Refocusing Climate Research to Maximize Impacts

Speaker:  Jason Vargo, Senior Researcher, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

The impacts of climate change on daily life continue to become increasingly evident, and the unequal nature of those impacts demands attention to the root causes of climate-related suffering. This talk will discuss the importance of centering disadvantaged, low-income, and BIPOC communities in climate impacts research, the challenges that exist in doing so, and the strategies that can be employed. Dr. Vargo will cover examples from his time as lead scientist for climate change and health equity at the California Department of Public Health, as subject matter expert for the state’s COVID Health Equity Metric, and now as Senior Researcher of Community Development at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.