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  • 024 Brock Long and Ashley Ward on Response and Resilience
    2025/04/09
    On this episode of Find Your Sustain Ability, host Laura England sits down with Dr. Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University and Brock Long, former FEMA administrator and executive chairman of Hagerty Consulting, for a deep dive into the meaning and practice of community resilience. Drawing from their extensive experience in climate policy, emergency management and public health, the conversation explores how communities can prepare for and adapt to increasingly frequent and complex climate-related challenges—from extreme heat to infrastructure vulnerabilities. The discussion emphasizes the importance of trust, collaboration and policy reform while also highlighting practical strategies that empower individuals, institutions and governments to build stronger, more resilient communities. Set against the backdrop of Appalachian State University’s Climate Resilience Forum and recent local disasters, the episode brings a grounded, urgent and hopeful lens to the future of sustainable development. Transcript Laura: Welcome everyone to the Find Your Sustain Ability podcast. I'm your host, Laura England from the Department of Sustainable Development, and I'm currently working full-time on App State's five-year climate literacy initiative called Pathways to Resilience. Today's episode focuses on climate resilience. I'll introduce our expert guests with an abbreviated version of their bios and then we'll get to know them more, get to know about their work as we go. Dr. Ashley Ward, welcome to the studio. Dr. Ward is the director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability. And her work focuses on the health impacts of climate extremes as well as community resilience. She works with communities, public agencies, scientists, and decision makers to create effective policy solutions to climate challenges. Ashley's expertise and skill set are in high demand these days. She participated in the White House Extreme Heat Summit last fall, and through Duke's Heat Policy Innovation Hub, she's worked with United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the World Meteorological Organization and the World Health Organization. Also with us is Brock Long, executive chairman of Hagerty Consulting and former administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. While serving as FEMA administrator, Brock coordinated the federal government's response to over 144 presidentially declared disasters and 112 wildfires, including three of the nation's most devastating hurricanes and five of the worst wildfires ever experienced. While at FEMA, Brock also led major initiatives like Community Lifelines, which will have long-lasting impacts on the emergency management community. This leader in the field of emergency management is also a two-time App State alum. He completed a bachelor's degree here in '97 and a Master's of Public Administration in '99. Brock and Ashley, thank you so much for joining me in the studio today. I'm excited to learn more about your work. Ashley: Thanks for having me. Brock: Yeah, great to be here. Laura: And also want to note and acknowledge for our listeners that Ashley and Brock just spoke to a room full of students, faculty, staff, and community members at our Climate Resilience Forum. And it was just fascinating to learn about your expertise, your area of work, and the work that we all have to do as a town here in Boone, as a broader community, a state nation world. We have a lot of work to do to achieve climate resilience, don't we? Brock: Yeah, absolutely. I think it was great to see almost 300 people show up today. Ashley: It was packed. Brock: It was a packed house. So I think that the Pathways to Resilience program at App got some real influence to make some changes in maybe the way that we go forward in the future to talk about resilience. Laura: Thanks. It's great to hear that. And the student participation has been so wonderful so far, and they're learning so much, especially when we bring in experts like the two of you. We have an audience with wide-ranging backgrounds. So I thought we'd start with a foundational question about resilience, climate resilience, community resilience. Can you share a little bit of your thoughts? I know people define it differently, but share a little bit of your thoughts on what do we mean by community resilience and climate resilience? Ashley: I think officially the common definition is the ability to bounce back after something happens. That's what resilience is. I think it would be nice if people thought really holistically about the ecosystem in which they live when they think about resilience. So what I've heard Brock talk about a lot is do you know your neighbors? Your neighbors are often the ones that are going to be there for you when something happens. What kind of skill sets do you bring to the table that can help you in the aftermath of ...
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    53 分
  • 023: App State at COP29
    2025/02/21
    On this episode of Find Your Sustain Ability, Host Laura England welcomes Dr. Dave McEvoy, professor and chair of the Department of Economics in the Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University, along with students Nicole Tran, a senior majoring in political science with a concentration in international and comparative politics, and Grace Knapp, a senior majoring in global studies with minors in Spanish and political science, as they discuss their experience as observers at COP 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Dr. McEvoy explains the UNFCCC’s role in global climate negotiations and App State’s involvement. Nicole and Grace share how they found out about the trip as well as their insights on indigenous communities, climate refugees and the financial challenges of climate action, particularly in conflict-affected areas. They highlight issues of accessibility for marginalized voices and the slow progress of international climate finance. The discussion also touches on the emotional impact of climate change and activism, the challenges of large-scale climate action and plans for future student delegations at COP 30 in Brazil. Show Notes mcevoydm@appstate.edu englandle@appstate.edu https://www.instagram.com/appstatetocop/ https://unfccc.int/ Transcript Laura: Hello everyone and welcome to the Find Your Sustainability Podcast. I'm your host, Laura England, from the Department of Sustainable Development, and I'm currently working full-time on App State's five-year climate literacy initiative called Pathways to Resilience. Today's episode is a bit different from the others that I've hosted. We have a bit of a party here in the studio today. I'm here with not just one guest, not two, but three wonderful guests. This team has recently returned from Baku Azerbaijan, where they served as App State's delegation of observers at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's 29th Conference of the Parties or COP 29 for short. I'll briefly introduce each of our guests and then we'll get to know more about each of them as we go. Dr. Dave McEvoy is professor and chair of the Department of Economics here at App State. He has graduate degrees in environmental economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University College London. His research focuses on the design and effectiveness of international environmental agreements. And relevant to today's conversation, Dr. McEvoy serves as the organization head for App State's involvement in the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change. Also with us is Nicole Tran, a senior majoring in political science with a concentration in international and comparative politics and a minor in leadership studies. And we also welcome Grace Knapp, a senior majoring in global studies with double minors in Spanish and political science. Thanks so much Dave and Nicole and Grace for coming on the podcast, for being in the studio with me, and I'm really excited to hear more about your recent experience as observers of international climate negotiations. Dave: Definitely happy to be here. Thanks. Nicole: Thanks for having us. Grace: Yeah, thank you for having us. I'm happy to be here. Laura: Excellent. Well, first let's start with some context for our listeners. Dave, can you talk about the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change? A brief history, the purpose of the annual conference of the parties, what it's accomplished so far, a semester's worth in like three minutes. Dave: Three minutes? Laura: No pressure. Dave: Sure. The UNFCCC, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is an international treaty that's designed to try to move countries collectively towards a common goal of avoiding dangerous climate change. It was drafted in '92, entered into force in 1994, and since then, every year minus Covid and a couple weird situations, there's been an annual conference of the parties. And those parties, around 200 countries try to work together to make things better. And it's a gradual process, but typically, countries are working under a treaty or a protocol that's kind of under the umbrella UNFCCC. These days, it's called the Paris Agreement. And so I think most people, while they may not know what the acronym UNFCCC means, they've probably heard of the Paris Agreement, which is, again, a treaty or an agreement under the UNFCCC, and that's the main context of the 29th conference of the parties that we just came back from and every conference of the party since COP 1. Laura: That's excellent. And I know, David, thanks to your leadership that App State has the possibility of bringing a delegation. Can you say a bit about what that process involved and also the course that you developed that parallels the delegation? Dave: Sure. So App State and many, not too many, but quite a few research institutions, even in this state, I can think of Duke and UNC Chapel Hill that are observers to the UNFCCC. And it was an application...
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    52 分
  • 022 Carla Ramsdell on Cooking with Purpose
    2024/09/06
    Host Laura England welcomes Carla Ramsdell to the studio for a discussion of sustainability and cooking. Carla is a practitioner in residence in Appalachian State’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. With a background in physics, mechanical engineering, and 17 years of experience as a thermodynamic design and test engineer, Carla integrates sustainability and climate content into her teaching and community outreach. A self proclaimed "Cooking Evangelist," Carla has developed innovative programs like the "Sustainable Physics-Inspired Culinary Education lab" (SPICE lab) and the Sustainable Food Cooking Challenge, using food as a creative way to engage individuals and communities in sustainability and climate change awareness. Show Notes Carla would like to emphasize that she is supported by the College of Arts and Sciences and receives a course release to accomplish many of the initiatives mentioned on this episode. Their continued support is greatly appreciated. Email: ramsdellcs@appstate.edu Carla on Insta Carla on TikTok www.knowwattscooking.com Register for Cooking with Purpose Community FEaST Tuesday, October 22, 2024 from 4:30pm - 6:00pm Transcript Laura England Welcome everyone to the Find Your Sustainability podcast. I'm host Laura England from the Department of Sustainable Development, and as of the start of this fall semester, I'm working full time as Director of Academic Sustainability Initiatives, with my main focus being co-leading App State’s Pathways to Resilience Quality Enhancement Plan, a five year climate literacy initiative. Today, I'm delighted to get to talk with an App State, Sustainability and Climate Literacy champion and the wonderful Carla Ramsdell. Carla Ramsdell is a practitioner in residence in the Department of Physics and Astronomy here at App State, where she has woven sustainability and climate content into her teaching for the past 15 years. Carla has a bachelor's degree in physics and a master's degree in mechanical engineering, and worked in the energy sector as a thermodynamic design and test engineer for 17 years. In addition to being a scientist, engineer, and educator, Carla is a food enthusiast. For years, she has combined these threads of her expertise and passion to support the transformation of our food system such that it better supports individual health, community health, and planetary health. Carla has created and led numerous public outreach programs, drawing community members into sustainability and climate conversation and action via a shared love of food and cooking. Carla also performs research on energy efficient food and cooking. And speaking of energy. Carla has tons of it. She's among the most dynamic teachers I know, and it has a lot of dynamic teachers, so that's really saying something. We've invited Carla to the Find Your Sustainability podcast to talk about the work that she's been doing, as well as the launch of her new sustainable physics inspired culinary education lab, or space lab, and how she plans to use that to grow her reach even further. In addition to sharing her bio, I should also share my personal connection. I've had the pleasure of collaborating with Carla in various ways for most of my 15 years at App State, and I've always admired her incredible ability to connect with people and ignite their interest in sustainability and climate change, often in indirect ways, like through the joy of food and cooking that really resonate deeply with people. So, Carla, welcome to the podcast. Thanks so much for joining me today. Carla Ramsdell Thank you for that amazing introduction. I hope I live up to that expectation, but thanks for having me. I'm happy to be here. Loved working with you for the past 15, whatever it's been years. I think we have really been great partners in this work and you inspire the work that I do. And yeah, I'd love to continue this relationship and this conversation. So thanks for having me. Laura England Absolutely. And it's been such a pleasure to work with you. I've learned so much from you over the years. You're leading so many wonderful outreach programs around food, sustainability, and climate. It's hard to know where to start, but I'll start with one. So a couple of Earth Days ago, the Yale Climate Connections News Service highlighted your sustainable food cooking challenge. So let's start by talking about that. Can you tell us about that program, sort of your approach with it, and then maybe talk more generally about your approach to engaging people on sustainability and climate through a shared love of food and cooking? Carla Ramsdell Yeah, absolutely. So that was just sort of an idea I had in 2022 I think it was. Just to, you know, try to look for creative strategies to communicate climate knowledge and literacy, urgency, but also mitigation strategies that people can go home today and start to do. You know, I think the urgency of climate change really elevates the need for us to...
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    39 分
  • 021: Britt Wray on the age of climate anxiety
    2024/08/02
    Host Laura England welcomes Dr. Britt Wray, a researcher and storyteller focused on the mental health impacts of climate change. Dr. Wray, the director of the Circle program at Stanford Psychiatry, explores the intersection of climate science, psychology, and communication. Dr. Wray shares her journey navigating interdisciplinary fields, including conservation biology, science communication, and the ethics of synthetic biology. She highlights the importance of storytelling in climate communication, emphasizing the need to connect emotionally with audiences to inspire collective action. Dr. Wray also discusses her work with the Good Energy Project, which seeks to integrate climate narratives into Hollywood storytelling to raise awareness and reflect the pervasive impact of climate change on our lives. Laura Dr. Britt Wray is a groundbreaking researcher and storyteller, and a growing voice around the mental health effects of climate change. She's the director of Circle, community minded interventions for resilience, climate leadership, and emotional well-being at Stanford Psychiatry in the Stanford School of Medicine. Dr. Wray’s acclaimed book, Generation Dread, about finding purpose during the climate crisis is an honest, profoundly compelling exploration of our climate related stresses. Dr. Wray brilliantly weaves scientific research and evidence with personal lived experience to make the case for embracing our climate emotions, especially the difficult ones we'd prefer to ignore. She reveals how the very grief that pains us can also mobilize and transform us, and how emphasizing support and community will help us protect our planet and its inhabitants. She's the creator of the weekly climate newsletter, Gen Dread, about staying sane in the climate crisis. A highly in-demand speaker, she's given talks at TED and the World Economic Forum alongside the likes of Jane Goodall and Ban Ki-moon, a prolific science communicator. She has hosted several podcasts, radio and TV programs with the BBC, NPR, and CBC, and is an advisor to the Good Energy Project for Climate Storytelling and the Climate Mental Health Network. She has a PhD in Science communication from the University of Copenhagen, and has been recognized with numerous awards for her work. Britt is an incredible climate thinker and doer, and we're really thrilled to have a conversation with her today. Welcome, Britt. Britt Wray Hi Laura, thanks. So good to be with you. Laura We're so thrilled to have you here at App State and really enjoyed your conversation. Your talk last night on our campus. So I just shared your professional bio, and we'd love for you to fill in a little bit of the in-between spaces by telling us a little bit more about who you are as a person. Britt Wray Oh, sure. Well, thank you so much for having me. And who I am as a person. Well, I would say I am a bit of an interdisciplinary beast. It has always been hard to explain what I do and how I got there, because it was not at all a linear path. And so while my early days were spent in biology, studying conservation biology, learning about the sixth mass extinction in my studies, which is what really I think awoke me to feeling and not only thinking about the planetary health crisis that we’re in. My mind was lit ablaze by David Attenborough and his BBC nature documentaries when I was an undergrad biology student, and I realized that, oh wow, I can actually commit myself to sharing and weaving narratives about science and the natural world and sharing them with others in order to hopefully galvanize some interests from those who don't think of themselves as quote unquote science people. And I don't have to necessarily spend my life in the field or in the lab doing the the scientific exploration primarily. And that led me to get into radio and podcasting. And then I had many years working at public broadcasters like the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC and so on. And, my big passion was science, documentary, science, storytelling. Somewhere along the way, I ended up going to art school, studying interdisciplinary collaborations between synthetic biologists and artists and designers, because I thought that it's really in the margins where different fields collide, that we get the most interesting questions that we can ask about how we push fields forward, and how we can silo ourselves in our society and not leave these hugely ethically contentious and societally profound questions that are coming out of science and technology. Don't leave that only to the scientists and technologists. Bring in the philosophers, the artists, the designers, people who can ask critical questions from different perspectives. And that, yeah, that really took over my life for a while. And, the kind of art science space because there was a whole new movement where synthetic biologists are basically biotechnologies using genetic engineering in new ways. I ended up writing a book about ...
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    38 分
  • 020: Katrin Klingenberg on high-performance passive building
    2024/07/02
    “Find Your Sustain Ability” host Laura England, associate director of App State’s Quality Enhancement Plan (“Pathways to Resilience”) and practitioner-in-residence in the Department of Sustainable Development, talks with 2024 Appalachian Energy Summit keynote speaker Katrin Klingenberg, co-founder and executive director of the nonprofit Phius (Passive House Institute U.S.). Klingenberg shares her journey from working for a corporate architecture firm to developing a passion for passive building — which led her to build the nation’s first passive house. Passive building uses core building principles to create net-zero structures that utilize clean, renewable energy sources to generate as much or more energy than they consume annually. Phius aims to decarbonize the built environment by making high-performance passive building the mainstream market standard. Transcript: Laura England Welcome back to the Find Your Sustainability podcast. I'm Laura England from the Department of Sustainable Development, and I'm serving as associate director for the Pathways to Resilience Quality Enhancement Plan. And today, I have the pleasure of getting to talk with the keynote speaker for App State's 2024 Appalachian Energy Summit. Architect Katrin Klingberg, or Kat as well call her today is co-founder and executive director of the nonprofit organization Phius, which stands for passive house institute US, and is dedicated to decarbonizing the built environment by making high performance, passive building the mainstream market standard. Over the past 20 years, Kat's visionary leadership in this field has driven the development and adoption of passive building and zero energy standards. Passive building methodology originated in the US and Canada in the 1970s, and was enhanced in Germany in the 1990s. Kat reinvigorated it in 2003, when she designed and completed the first home to meet passive house standards in the United States. The interest that followed ultimately led her to found Phius, the organization she continues to lead today. Kat's work with Phius includes developing and delivering building science based training in how to design and build the energy efficient zero energy buildings. She has collaborated with federal and state government agencies to tailor passive building standards for various climate zones, and has consulted on projects nationally and internationally. She has also contributed to the field of sustainable building through articles, book contributions and presentations in the U.S. and abroad, and has been recognized for her leadership with numerous awards. Kat, we're thrilled to have you visit APS state and I thoroughly enjoyed your keynote talk last night at this year's Energy Summit. So for those who weren't there, can you start by telling us in layperson terms what is passive building and what is zero energy building? And why are these approaches so important in the context of climate change? Kat Klingenberg Well, first of all, let me thank you for having me. This is like, super exciting. I'm really glad I can be here and talk to you about my passion and kind of like life's work that I kind of have been dedicating my career to passive building and passive house. So passive house initially started, as you might imagine, as a house, as a single family design where people tried to create a building shell out of materials that would be very well insulating. It's almost like you're putting on a big jacket and then it traditionally came out of the colder climates, and by putting on a jacket and by making the building less drafty, they actually created a home that could be heated just by the internal heat gains in the building that I already present, like you dog or like your water heater or so. Very cool. Right? So that was the ideal in the 70s that you could create this equilibrium in a building where the internal gains are, the same as the losses. And we do that by applying passive building principles. And there again, nothing, no rocket science. It’s pretty intuitive. You put on a big down jacket in a cold climate. You put on a little less thick down jacket in a warmer climate, like, the San Francisco down jacket, you know, so you have the 006 North Face coat, and then you have the lighter one that you take on, like maybe chillier summer travel nights. Same idea. So yeah, that's pretty intuitive, actually. super comfortable. I'm so glad that I got to live an experience that, as you mentioned, I built my own house in 2002. That started off this interest in the whole thing, like proof of concept, really. It was the first passive home in the United States. And I've, I've lived through many winters in Urbana, Illinois. When the blizzard hits, it gets really, really cold in the Midwest and then the temperatures after the blizzard are like -20 F. Laura England Oh, wow. Kat Klingenberg So super, super cold when I'm in the house. and look out and it's sunny in the morning. ...
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    37 分
  • 019: Get to Know Team Sunergy Pt.02
    2023/07/14
    Two App State Team Sunergy members join Chief Sustainability Officer Lee Ball in the podcast studio to share their experiences with solar vehicle racing. Zach Howard and Logan Richardson explain how they got involved with the team, as well as the impact it has had on their personal growth and their job prospects post-graduation. Show Notes https://sunergy.appstate.edu/ Transcript: Lee Ball Welcome to the Find Your Sustainability podcast. My name is Lee Ball. I'm the Chief Sustainability Officer here at Appalachian State University and today we have part two of a three part series where we're talking to members of Appalachian State University's Team Sunergy today. With me, I have Logan Richardson, who's the embedded systems lead, majoring in computer science and actually a graduate student in computer science. Lee Ball And Zack Howard, a mechanical lead who is majoring in sustainable technology. Welcome to the podcast. Both Thank you. Thank you. Lee Ball You know, in part one, we talked to the team about various different things. I have a feeling that we'll get into some of the same things. But I wanted to ask you, Zach, what first attracted you to get involved with Team Sunergy? Zach Howard So, I was looking for schools, looking for colleges. I'd come across App State and I had heard about the solar vehicle team. I saw it on Instagram a couple of times and I deemed the team and Sam Cheatham responded to me. He gave me his personal number and he just told me to reach out when I had questions. And I think the first person I met when I started coming to the team was Reed. Zach Howard It just was a really cool community and I really enjoyed being a part of it and it just felt natural. Lee Ball Were you a first year? Had you started when you heard about the team, or is this even before this was? Zach Howard I saw I knew about the team coming into the school, so I was looking out for it at the club fair that my freshman year and my fall semester. Lee Ball It's amazing how many people have heard about us. You know, in high school. Zach Howard Yeah, I was really looking forward to it. I wasn't sure what the team structure was going to look like and if I would be allowed to join the team or if I had to try out or submit a resume. But being a really inclusive team really opened up that opportunity and I've been super excited about it. Lee Ball Yeah, now I want to clone you. Logan, what first attracted you to get involved with Team Sunergy Logan Richardson Well, funny enough, I. I saw Rose in the homecoming parade when I was an undergrad, and I knew nothing about the team. And I just saw Rose in the parade, and I went, “Man, that's cool looking!” But during my undergrad, I never did get involved in it. And I came back for my master's degree and it was kind of one of those, friend of a friend of a friend things. Logan Richardson And I knew Sam, who was on the team, invited me in. And I think just the first time I walked in the warehouse and saw the car up front, I was hooked. I knew. Lee Ball So, both of you joined the team. In your first race last year, 2022, during the Formula One Grand Prix American. So, our challenge we raised from Independence, Missouri, to Twin Falls, Idaho. Zach, can you share a memory from that race? Zach Howard I mean, yeah, that race, there was a lot that happened in those three weeks. It's hard to take just one thing. I have to say, one of my favorite experiences overall through the structure of the race, the camaraderie of the teams is super cool. And adding on to that, we shared a campsite one night in Idaho with Polytech, Montreal. Zach Howard Their team was called Esteban, and we taught them how to play American football. We just had a great time. And we sat out there after dark for hours with a campfire, and they were passing around a cowboy hat, singing a bunch of country songs. And we were trying to sing French Canadian songs and it was a great time. Zach Howard We completely forgot about the competition. They were our biggest competitors and we were just having a great time together, just two schools trying to do the same thing and look forward to sustainability. So that was really cool. Lee Ball How about you, Logan? Do you have a memory that you'd like to share? Logan Richardson Yeah. So last year we raced the Oregon Trail and the whole time I just couldn't get over it. Here we were in this, you know, convoy of solar powered vehicles going out west just like they did back in the day with the covered wagons and the whole thing. And just the juxtaposition of that, I just couldn't get over. Logan Richardson And the, you know, I agree completely with what Zach said, the camaraderie. You're out there and you're on your own. You've got it. You got to figure it out yourself. And really, that sense of of of just roll your sleeves up and get it done was just incredible. But all the little towns we visited, the the beautiful scenery, just the whole thing, just ...
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    15 分
  • 018: Get to Know Team Sunergy Pt.01
    2023/07/10
    Two App State Team Sunergy members join Chief Sustainability Officer Lee Ball in the podcast studio to share their experiences with solar vehicle racing. Nicole Sommerdorf and Patrick Laney explain how they got involved with the team, as well as the impact it has had on their personal growth and their job prospects post-graduation. Show Notes: https://sunergy.appstate.edu/ Lee Ball: Hello everybody. Welcome to another Find Your Sustainability Podcast. My name is Lee Ball. I'm the Chief Sustainability Officer here at Appalachian State University. Today, this is the first of three parts with Team Sunergy Appalachian State's solar vehicle team. Appalachian State University's internationally recognized Team Sunergy is an interdisciplinary team with a passion for sustainable transportation and the ingenuity, innovation, and drive to create it. It's premier solar car, Apperion, gained national attention with top three finishes in the 2016 and '17 Formula Sun Grand Prix, an international collegiate endurance competition that sets the standard for and tests the limits of solar vehicle technology. In 2018, the team's second cruiser class car rose, racing on solar energy, placed third in the FSGP competition and tied for second place in the American Solar Challenge, an international solar vehicle distance race held every other year by the Innovators Educational Foundation. In FSGP 2021, Team Sunergy captured second place in its class advancing to the ASC and winning first place for multiple occupant vehicles. In 2022, team Sunergy finished second place in the American Solar Challenge, and that race took place from Independence Missouri to Twin Falls, Idaho. So, joining me today are two team Sunergy members that I've had the great pleasure of getting to know for several years now. Nicole Sommerdorf and Patrick Laney. So, welcome to the podcast to both of you. Nicole Sommerdorf: Thank you. Lee Ball: Nicole Sommerdorf is the electric director and majors in sustainable technology and environmental science. Very ambitious double major, Nicole. And Patrick Laney, who's the lead mechanical engineer, is a sustainable technology major. So, welcome to the podcast. I'm real excited to talk about Team Sunergy and talking about kind of your connection to Team Sunergy and really what got you involved and why you're excited to continue to be involved with such an interesting and sometimes grueling and exhausting program. So, I'll first start with you Nicole. What first attracted you to get involved with Team Sunergy? Nicole Sommerdorf: I actually heard about Team Sunergy when I was in high school and I was looking for a place to go for college, and it actually led me to Appalachian State in the first place. I got initially into the team my first year of college during COVID, fall 2020. And at first the electrical meetings were on Zoom, but then I just kept being on the team and I finally got to go to the warehouse in spring 2021. Lee Ball: Patrick, what about you? Patrick Laney: I also discovered the team when I was in high school. I was actually here on a visit to see my sister who was a student here and when I saw it in the newspaper, I applied early admission to App State on the drive home. So, I joined my freshman year and never looked back. Lee Ball: Yeah, that's awesome. We need to make sure enrollment management listens to this podcast. Nicole, can you share a memory from your first race? Nicole Sommerdorf: My first race was in 2021 and the best memory from that race was when Jessica and Stephanie finally made it over the big hill during the ASC route. And no other teams at that point had made it over the hill, and one team even broke down trying to get their solar car over the hill. So, I think it was a really great feat when they finally made it over on top of the hill, they all jumped out and we all hugged them. So, it was a really nice memory. Lee Ball: I think I share that memory. Just seeing the smiles in their faces was priceless. Nicole Sommerdorf: Yeah. Lee Ball: Patrick, what about you? What do you remember from your first race? Patrick Laney: Probably from the track race when we decided that I would try to drive all day and barely make the cutoff to qualify for ASC. When me and Austin were in the car and we drove the whole day, I don't remember how long it was, but we ended up one lap short because of a penalty. And the last lap we had to power cycle the car like 20 times just to try to get it around the track and we finally made it over, which was a cool feeling. Lee Ball: So Patrick, could you describe what the scrutineering process is and what it takes to qualify to even begin the competition? Patrick Laney: Yeah. So, scrutineering is basically technical inspection, where you roll your car into their building and completely deconstruct it basically and get grilled for hours and hours by their engineers to make sure that it is safe and also passes all the regulations and all that kind of good stuff. ...
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    12 分
  • 017: National Geographic CEO Dr. Jill Tiefenthaler
    2023/07/07
    Dr. Jill Tiefenthaler, the first female CEO of the National Geographic Society, joins App State Chief Sustainability Officer Lee Ball in the podcast studio to discuss the journey that led her to her current position. She shares her thoughts on the importance of higher education and the history of the Society’s National Geographic magazine, as well as a few of her favorite National Geographic Explorers. Show Notes https://www.nationalgeographic.org/society/our-leadership/ sustain.appstate.edu Transcript Lee Ball: Welcome back to another episode of Find Your Sustainability, where we talk to many of the world's experts about sustainability and what the heck that means. On today's episode, we spoke with Dr. Jill Tiefenthaler, who is the CEO of National Geographic. Jill was on App State's campus for the 11th annual Appalachian Energy Summit, and it was my pleasure to have a chance to interview her on the podcast. As Chief Executive Officer at the National Geographic Society, Dr. Tiefenthaler oversees the development and implementation of the society's mission driven work and programmatic agenda. She leads our global community of explorers, scientists, innovators, educators, and storytellers in our mission to illuminate and protect the wonder of our world. Jill sits on the Society's board of trustees and the Board of National Geographic Partners. To read more about Jill, you can find a link to her bio on our show notes. Dr. Jill Tiefenthaler, welcome back to North Carolina. Jill Tiefenthaler: Thanks. It's great to be back, Lee. It's fun to be with you today. Lee Ball: You did your graduate work at Duke, you were the provost at Wake Forest and more recently you were the president of Colorado College for nine years. How's it feel being back on a college campus and especially back in North Carolina? Jill Tiefenthaler: Well, it's wonderful to be back on a campus. It's one of the things I miss most about leaving higher ed and being in my new role at National Geographic is the dynamism and excitement of a college campus. And back when I was college president and provost too, I used to teach every year, so I really miss teaching and being in the classroom and that interaction with students, especially. It's also great to be back in North Carolina, especially up here in Boone. I used to enjoy escaping the heat of Winston-Salem and coming up here and hiking and camping. I have very fond memories of my time both at Duke and Winston-Salem. Lee Ball: Yeah, it's funny, I go to Winston-Salem and I tell people that, "Yeah, we just came here for the day." They're like, "Oh my gosh, it's so far away." I'm like, "No, it's not. You should be coming here often." Jill Tiefenthaler: Yeah, just a couple hours. Lee Ball: What role do you think higher education plays or can play to help promote the type of education that is in line with Natural Geographic's mission? Jill Tiefenthaler: Well, I think higher ed is critical. I'm obviously a true believer in getting students to have awareness of these critical issues. And now more and more, I think they have that awareness through the media and through high school education, but they really still need those skills to figure out how to put them to work. To get the work done, we need to do both for climate change and biodiversity loss. I think they see the urgency. I also hope higher education really focuses on solutions, because I don't want our students to feel hopeless about the future. I want them to feel hopeful and motivated, inspired to make the change that we need to see in the world. Lee Ball: Yeah, that's definitely something that we focus on here is engagement opportunities, and I'm a real big believer that it does inspire hope when you can get your hands dirty or whatever. Jill Tiefenthaler: Yeah, when you can see something change. When you can see something get better and you can see how the power of collaboration and community can make that happen, I think it can be really inspiring. I love that you're all doing that hands-on education opportunities here. Lee Ball: May I ask you a little bit about your childhood? Jill Tiefenthaler: Sure. Lee Ball: I'm fascinated by the stories I get to hear about my guest connection's to nature and place. Is there a memory or experience from your childhood that helped contribute to your development as such a strong advocate for the natural world? Jill Tiefenthaler: Well, I grew up on a farm in Iowa, so my everyday was being part of the natural world. And in fact, when a lot of people, as a grownup, I escape and had to the nature for my vacations. As a child, we escaped nature for the city or something. But we just saw... I was so lucky to grow up in a very small town on a farm where every day we were out there, and my mom would send us outside in the morning and shut the door and say, "See you at lunch," and then same thing after lunch until suppertime. I had the opportunity to love the natural world. And then as in my adult life...
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