Wrapping Up: Reflections from Ankita Mandelia

It has been an amazing year!! My fellowship with the International Joint Commission Great Lakes Regional Office was incredible. A lot has happened over the past several months, so you’re in for a long one…. 

The IJC Semi-Annual Meeting (or culmination of all working parts of the IJC)

The last time I wrote was right before the Fall 2015 IJC Semi-Annual Meeting.  This meeting was a major turning point in the fellowship for me: it was when the large-scale picture of exactly how the IJC works finally became clear.  Up until that meeting and advisory board meetings associated with it, I had worked with IJC advisory boards, staff and Commissioners but didn’t recognize how they all fit together. Seeing everyone assembled in one place and the order in which meetings took place helped me to understand how science is shared from the experts on the IJC advisory boards to the IJC staff, to the IJC Commissioners, and finally to the governments.  It is one thing to know that the work in academia makes a difference, but it is another thing entirely to watch that expertise being used to provide advice to the governments of two countries.  I am excited that I had the opportunity to witness this process twice over the course of the year.

The semi-annual meetings also provided an excellent opportunity for networking and to spend time in the Canadian and U.S. capitals. I generally only communicated with the Health Professionals Advisory Board (HPAB) and the Research Coordination Committee (RCC) members over the phone; at their board meetings during the semi-annual meetings, I was able to meet them in person, which helped me better understand how they think. On top of being brilliant, the IJC advisory board members are some of the nicest people I have ever met. I had never been to Ottawa before. I did get a chance to explore a little bit, and it is a nice city. In April, the reception was held in the Benjamin Franklin Room of the U.S. Department of State building, which was a bit like a museum. That was when I realized the full weight of the fact that I was witnessing science turn into international policy, and just how lucky I was to be there.

HPAB Fall Meeting
(Around the table from front left: HPAB Canadian Co-Chair Dr. Tim Takaro, HPAB member Dr. Elaine Faustman, Former HPAB member Dr. John Dellinger, HPAB U.S. Co-Chair Dr. Seth Foldy, HPAB members Dr. Laurie Chan, Dr. Matthew Keifer, Dr. David Buckeridge, IJC Physical Scientist Dr. Jennifer Boehme and Guest Speaker Dr. Taha Kass-Hout, FDA)

 

Parliament Hill, Ottawa

RCC presenting to Commissioners at Spring Semi-Annual Meeting

My supervisor, Dr. Jennifer Boehme, and me on the balcony at the top of the U.S. State Department of State building for the Spring Semi-Annual Meeting Reception

Other Activities

Over the course of the year, my primary responsibilities were to assist the Secretariats of the HPAB and RCC with routine activities such as running the board meetings. I also had the opportunity to help these two boards with some science activities. 

With the HPAB, I conducted a biweekly news digest focused on topics of current interest to the HPAB. This particular activity helped me to stay updated on current events, and also focus more on the human impact of environmental issues. One interesting project I worked on was a project that aims to use social media to understand the relationship between major environmental events/issues (such as the development of harmful algal blooms in an area) to the physical, mental and economic health of communities. Though this project is still in its very beginning stages, it was interesting to learn about sets of expertise that I am not familiar with – the nexus of health informatics, social media and computer science.

With the RCC, I helped to facilitate the Future Indicators workshop. Future Indicators are potential means to measure changes in the Great Lakes ecosystem. These means are not currently used because not enough data is available, but the potential to develop that data exists. The goal of the expert workshop was to determine the relative importance of the indicators to prioritize which indicators data collection should focus on in the near future. I found this project exciting because I again had the opportunity to witness experts making decisions that would be communicated to the governments – and this time the discussion was much more technical (which made the engineer in me geek out quite a bit).

I attended several meetings, workshops and conferences in addition to the IJC semi-annual meetings. Two stood out in particular. One was a workshop that the IJC hosted in Windsor about microplastics. This workshop was incredible – it brought together experts from Canada and the U.S. in government, academia, citizens’ groups and industry. The discussion was how to tackle the issue of microplastics pollution from research, application and policy standpoints. I was amazed at how constructive the discussion was despite vastly differing viewpoints. How to handle microplastics pollution is a deeply complicated issue.

The other conference that stood out was the International Association of Great Lakes Research conference. This was my third time attending the conference, but my first time not attending as a student. This time, I knew more people and was familiar with more research, which makes the whole experience slightly less overwhelming – there’s a lot of information shared at this conference! I realized how much I’ve learned and grown since I was a student. That being said, I was very excited to see and hang out with the Michigan Tech crew this year, including one of my master’s advisors. I also presented my research over the course of my IJC fellowship on life after delisting for the Great Lakes Areas of Concern (more on that below).

 

Commissioner Glance giving opening remarks at the IJC Microplastics workshop

Michigan Tech students, alumni and friends at IAGLR 2016
(R to L: Hang Wang, Dr. Lauren Fry, Dr. Mark Rowe, Colin Brooks, me, Joeseph Smith, Ashley Hendricks)

Major Accomplishments

My major accomplishments over the year involved deviating quite a bit from an engineer’s way of thinking. I learned to communicate science in a way that can be more generally received, and I dabbled in social science research.

I had an opportunity to contribute to the IJC Great Lakes Connection Newsletter – I wrote an  article about the Great Lakes Communications Indicators (French version translated by IJC Staff). This was the first of many lessons by IJC staff on how to communicate complicated concepts in a simple and engaging manner.

I gave two professional presentations. The first presentation was a personal milestone – I was invited to give a brown bag presentation at NOAA-GLERL on my master’s research on PCBs and metals contamination and remediation at the Torch Lake Area of Concern. I worked extensively with IJC Great Lakes Regional Office staff to turn my master’s defense presentation into a story. I am honored that not only did I get to give this presentation, but that it was well-received. 

I used my newly-acquired skills to develop a presentation on my Great Lakes Areas of Concern Life After Delisting work, which I presented at IAGLR. This presentation was particularly fun to give because it was on my current work, and I was able to present it to a fairly broad audience, including mentors and colleagues from IJC, Michigan Sea Grant, and Michigan Tech.

This presentation was the culmination of the largest accomplishment of the year for me: to go through the process of investigating a topic that can be turned into advice to the governments of Canada and the U.S. Over the course of the year, I completed a policy research project that examined what happens to the Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOC) after they have been delisted. Findings discussed how communities of delisted AOCs conduct post-delisting monitoring, maintenance and community involvement activities, as well as how these activities are funded. Recommendations made out of this work are directed to both communities of currently listed AOCs and the governments of Canada and the U.S, and focus on steps each can take to maintain improved conditions at delisted AOCs, and how communities can keep environmental stewardship alive. In addition to the value of the research findings to me and to the IJC, conducting this project was my first real experience conducting social science research.

I produced an approximately 84-page report that will be used by the IJC to provide advice to the governments of Canada and the U.S., as well as AOC communities whose sites are ready to be delisted. The report was recently posted on the IJC website. I also briefed the IJC Commissioners on the report at the June 2016 Executive Meeting. The Commissioners were satisfied with my work and recognized me for my service, which is a huge honor.

Me presenting my AOC Life After Delisting work to the Commissioners
(L to R: Commissioners Glance, Morgan and Bouchard, and me)

GLRO Director Trish Morris presenting me with a certificate recognizing my service to the IJC during my fellowship

Me with Commissioners
(L to R: Commissioners Dereth Glance, Richard Moy, U.S. Chair Lana Pollack, me, Canadian Chair Gordon Walker, Commissioners Benoit Bouchard and Richard Morgan)

 You’re still reading? Thank you! The end is near….

Before I get to my final remarks, there are a couple of things I want to mention. The first is that over the course of this year, I completed my master’s degree in environmental engineering from Michigan Tech. NOTE FOR PROSPECTIVE FELLOWS: if you can avoid overlapping school with this fellowship, do so. That being said, given the content of my thesis, my fellowship actually enhanced my work. I’m proud of the fact that I earned my degree this year, because of the next thing that I want to mention…

…which is that through this fellowship, I was able to secure my next position: next week, I will be joining the Northeast-Midwest Institute. I am very excited about this position because I will be able to combine my technical background from my degree with the policy advisory experience gained through this fellowship. I’m going to help develop advice to the U.S. Congress!! I’m going to live in Washington DC!! (Did I mention I’m very excited?)

Overall, my year at the IJC has been a milestone career experience for me. I came into this fellowship wanting to figure out how to combine my interest in policy with my engineering background and communication skills, and I got exactly what I wanted. I had the opportunity to work with extremely accomplished people who are making a real difference in the world, and to learn about how different pieces of the science-policy puzzle work together. I even got to participate in this process with a large milestone project. I am extremely honored and grateful that the International Joint Commission and Michigan Sea Grant took a chance on me to be the first IJC- Sea Grant fellow.

Congratulations! You’ve reached the end. Thanks for reading, and if you’re looking at this fellowship next year, good luck!

Cheers,

Ankita

ajmandel@mtu.edu

Knauss Fellowship Experience: Ayman Mabrouk

This has been a magnificent year for me! What a great experience my Knauss fellowship has been! Now, after the completion of my fellowship, I would like to share how this experience changed my life. As an Egyptian scientist working in marine conservation and marine protected areas (MPAs) with the Egyptian Ministry for Environment for more than 15 years, I always have had a high regard for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). I was overjoyed to get the opportunity to work for them through the Knauss fellowship.

As a fellow, I was hosted by the Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment/Bio-geography Branch. The goal of the Branch is to improve ecosystem management by developing information and analytical capabilities through research, monitoring and assessment of the distribution and ecology of marine and estuarine organisms and their habitats. I was assigned to work primarily on three projects based on my experience and interest. Throughout these projects and my time as a fellow I was led by wonderful supervisors who assisted and guided me.

Ayman with NOAA Administrator Dr. Kathryn D. Sullivan

The first project was “An Ecological Assessment of the Choptank Complex to Support NOAA’s Habitat Focus Study Area.” For this, I developed an inventory for a geo-database of the Choptank watershed. I also mapped the Choptank Water Quality Assessment and wrote a chapter on Choptank water quality as part of the team report on the ecological assessment for the Choptank watershed.

The second project was “Integrating Bio-physical and Socio-economic Metrics to Characterize and Couple Ecological and Coastal Community Resiliency for the Gulf of Mexico.” This challenging project uses a multidisciplinary research approach that includes social and ecological components, to develop a framework to define and characterize ecosystem and community resiliency. Part of my role was to assist the team leader in the administrative work. This included writing a proposal, budget and implementation plan, and preparing agendas for meetings and follow-up progress reports. I also gathered the environmental and social data for the study area, which consists of the coastal counties of the Gulf, and processed and analyzed it. I provided reports on the results from the analysis to the project team. This project still continues.

Ocean Marine Policy Training, Monterey Bay, August 2015

For my third project, I took the lead on “Linking Coral Reef Complexity to Fisheries Economic Value in the U.S. Virgin Islands: A Tool for Coral Reef Prioritization.” The project objective is to quantify and map the economic fisheries value of coral reefs in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, based on the distribution of observed fish biomass across the seascape. Additionally, the project will quantify the relationship between the direct economic value of observed fish biomass and the topographic complexity and benthic composition of hard-bottom habitat. This work will help in the development of a predictive model for the value of commercial fish across the seascape of St. Croix.

Coral Reef Monitoring Training 

Training was an important part of my fellowship experience at NOAA. Some of the training — including communication, facilitation and team-leading skills — I gained from working with my supervisors and colleagues. Another part included classes and formal instruction that were essential to my working on these projects. I became more familiar with ArcGIS (ArcMap), received a NOAA diving certificate, and studied project design and evaluation.

While a fellow, I also gave a series of six seminars as part of NOAA/NOS Science Seminar Series. These helped me communicate my scientific research, experiences and the lessons I learned in marine conservation and MPAs in the Red Sea. As a result of all of this, I received a certification of recognition. However, the best recognition and reward was that I was hired by the Bio-geography Branch as a marine biologist after my fellowship. Finally, my dream came true and I am officially working for NOAA!

Lake Michigan: The Beauty, The Beast, And A Changing Climate.

My Sea Grant Fellowship have taken me all around Lake Michigan the past couple of months. I've been lucky enough to capture the lake in all her fury and beauty. In this post I'll share some wisdom about one piece of lake shore in particular and preview a coming post about climate change. But first some sounds....

The Beast: "When The Gales of November Come Early"

The Gales of November are known for creating waves on the Great Lakes upwards of 20 feet. They are perhaps most well known for shipwreck the Edmund Fitzgerald which left 29 men dead. Gordon Lightfoot wrote what is now a classic song about the wreck:

While near Traverse City for the State of Lake Michigan Conference I captured this video of Lake Michigan being, well, beastly. 

The Beauty: Old Mission Micro-climates

Just a day later, as the conference came to a close the weather had broken in classic Michigan style. The sun came out from the clouds and lake Michigan was placid. I took the drive down M-37 and ended up at the tip of Old Mission Peninsula. Old Mission juts out in the center of Grant Traverse Bay. 

A Map Detailing Old Mission Peninsula 

Old Mission's location in the center of the bay allows it to have a unique micro-climate. The large water body in the bay moderates the temperature on the narrow peninsula. While most of northern Michigan had already lost its leaves by this time in late November, Old Mission's colors were peaking. Rambling through the woods, migratory birds flying south could be heard hiding somewhere among the orange and red hues. 

This microclimate makes for especially good fruit growing. The peninsula is dotted with wineries, cider makers, cherry orchards, apple orchards and vineyards. These food-oriented businesses form an important part of the backbone of the regions tourism economy. For every winery, there is a handful of inns hosting tourists from all of the world. Of course, the cherries and the fruit make for a vital export commodity. 

Danger looms in the beauty, though. Its not just the dangers of windy days. Climate change stands to threaten the culture and the livelihood of the people who live and work on Old Mission. Micro-climates are highly sensitive to the large trends of warming being experienced the world over. In my next blog post (a podcast!) we will interview Alexandra Brewer, whom runs the sustainable development program at Futurewise, an environmental NGO in Seattle, Washington. She is an expert on how climate change will affect the Great Lakes and she is preparing to head to Paris, France for the UN Climate negotiations. Stay tuned! 

A calm day on the tip of Old Mission Peninsula 

The Knauss Fellowship - a wealth of opportunities!

In addition to co-coordinating reports for Congress on harmful algal bloom and low oxygen conditions, I am now also helping to develop a five-year strategic plan for the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

Assigned projects aside, I have had the great fortune of participating in numerous professional development activities. In May, I went to a meeting of the International Joint Commission Great Lakes Science Advisory Board to discuss the contents of an upcoming report. At the Canadian Embassy the following day, I observed each advisory board reporting out to the commissioners and providing guidance on the content of the report.

The Canadian Embassy where I observed the proceedings of an International Joint Commission meeting.

During Capitol Hill Ocean Week in June, I observed panels of government researchers and policymakers discussing some of the most pressing issues our oceans are facing. Topics included Arctic Ocean policy, illegal fishing and collaborative marine conservation. One of the most interesting panels was a group of high school and college students who had done notable ecological projects. The students talked about their projects, what inspires them, and their vision for tackling challenging problems, including climate change. The event ended with a leadership panel that included Dr. Katherine Sullivan, NOAA’s Administrator and Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, who discussed her thoughts on challenges and successes in ocean science and policy.

A squinty photo of me at Capitol Hill Ocean Week, with the Capitol Building in the background.

Another day I traveled from Silver Spring to the Dirksen Senate Office Building in downtown D.C. to check out a congressional hearing on the drought conditions in California and other West Coast states. It was sobering to hear just how severe the drought was and is projected to be in the future. However, I was encouraged by some of the senators’ questions, which reflected an understanding of how grave the drought is and displayed an interest in understanding how to help the situation. Theoretically, the senators can use this information to make decisions that support a variety of drought mitigation efforts. I sure hope they do.

Dirksen Senate Office Building, where I heard a hearing on the West Coast drought.

I also participated in two NOAA workshops: Planning and Facilitating Collaborative Meetings and Project Planning and Evaluation. Both were extremely helpful in providing training in techniques that I hope to do more of in my career moving forward.

A trip to the U.S. Naval Observatory, as part of a Knauss Fellow potluck and open house event, was a breath of fresh air from the usual urban D.C. surroundings. With its green lawn, tall trees, and buildings dating back to the 1800s, the campus has the feel of an old field station. After a potluck dinner on the grounds, we went on a tour of the campus, which included the James Melville Gilliss Library and two large telescopes, one of which we used to see a vivid image of Saturn and its rings!

Photos above: Looking around the James Melville Gilliss Library and getting a tour a telescope at the U.S. Naval Observatory. 

The Knauss Fellows working on the legislative side also recently organized an event on Capitol Hill. This provided an opportunity to meet with legislative assistants and professional subcommittee staffers working in both the House and Senate, and included a tour of the Capitol building and the Library of Congress. In my humble opinion, the intricate patterns, textures, and colors in the floors, walls, and ceiling of the Library of Congress make it one of the most beautiful buildings in D.C. 

Above left: The star in the floor of the U.S. Capitol Building that marks the point at which the streets in Washington D.C. are laid out and numbered. Above right: a view from inside the Library of Congress. 

Through these activities, I have learned about the executive and legislative branches of government, Great Lakes and ocean policy, planning projects, and facilitating events.

Needless to say, I am learning a lot and staying busy, and there are still two months to go! 

Department of Commerce Natural Capital Business Roundtables

My last post was about my overall experience working at NOAA and being a Knauss Fellow, so I thought I’d use this one to go a bit deeper into one of the projects I lead, the Department of Commerce Natural Capital Business Roundtables.

Natural capital, the world’s stocks of natural assets such as water, air, geology, and living things, is critical for economic growth and human survival. Natural capital, just like financial and human capital, is a key component of business operations, and smart business decisions necessitate accounting for both the natural capital assets a company uses, and the natural capital its operations impact.

My team is traveling to four coastal regions - the Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes, Northeast, and Silicon Valley - to engage businesses and other external partners in day-long workshops on case studies, strategies, and challenges for conducting corporate natural capital work. In addition to facilitating peer-to-peer learning among companies, we’re gaining insight into how the Department of Commerce can better meet business needs in the natural capital space.

I’ve heard some pretty inspiring examples of how companies are integrating natural capital into their business operations. For example, Dow Chemical Company’s first constructed wetland system for treating industrial wastewater had a capital cost of just $1.4 million, compared to $40 million for the next best option. It filters water better than other systems, requires fewer resources for operations and maintenance, and produces a host of co-benefits including habitat for native wildlife.

Our first Natural Capital Business Roundtable, which engaged the oil and gas, petrochemical, and ports industries at Rice University’s Center for Energy Studies at the Baker Institute for Public Policy

The backbone of this effort is a cross-bureau team in the Department of Commerce, including NOAA, the Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). I’ve had the opportunity to work with some pretty cool people, including NOAA’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Conservation and Management, the Department of Commerce Chief Economist, and the Commerce Chief Data Officer. I’ve also engaged with innovative companies like Entergy Corp and Bechtel Infrastructure, and natural capital experts at NGO’s and academic institutions.

Leading this project has taught me how to facilitate decision making and provide strategic direction for a team whose members all have different levels of subject matter expertise and sit in different levels in a hierarchical organization. It has also taught me a lot about effective external engagement, and helped me realize that I really love the collaborative, perspective-broadening work of engaging people from across multiple sectors towards a common goal.

In December I will head to Stanford for the final regional roundtable, and I’m currently planning the Department of Commerce National Natural Capital Summit, which will take place in early 2016. Read more about the Natural Capital Business Roundtables on the ESA blog, and follow us on Twitter: @DOCEconomist.

Fun First Quarter as the First IJC Fellow

Hello Everyone!

My name is Ankita Mandelia, and I am the first Michigan Sea Grant – International Joint Commission Fellow!  Being at the International Joint Commission is very cool – I have always wanted to work on large-scale environmental policy, and growing up in Michigan, I have a vested interest in the lakes.  My interests are primarily in chemical life cycle analysis and the Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs), since my master’s thesis focused on polychlorinated biphenyl compounds and metals in the Torch Lake Area of Concern.

My living situation is unique in that I live at home with my parents and cross an international border every day.  The border crossing is not too bad if you’re patient, and it is significantly improved once you get a NEXUS card.  The IJC Great Lakes Regional Office (GLRO) is located very close to the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel, and from our office we have an excellent view of the Detroit River; though I am on the opposite side of the building overlooking Ouellette Avenue, specifically right at where my grandparents used to live.

The view from my office.

A view from the conference room: Riverside Drive, Windsor.

A view from the conference room: Detroit Skyline.

For my fellowship, I am assisting two of the IJC Boards with their activities (such as summarizing teleconferences and reviewing ongoing and potential contract work): the Health Professionals Advisory Board (HPAB) and the Science Advisory Board’s (SAB’s) Research Coordination Committee (RCC).  The HPAB “provides advice on clinical and public health issues related to the transboundary environment, and is responsible for recommending ways to communicate about these issues with the public and stakeholder groups.” (http://ijc.org/en_/boards)  The RCC is part of the Science Advisory Board, which is mandated by the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) to “provide advice on research to the Commission and to the Great Lakes Water Quality Board.” (2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement)

One of the projects I have been helping the RCC with is the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Research Inventory System (RIS) revision.  The RIS is intended to be a binational clearinghouse of information regarding Great Lakes research, but it needs to be significantly updated.  The idea is that the end user can find out what research is being conducted in the basin and access information about these projects.  I helped to write a report to the Commissioners explaining this need and asking for the means to move forward with this project.

My primary, year-long project is on what happens to AOCs once they are delisted.  AOCs are environmentally degraded areas within the Great Lakes basin, and they are of concern because they have experienced extreme pollution and ultimately flow into the Great Lakes.  Well-established mechanisms exist to address and ultimately delist each AOC’s beneficial use impairments (BUIs), and in turn delist sites from the AOC list; however, it is currently unclear what happens to AOCs once they have been delisted.  The objective of my project is to create a guidebook-type document for newly-delisted AOCs to help them maintain their restored site.

In addition to working on projects, I have witnessed the inner workings of the International Joint Commission.  Commissioners sometimes visit the GLRO, which is a great way to meet and talk with them about current work; I met U.S. Commissioner Dereth Glance, U.S. Commission Chair Lana Pollack and Canadian Commission Chair Gordon Walker this way.  One major event this past month was the IJC Executive Meeting, during which IJC Staff met with the Commissioners to discuss current work and seek decisions to move forward on several fronts.  The IJC is a consensus-based organization, which means there are many mechanisms in place to ensure that everyone who should have input on a decision does.

So far I have had ample opportunity to network by attending three conferences.  The first conference was the International Environmental Indicators Conference, where I met scientists working on indicators from all over the world; it was especially helpful to meet scientists working on indicators in the AOCs.  The second meeting was the Sea Grant Great Lakes Network Meeting, where I met people working on many of the issues on the IJC’s radar, particularly on-the-ground outreach of these issues.  Everyone at this conference was really friendly, but I most enjoyed spending some quality time with the Michigan Sea Grant folks!  Finally, last week I attended my first Healing Our Waters (HOW) conference; which I was eager to attend because I have been working on Great Lakes issues for the past few years and have previously attended Great Lakes Days in Washington D.C. with the coalition.  This conference was excellent – I learned something new in just about every session, and I got to spend some quality time with IJC folks outside of the office – including two of the Commissioners.  I also ran into Sam Molnar, the Great Lakes Commission fellow!

GLC Fellow Sam Molnar and me on the Chicago River Boat Tour field trip during the HOW Conference.

Now I am back at the office refocusing on my groundwork.  So far this fellowship has been excellent – I work on interesting projects that will have a real impact on Great Lakes restoration, I meet a lot of people I can learn from, and I travel!  And all this just in the first quarter!  I’m looking forward to what’s next.

Until next time,

Ankita

Musings of a new Sea Grant Fellow: How to pay for a human right? Social perceptions of the value of water

Greetings Sea Grant blog readers! My name is Samuel Molnar and I am the 2015-2016 Sea Grant Fellow at the Great Lakes Commission. I am currently flying through my third month at the Commission. My main project is the development of the Great Lakes Blue Accounting strategy and the scoping a pilot for the Blue Accounting Process around municipal water supply.

But first a little bit about me. I am a Michigan native. After doing my undergraduate degree in Public Affairs at Wayne State University I was a community organizer in Detroit working primarily in churches and high schools. I did this for a number of years, along with some odd jobs building mountain biking trails, before I decided to go chase down a master’s degree at the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment. While there I studied environmental informatics and worked on the Climate Ready Great Lakes Cities team. I also had the opportunity to be an environmental radio host with Its Hot In Here in WCBN – FM in Ann Arbor.

Throughout the past couple of months I have been working on scoping the Blue Accounting pilot project for municipal water supply. Blue Accounting is a program that supports strategic decisions, led jointly by the Great Lakes Commission and The Nature Conservancy. Blue Accounting is anchored by nine overarching desired uses of and values associated with the Great Lakes water system. These desired outcomes fall under the general categories of social values, sustainable human uses and healthy aquatic ecosystems. Blue Accounting is an information management strategy which will establish collaboratives around the desired outcomes that can agree on common goals, create and support metrics to measure progress toward the goals utilizing existing data streams, and measure progress based on those metrics.  

One of my main tasks has been to conduct interviews with directors of municipal water systems and water supply experts. There is a lot variation among the water supply systems and we hear many different perspectives. For example in water systems that were built too large for current population and industry levels such as Milwaukee’s do not prioritize conservation on the part of consumers because they need to keep pressure in their pipes and maintain revenue streams that can support system maintenance and upgrades.

The City of Guelph, Ontario on the other hand is dependent on limited groundwater and has spent decades shaping an ethic of water conservation so much so that neighbors report that having green grass during a drought is reason for social ostracization. These different perspectives, however, are both rooted in the same need for revenue to maintain infrastructure. This problem is rooted in the social perception of the value of water.

Water is both priceless, valuable beyond measure, and a basic natural resource that most believe should be available to us at a nominal fee.

This dilemma has come to a head in Detroit. I spent a couple hours at a meeting of the Great Lakes Water Authority one afternoon. The minutes from previous meetings featured public comments from groups including “The Raging Grannies” prodding the board to devise a way to end the water shutoffs that have affected thousands of Detroiters who are unable to pay their bills on time. It has been called a public health crisis and condemned by the United Nations as “a violation of the most basic human rights.”  A common refrain you might hear in Detroit’s political scene now is “Water is a human right!” Indeed it is, but it’s an expensive one. With infrastructure breaking down at an unprecedented rate, bills are rising are for the watersheds most impoverished residents.

While public officials feel the heat of public outrage and an estimated 40,000 people scramble to live without functioning water (as seen in this compelling and infuriating video by Detroit’s RaizUp Collective), the quagmire of paying for water infrastructure upgrades remains. The old and overbuilt water system in Detroit must be paid for by a smaller and less wealthy populace than it was built for. Some have called for a social campaign to help people to place more value on their water. “If only people would pay for their water half of what they pay on their cable bill”, goes the refrain. Never mind that a rising number of people, myself included have no cable bill, water is a distinctly different public utility. Unlike cable, water is a true public good; necessary to public health and welfare.  

At the Great Lakes Water Authority meeting it seemed momentarily that public officials were listening to their constituents. Extra time in the agenda was added for a presentation from one of the board members on how other communities with a large low-income population have dealt with funding water infrastructure maintenance with. One example that seems particularly promising is to model Philadelphia’s recently passed income-based policies in which low income consumers would pay a bill that is a certain percentage of their income, while more affluent consumers would pick up the tab for remaining costs.

Despite the challenges I am inspired by the many intelligent and passionate people working in the grassroots and at the top of water systems to find a way forward for water infrastructure and financing in 21^st century economy. I am honored to be working alongside them.   

Hitting the six month mark

It’s hard to believe I’ve hit the halfway point in my fellowship. When I’m staring up at the burned-out fluorescent light above my cube, it seems like I’ve been here forever, and when I'm trying out a new bike route to a meeting at the Commerce Building it seems like I’ve just arrived.

The ceiling above my cube

In any event, I do feel like I’ve accomplished a lot. I am on a cross-bureau team in the Department of Commerce leading a series of workshops with businesses in coastal regions around the country. We are helping companies integrate natural capital values into their planning and operations. This work has taken me to Houston, Cleveland, and New York City, and later this fall I’ll travel to California.

Houston in February > Silver Spring in February

Dr. Holly Bamford, NOAA's Acting Assistant Secretary for Conservation and Management, speaking at the Great Lakes Natural Capital Business Roundtable in Cleveland

The trips have provided some exciting new scenery for triathlon training!

Training runs in Houston Memorial Park and near the National Conservation Training Center

I’m also happy to have a project that keeps me close to my climate adaptation roots. I am working on a report with a group of NOAA researchers that synthesizes 15 years of risk communication and behavior literature, focusing on extreme weather events. We are helping transition this research to applications like better weather risk education and more effective flood and tornado warnings. In May, I traveled to the National Adaptation Forum in St. Louis to interface with more colleagues who are working on the human impacts side of climate and extreme weather.

Taking a break from the conference to visit the St. Louis Arch

I’ve had a couple of superb professional development opportunities, including science communication training from the University of Maryland Integration and Applications Network (IAN), and a facilitation training led by experts from NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management.

Mouth of the Choptank River at University of Maryland's Horn Point Lab

Finally, I’m enjoying the simple things in life, like participating in scavenger hunts around the NOAA campus, and having my husband and dog (finally) move to Silver Spring.

Scavenger hunt with NOAA's Office of Program Planning and Integration (we had to "take a picture with a turtle")

I have six action-packed months under my belt, and I can’t wait to see what the next six will bring!