Rhiana is a lead policy writer on the Green New Deal at New Consensus. Raised by her mother and grandmother in the South Side of Chicago, Rhiana majored in African American studies and women’s gender and sexuality studies at Yale University where she graduated magna cum laude. She was one of only thirty-two Americans selected as Rhodes Scholars, a program which offers a post-graduate education at Oxford University, where she studied comparative social policy.

 

Hired by Michigan gubernatorial candidate, Abdul El-Sayed, to design his policy platform, Rhiana, her interests focus on the complex causes of inequality, poverty, and disadvantage.  She understood that policy can often fail to address problems faced by diverse constituencies, and instead sought out equity which she identifies as a less costly approach to social and economic problems.

 

Rhiana was also the Mariam K. Chamberlain Fellow of Women and Public Policy at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), and worked as policy intern for former First Lady Michelle Obama.

 

Support Rhiana

By reading the Green New Deal resolution so you can learn what it’s all about minus the misinformation

 

Follow Rhiana:

Twitter: @rgunns

Instagram: @rgunner

Jennifer is a Research Scientist at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and the Yale Program for Climate Change Communications where she co-authors the Yale Climate Opinion Maps.

 

She has devoted years of research to studying mud as a sediment record, and these learnings help us understand wildfire, vegetation and climate changes on the Earth. Her work has ventured into understanding both the physical and social effects of extreme weather and climate change. Using surveys, experiments and modeling, Jennifer is discovering how people perceive hurricanes, heatwaves and other important climate-related changes through their behaviors, beliefs, policy support and risk perceptions.

 

Jennifer also holds a PhD and MS in Geography from the University of Oregon, and a BS from the University at Albany, State University of New York.

 

Support Jennifer

By checking out and sharing Yale Climate Connections - they are short 90 second audio stories about what people are doing to address climate change. There are also articles and videos,too!

 

Listen to one of them about intergenerational conversations about climate here.

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Follow Jennifer:

Twitter: @mudfire

Anna Jane is a Christian climate activist, campaign consultant, teacher, writer and producer of documentary shorts.

 

Born and raised in the American South, Anna Jane studied a double major in Communication Rhetoric and Environmental Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During a semester in New Zealand she befriended a community who altered her perception on the environment and the influence of politics on it.

 

Concerned by her choice to forge a career in climate justice, her Conservative Evangelical parents ended her college fund payments. Anna Jane regardless persisted into strategy roles at the Environmental Defense Fund and Purpose and has worked to bring more awareness on climate-related issues to Evangelical communities.

 

She is currently rallying the Episcopal community in Alabama to mobilize around oil and drilling, and co-hosts the Sierra Club-sponsored podcast No Place Like Home with Mary Anne Hitt, which focuses on climate change by way of personal stories.

 

Support Anna

By listening to her podcast, No Place Like Home.  They discuss the intersection of spirituality, faith and climate change, provide regular calls to action, and get vulnerable on how it feels to keep up the good fight.

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Follow Anna Jane:

Twitter: @annajanejoyner @nplhpodcast

Instagram: @annajanejoyner @noplacelikehomepodcast