Purdue climate optimism event rallies together Indiana's climate change resistance

Climate change experts came to a climate optimism event held at Purdue Wednesday hoping to highlight the positive work being done and discuss the progress Indiana has made in the field.

“Climate change is frequently talked about in very depressing and hopeless terms,” said Daniel Chavas, an associate professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. “We wanted to have an event that highlights there’s a lot of people doing really great work to try and build resilience to climate change in our communities.”

Chavas invited people from Indiana University’s Environmental Resilience Institute to come.

“It’s a really nice partnership (between Purdue and IU) because we provide a lot of the scientific content they use from the Indiana climate change impacts assessment that was conducted from 2018-2023 and they have a lot of connections with community organizations,” said Lynne Dahmen, the senior managing director of Purdue’s Institute for a Sustainable Future.

It’s good bringing the state rivals together to work together toward building climate resilience, Chavas said.

Therese Dorau, the ERI’s assistant director for climate policy and implementation, started her presentation by explaining the ERI helps to foster environmental resilience and climate solutions by integrating education and community.

She also said the seven-year-old organization’s definition of resilience includes both the decrease of greenhouse gases and preparing for climate change impacts.

Dorau made sure to emphasize some current resources which aid in climate change resistance in Indiana.

“The Indiana Resilience Funding Hub helps get funding for rural resilience and energy projects,” Dorau said.

The target populations for this organization are local government, community organizations and small businesses with under 50,000 people.

McKinney Climate Fellows is another climate change resistance program which recruits and places IU students across Indiana to aid in resisting climate change.

This program provides living wages for students, low costs for hosts, professional development and mentoring for students.

Future plans to continue supporting climate change resilience include strengthening the ERI’s connections to regional campus students and faculty.

Dorau said they hope to make faculty expertise available to support Fellowship projects, cohorts served year-round by project-based classes, supporting development of similar programs at other campuses in the Midwest and energy workforce development.

Halee Griffey, a former South Bend McKinney Climate Fellow and Lafayette’s climate and resilience manager, presented on the current Greater Lafayette Action Plan.

“The mission statement (of the plan) is a climate resilient community, reduced carbon footprint and equitable quality of life,” she said.

Equity is a top priority in making sure the plan reaches everyone, Griffey said.