Source: The News Record
Climate change can often feel like a crisis so obscure and formidable that it seems impossible to make a difference. For many residents, like those living here in Cincinnati, both the science of the problem and the possible solutions that could have an impact on our lives can seem opaque and out of reach.
But it’s in communities like Cincinnati where researchers, nonprofit organizations and community members are coming together to identify risks of climate change and come up with solutions together at the local level. One person doing just that is Dr. Kristy Hopfensperger, a professor and director of the Environmental Science Program at Northern Kentucky University, who spent the past year as the climate science fellow at Green Umbrella, a Cincinnati nonprofit focused on promoting equitable climate action across the region.
When Hopfensperger talks to the public about how climate change is affecting the Ohio Miami Valley region, she breaks it down into two parts: “It’s going to get a lot hotter and we’re going to have a lot more precipitation, but it’s going to be delivered in a different way,” she says. “We’re going to have more heavy downpours that don’t soak into ground, so we’ll have a lot more flooding.”
Hopfensperger says the way to tackle climate change at the local level is not for scientists to act as, “the academic saviors coming down from their ivory towers into the neighborhoods.” Instead, she believes in putting communities first and including them in the science and the solutions, from beginning to end.
That means building trust between researchers and the community. Hopfensberger says scientists need to, “get out of their scientist uniform and think about how to connect with people on a human-to-human level before bringing out data and facts.” In this interview she explains how she tries to achieve this through public engagement work with local nonprofits.
Q. How did you become interested in environmental science?
It started with a love of outdoors and growing up outside. I was fortunate to have an environmental science course in high school and also fortunate to go to an undergraduate school with a college of natural resources. Everything I was learning was very environmentally focused. I didn’t really have a plan to be a researcher or professor until much later. When I decided to pursue a PhD., it was with the intent to work with undergraduate students to engage them in the process of research and to give them those opportunities at the undergraduate level.
Q. As an environmental scientist, how have your research interests changed over time?
I have never been on a clear path. I work on all different things, and I love that I have the freedom to do that. I was very well-trained in wetlands and ecosystem ecology, biogeochemistry and nutrient processing. Over time I have delved into different things like plant ecology, invasive species and greenhouse gas emissions. I have recently branched into climate work that includes urban heat resiliency and air quality – stuff I don’t have a lot of training in. So, collaboration is key.
Q. You mentioned that you’ve done work in “urban climate resiliency.” Can you tell me a little bit about that?
I was part of the group that brought the Climate Safe Neighborhood program to Northern Kentucky. We created the dashboard to determine which neighborhoods would be most vulnerable to climate change – the hottest and those that might flood the most – and then we layered that information with socioeconomic data. Then we take that information and work with residents by holding workshops to have them come up with solution ideas so that they’re driving the action steps that would take place in their own neighborhoods. That’s led by Groundwork Ohio River Valley and Green Umbrella. I am just blown away by this cool project.
Q. You recently spent a year as the climate science fellow at Green Umbrella, a Cincinnati nonprofit. Why did you want to work with Green Umbrella, specifically?
Green Umbrella was shifting more and more toward climate, and I’ve been amazed with the work they’re doing. I see what other cities are doing and it’s amazing what we have right here in our area. I wanted to be a part of it. I started to think, “Where do my knowledge and skills best fit in these activities that are happening in the region? How can I play a role and what can I bring to the table?” It took a year of conversations and planning to find out where I might best fit in their organization and what projects I might work on.
Q. What kind of climate work did you do with Green Umbrella?
Some of the work I’ve done with them is to create the climate science incubator. Last year was our first year of running it. The goal of the climate research incubator is to be an idea space – not necessarily a tangible physical space but a space where people can come in the region to find others to do research with. It includes people from all different stakeholder backgrounds: academics, government staff, nonprofit organizations. If people have research ideas but don’t have all the skills or pieces of the puzzle to do a project, the climate research incubator can be a space where they can go to work on climate ideas with others in the region. We train academics in the fall with some workshops on science communication and public engagement, and then we bring in public community partners to somewhat organically form project teams.
Another project I worked on is on air quality through the RISE communities (Research Innovations using Sensor Technology in Environmental Justice Communities). I am partnered with a nonprofit organization in Newport, Ken., where we’re studying air quality using PurpleAir monitors. Through that project we have expanded our collaboration to create a dashboard of air quality for the region, with the target audience being residents. This way the data is accessible, understandable and available.
Q. It sounds like many of your projects have community involvement or a community-focused goal. Through this work, what have you found are the most successful methods to engage the public in a constructive and accessible way?
I’m always learning. One of my tips is to be really authentic. Be a real person. Titles and backgrounds go to the wayside – if you can find ways to connect with people in a real human-to-human way, that is the most important. None of the work will happen if you don’t have trusting relationships with people. To do that, you need to be really transparent and clear with your communication.
There are barriers that happen between academics and community partners. It’s not necessarily our jargon; it’s the timelines we function on and the goal of what we do with data that is really different. The timeline of peer review publication is glacially slow compared to what communities need to do with data. Being transparent with goals for the project is key. To be successful in these endeavors you must include the community as early in the process as possible, even in the development of the research question.
We’re trying to train academics to do a lot of listening to the community’s interests. To ask, “What are their needs? What are your skills and how might you apply your skills and knowledge to the community?” And then we’re training them to talk to the community about project ideas. The best practice is to have the community involved from the beginning all the way to end of dissemination and ownership of data.
Q. What do you think are the responsibilities of scientists doing environmental work in terms of public engagement and communication?
It’s a really individual thing. As I started doing more formal training in public engagement, I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone by doing radio and TV and newspaper interviews. It’s not uncommon for a lot of scientists to feel like they don’t want to speak as an authority on a topic because they don’t know everything about it. I think we need to push past that. As a scientist, you know more than most people in the room on topics of science. Before, when I would be asked for interviews I would think, “I don’t know about that, I study wetlands,” and I’d stick to my little bubble. But I do feel more scientists need to be out there speaking and building that relationship between society and science. By doing that, the goal is that our policies will be informed by science and our society then will be better off.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
