adapt: climate change and the built environment by Monika Serrano; Jessica Mederson
Monika and Jessica talk to Abby Ross, the founder of The Resiliency Company, focused on helping communities adapt to climate risk. Abby has used her background as an entrepreneur and experience working with charitable giving to identify the funding gaps holding communities back from fully recovering from natural disasters and find ways to fund those gaps. The Resiliency Company mobilizes the funding, policies, and innovation required to shift markets and minds toward resiliency.
Dena Prastos, CEO and Founder of Indigo River Studios, joins Monika and Jessica to discuss waterfront resilience in NYC and beyond. Indigo River Studios is a women-owned design firm specializing in waterfront infrastructure, climate adaptation, and regulatory innovation. Dena is both a AIA licensed architect and civil engineer. She leads transformative public and private projects across New York and beyond, including work with NYCEDC, the Trust for Governors Island, and the Hudson River Park Trust. Dena chairs the NCARB Futures Collaborative, has served as a guest lecturer at Yale and Columbia, and was the lead author of the architectural chapters for NYC's first-ever Waterfront Code.
Monika and Jessica speak with Boyce Upholt, a writer and "nature critic," about his first book, The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi. They discuss the long history of American efforts to control and corral the Mississippi River, the engineering feats that have gone into that project, and some of the consequences of those actions.
Monika Serrano and Jessica Mederson speak with Chuck Chaitovitz, Vice President for environmental affairs and sustainability at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They discuss the work being done by the Chamber as well as the Chamber's foundation to help businesses improve resiliency in the face of climate change. Chuck brings to the Chamber twenty-five years of experience focused on environment and energy issues, working with companies on strategies to improve their bottom line and competitive positioning. At the Chamber, Chaitovitz is launching a new environment and sustainability capability to give businesses the tools they need to adapt to the challenges posed by climate change.
Episode links:
Mónika Serrano and Jessica Mederson talk to three entrepreneurs about their solutions to problems the construction industry faces on the job site, particurarly in the face of extreme heat, poor air conditions, and lack of water. They first talk to Zachary Kiehl, CEO and principal engineer of VigiLife, a connected health and safety technology company dedicated to protecting and enriching the lives of individuals at risk through innovative solutions. Then Mónika and Jessica speak with Tracie Wagman, CEO of ColdVest, a company dedicated to expanding its life-saving cooling technology worldwide. Finally, Jessica and Mónika talk to Andrew Crimston, creator of WashBox, a tool wash system that uses its own recycled water to provide tool washing for ALL construction trades.
Jessica Mederson and Mónika Serrano sit down with Jane Gilbert, Miami-Dade County's Chief Heat Officer. Together, they dive into the growing threat of extreme heat for cities, its disproportionate impact on vulnerable communities, and how communities leaders can respond through thoughtful design and policy. Jane shares how her groundbreaking role has shaping heat mitigation strategies—from education strategies to tree canopy initiatives—and what is next.
Jessica Mederson and Mónika Serrano speak with Julie Manning, Global Head of Climate and Carbon Strategy at La Salle Investments. This conversation explores if real estate investors are factoring climate risk into their decision-making, what resilience actions are taking place, the challenges of evaluating climate risk across portfolios while considering the unique characteristics of buildings and surrounding communities, and more.
Drought. Flooding. Wildfires. These are all risks our communities and built environment face and these risks are increasing as our planet warms. Beavers, nature's engineers and a keystone species, can help us fight all of these risks. Beavers are central to water management (reducing flooding and droughts and mitigating wildfires) because of how they handle water: they slow it, spread it, store it, and sink it.
Jessica Mederson and Mónika Serrano speak with Alison Sant, author of the book From the Ground Up: discuss how empowered local communities have created and led valuable efforts towards climate adaptation. From small, actionable steps to large-scale collective efforts, our conversation with Alison highlights stories of communities overcoming challenges, building strength, and fostering hope. From New Orleans to Minnesota and across the United States, this episode emphasizes the importance of collaboration, grassroots initiatives, and incremental progress in creating a resilient and thriving future for all.
Mónika Serrano and Jessica Mederson talk to Greg Lindsey of Alpha Geo to explore how investors evaluate risks and opportunities in the face of climate change and climate migration. We also discuss public versus private investments, what the money follows, and the challenges individuals and communities face when considering climate migration.
Mónika Serrano and Jessica Mederson talk to Holly Neber, CEO of AEI Consultants, and chair of the development of the recently approved ASTM International Standard Guide for the assessment of physical climate risk and resilience for commercial properties known as the Property Resilience Assessment (PRA). We talk about the development of this new resilience standard, Holly's work as an emissary from commercial real estate finance to the resilience/adaptation community, and the processes of identifying and managing risk during purchase, development or financing of a commercial real estate asset.
Mónika Serrano and Jessica Mederson talk to Jim Schneider, Executive Director of PCI Mountain States, a chapter of the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) covering Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming. They discuss concrete's role in increasing the built environment's resiliency to climate change as well as the greenhouse gases that are emitted in manufacturing concrete. They also cover some of the innovations being made in how concrete is manufactured and used.
Mónika and Jessica talk to Amy Macdonald, Founder & Principal of Ripple Resilience. Formerly a principal and founder of Thornton Tomasetti's Resilience Practice, her career spans four continents, with leadership roles responding to catastrophes including Sandy, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, and earthquakes in New Zealand and Nepal. Amy discusses how her experience in disaster recovery has led to her career working with clients to incorporate resilient design, nature-based solutions, and emergency preparations in order to be resilient in the face of climate change and extreme weather events.
Jessica Mederson and Monika Serrano speak to Alice C. Hill, an expert in resilience to catastrophic risks, having served as Special Assistant to President Obama and Senior Director for Resilience Policy on the National Security Council. She led policy development on natural disasters, national security, and climate change. Previously, as senior counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security, she developed the department's first climate adaptation plan. Currently a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Hill has authored works on climate resilience and serves on the boards of the Environmental Defense Fund and Munich Re U.S.-based companies.
Jessica Mederson and Monika Serrano close the first season speaking with Dr. Anne Cope, Chief Engineer at IBHS, the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, a nonprofit supported by property insurers, reinsurers, and affiliated companies. Anne leads the engineering team, researching the performance of homes and businesses in hurricanes, wildfires, severe thunderstorms, and hailstorms. We talk about her role at the National Institute of BUilding Sciences, building codes, affordability, return on investment from resilience, the role of insurers in adaptation and more.
Mónika and Jessica interview Professor Michael Gerrard, founder and director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School. We discuss issues such as building codes and FEMA flood maps, government regulations that could be used to improve resiliency in the built environment but only if communities use the latest versions of these regulations, which are beginning to incorporate future climate modeling--not just historical climate date. We also discuss potential liability for parties to a construction project, particularly design professionals. And we come back to one of our favorite topics--extreme heat.
Jessica and Monika speak with Dr. Cassandra Smith and David Keller, from the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, US Department of State. Their Climate Security and Resilience program works to understand and generate awareness of outposts' vulnerability to natural hazards and to enhance their resilience in preparation for potential natural hazards. We learn how they analyze and act on climate hazards that may affect diplomats outposts, how these assets have been affected, what the future outlook looks like, and more.
Mónika and Jessica discuss living in New Orleans with Ashley Robinson, a construction lawyer with a civil engineering degree who lives and works in New Orleans. We discuss living in New Orleans post Katrina – from work being done to prepare for future hurricanes to the multiple rounds of litigation after a major disaster. Ashley addresses the problems with getting home insurance in the face of increasing extreme weather issues and the roles building standards, green infrastructure, and individuals need to play to ensure that New Orleans can be a resilient, insurable city going forward.
Mónika and Jessica interview Jason Glaser, CEO of La Isla network, an occupational health research organization and consultancy dedicated to protecting workers in a warming world. La Isla Network studies the effects of heat on workers and advices organizations on how to adapt to extreme heat while protecting workers health and staying productive. We talk about the risk that extreme heat poses to the construction workforce, and the industry as a whole, and what can be done about it.
Mónika and Jessica interview Susanne DesRoches, Vice President, Clean and Resilient Buildings, at New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), about how New York is modernizing its building stock to be both sustainable and resilient in the face of climate change. This work involves not just new builds, but also updating existing buildings and communities to prepare for our future climate. Susanne describes three specific projects NYSERDA is focusing on to address resilience in the built environment.
Mónika and Jessica talk to Dr. Klaus Jacob, geophysicist and Emeritus Research Professor at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Dr. Jacob takes us back to basics, defining climate mitigation and adaptation, discussing synergies between sustainability and resilience (renewable energy!) and some of the challenges of adapting to climate change (can flood walls have unintended consequences?). Also, can building retrofits incorporate climate resilience? How urgent is adapting buildings and infrastructure to a changing climate?
Mónika and Jessica talk to Shalini Vajjhala, the Executive Director of Pre Collective and a nationally recognized infrastructure and climate resilience expert with more than 15 years of experience designing, funding, and financing community-centered resilient infrastructure solutions. Shalini discusses the questions she likes to ask every client at the beginning of a project, the different "colors of money" that can be available for a project, and the ways in which adaptation and preventative healthcare struggle from the same problem–it's hard to measure successes when they're measured by problems avoided.
This trailer sets the stage for the first season of Adapt: Climate Change and the Built Environment, a podcast devoted to discussing the importance of, challenges of, and issues to address in incorporating resiliency into the built environment in the face of climate change. Hosted by Monika Serrano, a construction resilience manager, and Jessica Mederson, a construction and business litigator.
