Celebrating Hispanic Heritage: Paving the Way for a Just Transition and Community Empowerment
Latin America (including the Caribbean) plays a crucial role in the supply of key minerals for decarbonization, thanks to its abundant and diverse reserves of high-quality minerals. As global mining capacity continues to expand, we are at a pivotal moment where adopting comprehensive measures is vital to mitigate its environmental impact. Latin America has the opportunity to actively engage in the transition that is necessary for all of us to contribute to the collective effort of implementing the SDGs and mitigate the effects of a changing climate.
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The Shades of Allyship: A Critique of Corporate Pink and Greenwashing
For those of us in the US who crave the normalization of public queerness, and the safety and accessibility that we hope will accompany this normalization, it is tempting to be moved by the participation of these unlikely partners. Indeed, the overwhelming message of our for-profit sponsors is that they are strong allies in the battle for human rights and dignity for LGBTQ+ people around the globe. Somehow, we remain unconvinced.
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Cierp Alumni Perspectives: A Conversation with Athena Ronquillo-Ballesteros
As part of the AAPI Heritage Month spotlight, The Fletcher School’s Vishal Manve spoke with Athena Ronquillo-Ballesteros, Managing Director of Global Climate Strategies, Climate Leadership Initiative. She has been actively involved in mentoring and shaping the careers of aspiring professionals in the field of climate finance and shared her insights and experiences from her extensive work in climate finance, negotiations, and mentoring emerging leaders in global climate policy. During this interview, Athena shed light on the importance of collaboration between established professionals and the next generation of leaders and her work with Fletcher faculty members including Dean Rachel Kyte, Academic Dean Kelly Sims Gallagher, and Professor Jacob Werksman.
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Growing Climate Risk in Pacific Islands and its Implications
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month gives us a great opportunity to think about the contributions of Pacific Islander Americans to the United States. The population of Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders has increased by about 30% (from 1.2 million to 1.6 million) between 2010 and 2020. The majority of American Pacific Islanders (as defined by the Census) are from Hawaii, Samoa, Guam, Tonga, or Fiji.
However, there is a group of people from small Pacific islands in the country who are less visible to the eyes of the Census: citizens of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau. The three countries, as Freely Associated States (FAS) through bilateral Compacts of Free Association with the United States, may live, study, and work in the United States for an unlimited length without visas. In exchange, the United States retains its responsibility for the defense and exclusive access to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, which is one of the key strategic outposts for the US military. The trend of Freely Associated States’ citizens migrating to the US is likely to continue especially in the face of climate change.
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Critical minerals, geopolitics, and the risks for achieving net-zero transition
For many Californians, the words “Salton Sea” evoke cracked mud, desert air, the smell of rotten eggs, agriculture, pesticides, environmental injustice, and a lot of wasted water. But in recent years, the sea has acquired a new significance: lithium, and through it a potential—if fraught—solution to the US’s clean energy concerns.
Lithium belongs to a group of resources called “critical minerals”: minerals with a “supply chain vulnerable to disruption” whose absence “would impact economic or national security.” More specifically, the term often refers to “transition-critical minerals,” that is, minerals essential to the clean energy transition. Lithium, for instance, is a major component in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles and other products (though this could change).
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