’”; “Coyotes, bobcats and bears: Wildlife is reclaiming Yosemite National Park”.
With humans around the world staying inside their homes, wildlife has surged, greenhouse gas emissions have dropped, and people are connecting with nature.
But the point here isn’t to capitalize on a pandemic, it’s to encourage entrepreneurs in the climate industry to propel the positive environmental momentum that coronavirus has inadvertently built. We need entrepreneurs who are able to clearly identify the connections between climate change, public health, environmental injustice, and socioeconomic disparities to create businesses that are capable of addressing these issues in tandem.
Dispelling “Business as Usual”
Air pollution in Wuhan decreased significantly over the month of February when its residents were quarantined, but nitrogen dioxide emissions have begun to climb again since stay-at-home restrictions were lifted in the city. The UN’s Framework on Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) has postponed its 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) climate discussions to October 2020, and the EPA is temporarily waiving environmental regulations for industries affected by coronavirus after pressure from the oil industry.
Levels of nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant caused by burning fuel, dropped significantly around Wuhan and Beijing in February but have slowly begun to increase. Photo courtesy NASA Earth Observatory.
When coronavirus has subsided, countries across the world will be scrambling to resurrect their economies, and they will be looking at the US as an example. If we return to “business as usual” — or worse, unrestricted economic growth at all costs — it will not only undo years of environmental policy but set a precedent for the rest of the globe.
Climate Entrepreneurs
Climate entrepreneurs need to find creative ways to stimulate the economy without contributing heavily to greenhouse gas emissions, undoubtedly an arduous task. But it is climate professionals who are most poised to provide solutions that will not only support the economy but advance progress on the climate crisis. Development of widespread clean energy projects could help us flatten our greenhouse gas emissions curve (which, by the way, doesn’t look so good even with the COVID-19 drop), and new software and technologies could provide users with the tools necessary to reduce our environmental impact and build climate resilience.
Monthly mean carbon dioxide levels measured at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii have been increasing rapidly for decades. Photo courtesy NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory.ft) and me, Lindsey (right).
After the 2008 financial collapse, tech companies like Uber and Airbnb redefined the way the world travels and allowed anyone with a car or an extra bedroom to make money on their own terms. Following the coronavirus outbreak, a similar opportunity is present within the climate sector.
Here are some areas ripe for climate entrepreneurship in a post-coronavirus world:
Renewable energy. In order to jumpstart our economy without burning fossil fuels, renewable energies will play a critical role in economic development post-coronavirus. Solar CrowdSource, a company based in Atlanta, Georgia, connects residents within communities to group-purchase solar energy and battery storage to reduce their costs. The company’s Solarize program is uniquely geared towards implementing crowdsourced solar projects for nonprofits, creating greener, healthier, and more equitable communities. Solar CrowdSource is an example of a small business meeting growing energy demands in an environmentally and socially conscious way.
Climate modeling. Climate Interactive, a think tank with offices in MIT and Asheville, North Carolina, develops climate simulators that are used by everyone from educators to policymakers. The organization’s first simulator, C-ROADS, was developed to help countries determine how to meet their UN climate pledges and highlight the gap between their goals and their actual emissions. Climate Interactive’s newest simulator, En-ROADS, organizes factors contributing to greenhouse gas emissions into sectors including energy supply, transportation, buildings and industry, land and industry, and carbon removal. Climate modeling for governments, public organizations, and private companies has huge financial potential.
Agriculture. A changing climate presents a multitude of challenges to the agricultural sector. Increased drought and extreme precipitation make it increasingly difficult to predict crop yields and can decimate food supplies everywhere. CropProphet is an agribusiness that monitors the effects of climate change on global crop supply. CropProphet is a big data analytics tool that forecasts yields and production for some of the world’s most consumed crops such as corn, soy, and winter wheat. By combining cutting-edge technology and climate data, CropProphet provides extremely accurate information on growing data and weather patterns for businesses and governments throughout the world. The future of food is undoubtedly linked to changes in our Earth’s climate, presenting an opportunity for data-savvy entrepreneurs.
Resilience-building. In lieu of any national climate resilience plans, cities across the country are taking the matter into their own hands by contracting with private and public firms. The University of North Carolina at Asheville’s National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center (NEMAC) and FernLeaf Interactive form a private-public partnership (NEMAC-FernLeaf) to help cities like Charleston, South Carolina and West Palm Beach, Florida build resilience to flooding and other climate-stressors. Climate adaptation and resilience planning have been growing rapidly for over a decade among cities across the world (e.g. Durban, London, Rotterdam, Quito, etc.), and this field will likely continue to flourish in the coming years.
With economic growth likely to precede federal climate action following COVID-19, entrepreneurs need to take climate change into their own hands. The climate industry is uniquely poised to stimulate the global economy in a way never seen before.
Mickey Snowdon is the Communications Liaison for The Collider, a member-driven organization advancing climate solutions so that all can mitigate, adapt, and thrive in a changing climate. Located just steps away from NOAA in downtown Asheville, North Carolina, The Collider is a hub for climate innovation and entrepreneurship.
Making Connections at The Collider
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.
The Institute Putting Climate Data to Work
The Institute Putting Climate Data to Work
By Mickey Snowden, Communications Specialist at The Collider, Asheville, NC - July 2020
The North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies is responsible for co-creating assessments on climate change that influence policy and make scientific reports digestible to the public.
Why Climate City?
Asheville gained the nickname “Climate City” because it is home to two climate powerhouses: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) — one of the largest repositories of climate data on Earth — and the North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies (NCICS), a NOAA cooperative institute and research arm of NC State University. Both of these institutes are located in the Veach-Baley Federal Building in downtown Asheville, just steps away from The Collider.
Jared Rennie is a Collider member and Research Meteorologist with NCICS who owns his own weather company, Rennie Weather. Rennie explains that NCICS is essentially a long-term academic partner to NOAA. Most of NCICS’ day-to-day activities support NOAA’s work, including building datasets, creating products, monitoring climate, and conducting research. NCICS also works with the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Department of Defense, and the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change.
Tom Maycock is also a Collider member, the Science Public Information Officer for NCICS, and a Science Editor for the National Climate Assessments (NCAs), which are produced through the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) in conjunction with NCEI. The NCA is a periodic survey of climate change established by the Global Change Research Act of 1990. These scientific assessments inform climate news in the US and beyond and help guide environmental policy.
“When our work gets picked up by the media, people who otherwise wouldn’t know about some of the climate issues we work on are able to learn about them. It takes that information out of the academic realm and exposes it to a public audience,” Maycock says.
The Wide Array of NCICS’ Projects
NCICS provides most of the staff for NCEI’s Technical Support Unit (TSU), which supports the USGCRP’s climate reports. The most recent of these reports was the Fourth National Climate Assessment, which came out in 2017/18 in two volumes. The first volume laid out the science and the second explained the specific impacts on economic sectors and regions. The National Climate Assessments bring together over 300 authors from across the country including federal employees and academics from the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Defense, NASA, and others. Maycock says it takes multiple years to produce an assessment, and the USGCRP is federally required to produce one every four years for Congress and the president.
The TSU, under the direction of lead scientist Dr. Kenneth Kunkel, also created State Climate Summaries to accompany the Nation Climate Assessments. According to Maycock, “It’s been a real effort to make the National Climate Assessments as accessible as possible,” which is why these summary materials are so important. He explains that each report comes with an executive summary that helps non-specialists digest the material. In addition to making the assessments more accessible, Maycock says NCICS has seen an increase in press coverage due to the summaries. NCICS also released The North Carolina Climate Science Report on March 11, 2020, which supports Governor Cooper’s Executive Order 80 (EO80) by providing peer-reviewed, scientific climate analyses.
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.
Maycock served as the Technical Support Unit’s project manager and lead editor for the USGCRP’s 2016 assessment of the impacts of climate change on human health. Photo courtesy of the USGCRP.
Heat and Health
Lately, Rennie has been researching the impacts of heat on human health and what this will mean for a warming planet. According to the US Climate Resilience Toolkit, extreme heat in the US is “deadlier than all other natural disasters combined,” and will worsen due to climate change. Heat strains ones’ cardiovascular system, making excessively hot days harder for those with heart disease because the more constricted one’s cardiovascular system is, the more difficult it is for them to regulate their body temperature. Heat-related health risks such as heat stress and heat stroke are predicted to increase with future temperatures.
Extreme heat in the US is “deadlier than all other natural disasters combined,” and will worsen due to climate change.
Heat also negatively affects air quality, exacerbating respiratory illnesses such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and aggravating allergies. Air pollution associated with the rapid commercial development of the Southeast contributes to aeroallergens, and higher CO2 emissions expedite the growth of allergenic plants such as ragweed and cause them to produce more pollen.
Rennie says nighttime temperatures are warming significantly more than daytime temperatures in the Southeast, a phenomenon that is largely overlooked. Humidity is a major contributing factor to the increases in nighttime temperatures, but it is difficult to measure, and humidity measurements only date back to the mid-1970s. Rennie says that when people ask him why they should care about warmer nighttime temperatures if they’re asleep,
“I tell them, sure, you may be sleeping, but your air conditioner isn’t. Duke Energy cares big-time that energy demand is increasing during the night, and it’s only going to continue to increase by the end of the century.”
This map shows the number of nighttime heat events in the US since 1991. The darker colors show that temperatures have increased the most in the Southeast. Image courtesy of Jared Rennie.
The most popular method of measuring heat is via the Heat Index, which was developed by the National Weather Service about 20 years ago. However, Rennie says the Heat Index has serious flaws; it doesn’t do well in semi-arid conditions like the western US and it only incorporates temperature and humidity into its measurements. The WetBulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) index, on the other hand, also considers variables like solar radiation and wind, both of which play a significant role in an individual’s ability to regulate their body temperature. Solar radiation is the effect of the sun shining on a surface, making the temperature feel much hotter than it actually is, while wind can help evaporate sweat off of the skin, creating a cooling process for the body.
According to Rennie, the WBGT index has become increasingly popular in the last few years and is used by organizations such as OSHA, the US Military, regional weather services, and high school sports administrations who work directly in sunlight and want a more accurate heat assessment.
Rennie is on the science team of the US Climate Reference Network (USCRN), an NCEI network of about 100 climate monitoring stations across the contiguous US. These stations differ from weather stations in that they were purposefully built in areas that wouldn’t be affected by urbanization for the next 50 years. Each station was built with “triple redundancy,” meaning they all have three different thermometers to ensure accuracy and prevent data gaps. The USCRN decided that since it already has measurements for the variables that make up WBGT, it could generate its own index. Rennie and his NCICS team validated the USCRN’s index with other networks’ indices. Rennie says NCICS is now working with partners at The National Weather Service, Florida State University, the University of Arizona, and the Korey Stringer Institute in Connecticut to create a gridded product that would provide WBGT data for all of the US. Rennie says there is potential for such a product to be used in the private sector via a private-public partnership.
According to the USGCRP’s Climate and Health Assessment, nearly 10,000 Americans die from extreme heat each year. This number is projected to double by 2050, and climate change is expected to increase death rates by between 3.5–4% by the end of the century, most of which will occur within poor communities. The more accurately organizations like NCICS can measure the real feel of heat and communicate them to the public, the better we can understand the true costs of climate change — environmentally, physically, and economically.
Climate change is expected to increase death rates by between 3.5–4% by the end of the century, most of which will occur within poor communities.
Extreme heat will disproportionately affect poor and non-white communities, athletes, and outdoor workers (pictured here) in the coming years. Photo courtesy of the USDA by Bob Nichols.
COVID-19 is a Climate Issue
Maycock says that climate change has the potential to cause shifts in ecosystems which could increase the prevalence of communicable diseases. He points to the way humans interact with our environment — specifically the way we overbuild our cities — as further influencing the likelihood of diseases. To this end, NCICS is currently studying COVID-19’s sensitivity to factors such as temperature, humidity, and solar radiation. Maycock suggests that there are lessons that can be learned from the successes and failures of the climate movement in terms of communicating science and uncertainty, and how expert judgment is conveyed and received.
“It’s disconcerting when science expertise and academic rigor are discounted in the face of a serious challenge, and I think that feels all too familiar to folks who deal with climate change.”
Dr. Jennifer Runkle, an Environmental Epidemiologist with NCICS, worked with county officials and public health partners to develop the first COVID-19 “self-checker” tool. The tool, available freely online, allows adults to not only check their symptoms against those of COVID-19, but also opt-in for daily monitoring from health officials. The tool also enables officials to observe barriers to testing.
Maycock says there are important parallels between COVID-19 and climate change, but the two crises are on different scales. COVID-19 is an immediate threat that demands an immediate response, while climate change is a longer-term threat with potentially severe effects that is existential to many people. Because of climate change’s ambiguity, it is usually the first issue to get back-burnered when a bigger crisis (like a pandemic) arises.
According to Maycock, there is an opportunity to incorporate climate change initiatives into COVID-19 recovery.
“We’ve seen emissions drop and air quality improve. If we were to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and increase renewable energy development, we might be able to experience some of those health and environmental benefits on a long-term scale,” he says.
However, Maycock is clear that short-term emergency planning is not how our society should be making these structural changes. He points out that since emissions that cause climate change directly impact human health, the pandemic could help people understand this interconnectedness.
“This pandemic could help society improve how we plan, invest, and recover from economic problems. I think it’s important that we keep climate change in mind as we think about investments. If you have a decision to make, and one option has both short-term and longer-term benefits, choose that option.”
He adds that the earlier policymakers start these changes, the less likely we are to have future emergency disruptions.
The Collider’s Role
Asheville has been central to the creation of the National Climate Assessments over the years. “Some of the scientists, communications staff, and other people I’ve worked with here have been involved in the assessments dating back to the first one in the late 1990s,” Maycock says.
One of the organizations that has collaborated with NCICS on several climate assessments is the University of North Carolina at Asheville’s National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center (NEMAC), The Collider’s anchor tenant.
Former NEMAC Director and Collider member, Jim Fox, collaborates with Collider board member and former Chief of Data Access Branch at NOAA’s NCEI, Steve Del Greco, in The Collider’s lobby. Photo courtesy of the author.
Rennie explains that The Collider has expanded his personal and professional networks by giving him a place to discuss his work outside of an academic audience. Rennie says he sees The Collider as being able to help NCICS find entrepreneurs, companies, and organizations to collaborate on projects with. “Everyone at The Collider is focused on climate and something else. I think The Collider provides the opportunity to find that something else.”
At the Intersection of What’s Known and What’s Possible
At the Intersection of What’s Known and What’s Possible
Asheville, NC - July 2020
HOW DO YOU CHANGE A WORLD WITH A CHANGING CLIMATE?
YOU MENTOR THE CHANGE MAKERS, WORK AT THE INTERSECTIONS AND BOUNDARIES OF KNOWLEDGE CREATION, AND GO OUT INTO THE WORLD AND APPLY WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED TO REAL, MEANINGFUL ACTION.
Recently, Collider members Fernleaf Interactive, NEMAC, and Collider staff were interviewed for a piece in UNC Asheville’s magazine, exploring the multitude of ways in which NEMAC+Fernleaf work to expand the boundaries of scientific knowledge and make complex data accessible to a wider audience.
From its beginning, The Collider has always maintained a close relationship with UNC Asheville, and we’re thrilled to see this connection blossom as the public grows more aware and interested in the climate work being done here in Asheville.