Marist Alumna Attends United Nations Climate Conference
A career in the environmental social sciences has brought Jenell Walsh-Thomas to the core of the global climate community.
Photo courtesy of Jenell Walsh-Thomas.
From Poughkeepsie, New York to Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, one Marist College alumna has truly made her mark on the international stage. Jenell Walsh-Thomas, a member of the 2010 graduating class, usually serves as a public outreach specialist at the U.S. Department of State. But over two weeks this past November, she wore a slightly different hat as lead for communications for the U.S. Center at the United Nations' 27th annual climate change conference.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change comprises 198 countries, and the constituent parties meet on a yearly basis to discuss and debate progress on the Convention's overarching objectives. Much of these goals are based on the targets outlined in the Paris Agreement, one of which includes curbing greenhouse gas emissions for a global warming limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius within this century.
In addition to these main negotiations, the 27th annual Conference of the Parties functioned as the climate version of Comic-Con, with days full of press conferences, presentations and exhibitors. The U.S. Center was one of almost 100 pavilions represented at COP27, and its aim was to highlight America's climate leadership. "We really wanted to hit on this wide array of opportunities and just how many different people and how many different ways that we're addressing the issue," said Walsh-Thomas.
U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry delivered the Center's opening remarks, stressing the United States' efforts to lead the way when it comes to climate change adaptation, transition and reduction initiatives. "Everything we're choosing to do, my friends, we're choosing to do based on science…if you respect science and facts, we are compelled to move with greater speed, with greater sense of urgency and with greater ambition," he said.
Outside of the Center, this past year's COP was overshadowed by the latest U.N. Emissions Gap Report, released in late October. According to its findings, the international community is on track to raise the global temperature by 2.8 degrees Celsius by 2100, while G20 nations, including the United States, continue to contribute the majority of greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere—75 percent to be specific. As countries took restock of their commitments, protests inside the venue called on world leaders to take more decisive action towards environmental repair.
Prior to arriving at the conference, Walsh-Thomas was busy drafting and obtaining approvals for the U.S. Center website content and @US_Center Twitter account. Since the schedule of events was planned months and weeks in advance, last-minute changes to the communications strategy were easy to accommodate. For instance, when Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stopped by the pavilion, Walsh-Thomas and her team were met with both preparation and opportunity. "That also included drafting a tweet and getting that approved for posting and also fitting that into our schedule overall, so that we could do that brief tour when she had attended one of the events," she said.
In addition to Pelosi and Kerry, President Joe Biden was one of the few high-emitter country leaders to attend COP27. During his speech at the conference, he emphasized recent U.S. action steps, including the Inflation Reduction Act and an E.P.A. proposal to further improve standards for reducing methane emissions. But some world leaders and protestors expressed discontent with the first-world country's lack of stronger measures. The draft report of the Fifth National Climate Assessment, which is currently open for public comment, warns that over the past five decades, the United States has warmed almost 70 percent faster than the rest of the planet.
Walsh-Thomas, pictured here with U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. Photo courtesy of Jenell Walsh-Thomas.
Throughout the two weeks of the conference, the U.S. Center hosted a variety of scheduled programs, from NASA satellite presentations to a climate solutions pitch competition. The pavilion also featured several exhibits for visitors to explore, including a Virtual Reality experience, an art installation and a data visualization touch screen. But Walsh-Thomas' favorite events were the speaker panels focused on Indigenous knowledge, female climate action and island nation partnerships — for her, these perspectives are a significant piece of the climate puzzle.
"Hearing those stories and how they're impacted really drives home how important and how urgent it is to act on climate, both here and around the world and how much we need to be stepping up to meet our commitments and take those necessary actions to meet our goal, especially to make sure that we're keeping that 1.5 degrees Celsius goal within reach," she said.
One of Walsh-Thomas' main roles was to take pictures of all the Center happenings, so she was stationed in the same place for most of the two weeks. However, she did have the chance to check out other countries' programs and pavilions — some of which even offered the perk of free coffee. But along the way, she was able to engage with others from around the world. "In the morning, before events really started, I could just have a friendly chat with them about how their pavilion is going, what are they most looking forward to… just very casual, but we're all there for the same reason," she said.
By far, the conference's most successful decision was the agreement to establish a "loss and damage" fund for those nations hit hardest by the climate crisis. Despite their minimal contributions to the atmospheric problem at hand, poorer countries are often forced to bear the brunt of global warming, as was showcased by the flooding in Pakistan earlier in 2022. The reparations, provided by developed countries, will be carved out by a committee over the course of the next year.
When she's not attending international climate conferences, Walsh-Thomas works with the Office of Policy and Public Outreach within the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. In her role, she tells the stories of the Bureau to both the press and the public by issuing news releases, producing fact sheets for blog posts and engaging with social media followers via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Walsh-Thomas collaborates often with policy experts from both the Office of Environmental Change and the Office of the Special Envoy for Climate, as well as the latter's communications team, to make the technical details of federal environmental policy come alive for non-expert audiences. "We're focused on science diplomacy, in thinking about building bridges between communities, societies and nations through coordination, cooperation and partnership in scientific fields, with other nations, to address the national and global challenges that we face today or that we can anticipate facing into the future," she said.
Prior to joining the public sector, Walsh-Thomas completed science-policy fellowships with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She also ended up working between academia and government with the National Academics for a short period, but her passion for the intersection of the natural and social sciences blossomed during her time as a student.
At Marist, Walsh-Thomas earned her B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy, and her time with the department allowed her to engage in noteworthy professional opportunities. For instance, she interned with the State Climatologist of her home state, New Jersey, and received first-hand experience in citizen science and data collection. "My experience at Marist exposed me to a lot of different opportunities and allowed me to find my own path. I wasn't pigeon-holed into anything or forced into anything in any way. I think I was really supported," she said.
During her senior capping course, Walsh-Thomas stumbled upon Global Warming's Six Americas, an audience segmentation analysis that categorizes Americans into six groups, from alarmed to dismissive, based on their response to climate change. The research is a collaboration between the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University.
In fact, after her time as an undergraduate, Walsh-Thomas studied Earth Systems Science at George Mason, with the intent of entering the sciences field. But something told her to switch tracks. "There was that pull constantly…my master's program was in the same hallway as [the Center for Climate Change Communication], so walking by it every day, that gravitational pull was real," she said.
While completing her PhD at the same school, Walsh-Thomas had the unique opportunity to intern with the National Park Service Climate Communication Internship Program. During this time, one of her bigger projects was producing the Climate Change Communication Guide for the National Park Service. Used in NPS training sessions, the guide gives park rangers a blueprint for best practices when interacting with visitors. "They talk to people all the time. They're storytellers. They tell our natural history, our cultural history…making that story local into that personal experience that somebody's having in a park," she said.
When communicating about climate change, Walsh-Thomas recommends getting to know your audience beforehand and making the scientific content relatable and translatable for local communities. Engaging in two-way conversations is essential, but empowerment and optimism will always be key. "Talking about the problem is important, but we can't forget to talk about solutions… because there's no one-size-fits-all action," she said. "Everyone can do, and really must do, their part."