Green infrastructure is an interconnected network of natural areas and other open spaces that conserve natural ecosystem values and functions, sustain clean air and water and provide a wide array of benefits to people and wildlife. It is the ecological framework for environmental, social, and economic health – in short, our natural life-support system (Benedict and McMahon 2006). In this webinar we will explore the benefits, scalability, implementation, politics, and potential funding of green infrastructure projects. We will dive deep into green infrastructure as another equitable and effective tool to address the climate crisis.
This Deep Dive webinar discussion will be led by three experts who are nationally-known for their advocacy and successful implementation of green infrastructure projects. Christine Conn is the Landscape Conservation Planner for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. She is especially recognized for successfully engaging diverse stakeholders in innovative green infrastructure projects in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Sacoby Wilson directs the Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health Laboratory. His views on exposure science, environmental justice and environmental health disparities — based on crowd science and community-based participatory research — are especially pertinent to successful green infrastructure projects in frontline communities. Finally, Will Allen, who oversees the Conservation Leadership Network, is an expert on green infrastructure and conservation GIS. This conversation will be moderated by Jane Fountain, Professor at the UMass School of Public Policy, which is sponsoring this webinar. The program is part of a series of forums on national climate policy co-hosted by Climate XChange and the Pricing Carbon Initiative.
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