His family came from a small agricultural community in southern Florida, but Jarrod Sims was born and raised in New York City. This contrast helped to form Sims’s curiosity about the surrounding environment. His background of environmental district science has allowed me to explore various fields, from soil testing to the sustainability of the company. Now, after working as a sustainability analyst in the NYC market office and registering as a graduate student at the Columbia Climate School, SIMS is polishing the technology that deals with one of the biggest challenges of our time. policy. SIMS said, “I always liked to separate things to understand work. “Policy is similar. It’s not about the dismantling of the system, but a small adjustment, which has a wide range of effects.”
We talked about the path of SIMS and climate, his experience. MA of Climate and Social Program at Columbia Climate School And his vision for the future. Learn more about SIMS’s journey in Q & A below.
Please tell me how you found the way to the climate space.
I always led science, especially ecological and environmental systems. During the undergraduate student, I explored many other subjects and looked for a major suitable for me. I attempted accounting and psychology at a time before landing on the senior capstone course on the climate mitigation with Elizabeth Thomas. This is the first time that Buffalo University has provided climate change, especially climate change. We have a partner relationship with THE New York West Sustainable Business Round Table Meeting-The alliance of a company that is interested in sustainability initiative. The students met with employees and operating personnel and planned to reduce emissions. This was the first exposure to reduce the company’s emissions and save the operating costs and to reduce the policy framework and create a policy type framework.
After graduation, I have built a role in soil testing, improvement work and environmental consulting in the laboratory. NYC Market Management Budget Office. I joined when they started environmental sustainability and elasticity tasks that analyzed greenhouse gas emissions through New York City policies. I realized that I wanted to solidify my passion for climate policy and focus on systematic changes.
I am really interested in solving the problem, especially when we cope with the challenges of the city. I like to analyze existing systems and identify changes that can move us into a sustainable and healthy community. For example, switching from diesel buses to electric buses can help you reduce your neighbors’ asthma hospitalization. This small change can have a true impact on people’s lives.
“I like to disassemble social systems, energy grids or policy frameworks and to grasp better ways. Life is a big puzzle, and I want to help you solve it. ”
Why did you decide to apply to climate and social programs?
I always knew I wanted to return to school for a master’s degree, but I was not sure what field to pursue. As I explored other programs, what was noticeable about this program focused on climate and society. It emphasizes human aspects by evaluating and implementing a policy that focuses on climate justice and a policy that truly improves people’s lives. It was a big draw to apply for a climate school.
Another factor was the importance of Cohort. My cohort contains people with a variety of backgrounds and experiences, and I have caught the eye in understanding various ways of crossing climate problems with various fields. The program was also intensive and sold between the interdisciplinary and lived accordingly. I wanted an intensive experience to cross the process and explore the various aspects of climate policy. The year’s timeline also had meaning to me.
Which class is most memorable and why?
There are two classes that have had the greatest impact during the first semester at the Climate School. The first is the energy regulatory process I went to law school with Michael Gerrard. I have never had legal classes before. It is important to understand the legal environment, whether it is a regulatory obstacle that forms climate lawsuits, environmental definitions or policies. This class provided a tool to analyze how to be feasible, the existence of barriers, and how the legal framework can lead to change.
Climate Justice theory and policy with Sheila Foster had another impact of the last semester. In the NYC market office, I worked in the city’s climate budget and the main question was operating environmental justice. This process provided a framework for understanding policies, justice and climate intersection. How do you make energy conversion from worse inequality? How can the policy do not leave the community? The class suggests that with the legal point of view, when writing or evaluating new perspectives and policies to think about this challenge.
This spring semester, I expect local climate science and climate service forecast. This process is a process of looking at regional and regional climate change using risk analysis and climate data. The climate elasticity of this process is very interesting. It is best to have climate information policy through high level of data analysis.
What do you think of as a future role in solving the climate crisis?
I am a research analyst who focuses on energy conversion. We had previously experienced the Industrial Revolution. This time Do not repeat the past mistakes? How do you do it to keep the low -income community from remaining again as you switch to renewable energy? How to bite the grid without worsening the community? This is definitely a difficult topic, but this is the question I want to answer. It is ideal for me to create a policy and conduct a study on how to improve people’s quality of life with stock lenses.
At first, I planned to go straight to the staff, but the program asked more questions than the answer. Now I am considering a prior program or a Ph.D. To jump deeper into this problem. My goal is to carry out unorganized research. It must be executable and provided information to policies and directly benefit the community. I do not want my job to sit on the shelf. I want it to lead to a tangible and measurable change. I am especially interested in the effects of electrical in the city, such as urban energy systems and New York. How will I affect low -income families if we are completely converted to electricity? What are the unintended consequences?
Do you want to add?
At the end of the day, I am a strange data that I want to apply my technology to climate definition. I like to disassemble that it is a social system, energy grid or policy framework and to grasp better methods. Life is a big puzzle, and I want to help to solve it.
