Program Goal
The goal of the program is to promote mutual understanding and partnerships between key professional groups in the United States and their counterparts in these four East Asian and Pacific countries through reciprocal internships and fellowships. This Professional Fellows program provides opportunities for professional development, sharing of professional expertise, exchange of ideas and best practices developed in each country and share information on education and communication campaigns for those in urban and rural areas relating to the impact of climate change.
Target Population
“Climate Change Professional Fellows Program” focuses on the role of professionals and young emerging leaders in the field of climate change, including environmental and social scientists, climatologists, ecologists, government officials, disaster responders, community leaders, activists, educators and NGO’s. The program will serve 40 participants, including 26 from the four target countries, Australia, China, Indonesia and Japan, and 14 from the United States. The program is divided into two exchanges; participants from the partner countries will travel in two cohorts to the United States in the spring and fall of 2011. The United States members will visit partner countries also in two cohorts, during a three week period in the summer of 2011 and spring of 2012.
The International Center and Baruch College will work with the relevant U.S. Embassy and other local partner organizations in each country to select, through a merit-based, competitive process, participants for the program. The in-country or regional partner organization will coordinate screening, selecting and preparing participants prior to departure for the United States, including a formal pre-departure orientation program.
U.S. Program
The domestic component of the program will begin with a three-day orientation in San Francisco, California followed by two weeks in New York City, two weeks at an internship site outside of New York City and four days in Washington, DC. During the two weeks in New York City, Baruch College will present a series of workshops on climate change issues and help participants develop civic education programs in support of efforts by concerned individuals and organizations to identify environment problems related to climate change. During this time, Baruch will coordinate internships focused on climate change, real estate, transportation, and other related issues. The first group of participants will arrive in the spring of 2011 and the second in the fall of 2011.
During a three-week period in the summer of 2011, and again in the spring of 2012, U.S. Fellows will travel to the East Asian and Pacific Region (Summer 2011: Australia and China; Spring 2012: Indonesia and Japan). These fellows will share ideas and experiences with a larger group of concerned individuals who are engaged in developing and communicating strategies for reducing carbon emissions and addressing the challenges of sustainability in their respective countries. Participants in the Fellows Program from the partnering countries will help organize and host these meetings.
Workshops
Workshops held in the US for each cohort from overseas will be organized around a set of themes to be determined. Potential topics to be covered include communications strategies using oral, print, and electronic media; how to conduct energy audits to reduce carbon emissions; strategies in waste management aimed at reducing the amount of solid waste through change in packing and increased use of recycling; the challenges of building sustainable economies while preserving the environment; and how climate change is being handled by a large urban government. These workshops will also simultaneously provide lessons in free speech, coalition-building and democracy. In addition to workshops, Baruch will organize inter-group discussion groups to facilitate the exchange of information between all of the program participants. Members of the faculty will organize internships with organizations involved with various aspects of climate change.
Internships
The knowledge and lessons learned during the workshop sessions will be completed by hands-on experience in the field working with professionals from our participating U.S. government, NGO and industry partners. Individuals will work with officials from the New York City government, including the New York City Council Committee on Environment Protection, the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services, the Port Authority of NY/NJ and the City University of New York (CUNY). Participants will also work with businesses and non-governmental organizations, including Johnson Controls, Sustainable Energy Partners, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc., and the US Green Building Council at their offices lcated both in the NY Metropolitan Region and throughout the U.S. In addition, the College at Charleston (SC) will coordinate the placement of four interns in the Charleston, SC area.
The Professional Fellows from the participating partner countries will take part in a Washington, DC-based Professional Fellows Congress to be held in the spring 2011 and again in the fall 2011. Participants will have an opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with Professional Fellows from the other fifteen (15) grantee organizations supported under this program. http://blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu/climatechangefellows/overview/
