Our brochure can
be downloaded
in pdf format.
For a printed copy
email us at info@nhcc.unh.edu
 |
||||
|
The New Hampshire Carbon Challenge is driven by a dedicated crew of New Hampshire residents who firmly believe that climate stabilization requires changes from all of us: as residents, homeowners, consumers, and citizens. We also believe these changes will not degrade the quality of our lives and can, in fact, enhance it. We are living proof!
Denise Blaha and Julia Dundorf, Program Directors
Julia is a member of the Carbon Coalition Steering Committee and Local Energy Committees Advisory Group, a founding member of Barrington Energy Task Force and a founding member of the Rockingham/Strafford Energy Committee Alliance. Growing up off the grid in Colebrook, NH and now the mother of three small children, Julia has an unparalled enthusiasm for talking to people about climate change and the need for sustainable living practices.
Denise Blaha is a research associate at the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space at the University of New Hampshire and is involved in a number of educational initiatives. She was previously a researcher with the Global Atmospheric Chemistry group at UNH, studying anthropogenic sources of atmospheric methane. Denise has co-authored two chapters for the Earth Exploration Toolbook that are used by teachers throughout the U.S. to teach students about climate change. She is also a member of the Carbon Coalition Steering Committee and Speakers Bureau. A local political activist, Denise has helped elect education proponents to her town's school board. And in a different race, she once held the national record for the slowest time ever taken to finish the Texas Half Marathon. Amazingly, that record no longer stands.
Julia and Denise founded the Carbon Challenge in October 2006 (more on story here) to encourage New Hampshire residents to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. They regularly give presentations to civic groups, community, schools, and church groups about climate change and simple yet effective steps that can be taken to reduce residential carbon emissions.
Erik Froburg, Education Coordinator Erik taught middle school for several years and now also serves as the Education Coordinator for the Climate Change Research Center at UNH where he develops curriculum resources for K-12 teachers and students. Erik has an M.A. in Environmental Education from UNH, and a B.F.A. in Studio Art, also from UNH. Does your school have an environmental or energy club that might want to use the Carbon Challenge as a platform for reducing emissions? Contact Erik for more details!
Brett Pasinella, Energy and Environment Analyst Brett is the Program Coordinator for UNH's Office of Sustainability's Biodiversity Education Initiative and Climate Education Initiative. In this role, he assists with the organization and implementation of initiative curricula, research, projects, and events related to the issues of biodiversity, ecological and public health, conservation, climate change, energy, and other related issues. Brett holds master's degrees in geography and energy & environmental analysis from Boston University and a bachelor's degree from Clark University with a double major in physics and environmental science & policy.
Chris has a background in education as well as environmental science and policy. He has been engaged in education for almost a decade and has played several roles. He was a naturalist at several outdoor environmental schools on both coasts and has also taught science in traditional classroom settings at the middle and high school level. While completing his Master's degree at the University of New Hampshire, his interest in education shifted to focus on engaging entire communities with the goal of raising the environmental awareness and facilitating the adoption of sustainable behaviors. He is currently working with NH Department of Environmental Services to draft the state's climate change action plan.
Our Steering Committee: Dr. David Bartlett Dr. David Bartlett has been Associate Director of the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space (EOS) at the University of New Hampshire since 1989. EOS' more than 275 faculty, staff, and student researchers in space and Earth sciences are supported by over $32 million per year of grant and contract awards from federal agencies, state government, industry, and foundations. For ten years Dr. Bartlett was a research scientist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center, conducting studies of the environment using sensors on Earth-orbiting satellites. His research interests are in chemical interactions of vegetation with the atmosphere, causes and effects of global-scale climate change, and management of coastal resources. He has published extensively on the use of aerial and orbital sensors for measurement of important environmental parameters. Dr. Bartlett is the founding Director of the New Hampshire Space Grant Consortium, a NASA-supported educational and public information collaboration of New Hampshire Universities, Colleges, and science organizations. In addition to the Steering Committee for the NH Carbon Challenge, Dr. Bartlett serves on the Policy Advisory Committee of the New Hampshire Sea Grant Program, the University of New Hampshire 's Central Budget Committee, and the Board of the National Alliance of Space Grant Directors. Janet Chamberlin Sara Cleaves Sara M. Cleaves, OS's associate director since 2006, first joined OS as its Biodiversity Education Initiative and Climate Education Initiative Program Coordinator in 2005. Sara works with administrators, faculty, staff, students, and outside partners in integrating sustainability throughout UNH's curriculum, operations, research, and engagement efforts. Along with planning, implementing, and managing OS's communications and outreach efforts, Sara oversees OS budgeting and staff management and participates in strategic planning and program evaluation for its four initiatives and for the office as a whole. Sara's past work includes teaching, outreach, and research with the UNH Masters of Arts in Environmental Education Program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. National Park Service, the Smithsonian Institution, and the New England Aquarium. A member of the North American Association for Environmental Education and the Society of Human Ecology, Sara has a master's degree in environmental economics and policy from the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University and a bachelor's degree in English from Dartmouth College. Her interests include environmental psychology, motivation for engagement in sustainable behaviors, transformative learning, and effective outreach, communication, and education on sustainability. Outside of work, Sara enjoys living sustainably with her husband, Stephan Cleaves, a software designer and engineer for Mac OS X and principal of Yellow Camp Software, and their kitty, Wesley, and spending time with her family and friends. Kurt Ehrenberg Dr. Steve Frolking Dr. Steve Frolking's background and training are in physics (B.S., & M.S. from UNH) and biogeochemical cycling (Ph.D. from UNH), with particular focus on climatic controls on trace gas emissions from terrestrial ecosystems. Steve's current research focuses on (1) biogeochemical modeling of greenhouse gas emissions from agro-ecosystems with the DNDC model, and carbon cycle modeling in northern peatland ecosystems; (2) land use and land cover change: (2a) developing high quality datasets of agricultural land use and national, regional, and global scales, using a combination of remote sensing and census data, for use in biogeochemical modeling, and (2b) developing a global, gridded history of land use transitions (conversions into and out of agriculture, logging, shifting cultivation) for use in Earth System Models; and (3) optical and microwave remote sensing of terrestrial land surface phenology, both landscape freeze/thaw transitions, and seasonal vegetation dynamics. Steve is currently the Director of the Complex Systems Research Center, in UNH's Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space. Steve is also an associate editor for the Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences. Dr. George Hurtt Cheryl King Fischer Cheryl King Fischer is the Executive Director of the New England Grassroots Environment Fund, a funder/activist grantmaking collaborative that focuses on community-based environmental issues, civic engagement, democracy and social justice. In the eleven years since its creation, the Fund has made grants of $2.2 million to over 825 grassroots groups throughout the region. Cheryl served a two-year term on Montpelier's City Council and helped launch and now chairs the Montpelier Energy Team, a group of citizens advocating that Montpelier become the most sustainable state capital in America. She has served on many non-profit boards, did a stint at the Vermont Land Trust, and worked for state government in water resources with a focus on groundwater. Cheryl's has worked extensively in both the public and non-profit sectors. Cheryl holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Hollins College, a Master of Science Degree in Resource Economics from the University of Vermont and a Master's level certificate in Medical Technology from St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut. Cheryl loves to garden, cook, read non-fiction about global issues and social change, be involved in her community, and live as sustainably as possible, buying locally, going to farmers' markets, and being a member of a CSA (community supported agricultural project). She and her husband, Monty Fischer, also a career environmentalist, live in Montpelier, have two grown children, and retreat to their camp in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom when ever possible where they find great inspiration in their totally primitive, off-the-grid "wooden tent," the surrounding fields and forestland that nature shares with them and asks that they help protect and enjoy. Clara Kustra Patrick Miller, MPH Patrick is the former Executive Director of The Jordan Institute where he worked on school and other community construction projects that promote sustainable materials selection and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He now serves as a Research Associate Professor at the New Hampshire Institute for Health Policy and Practice. He is currently working on both information technology and policy projects, developing environmental health research projects, and is teaching in the Masters of Public Health program. Patrick has a Masters of Public Health with a focus on Ecology from the University of New Hampshire. He joined the Institute in September 2006. He and his family live in an active and passive solar home in Campton, NH. Dr. Greg Norris Greg Norris founded and directs Sylvatica, a life cycle assessment (LCA) research consulting firm in Maine, USA. Greg is Program Manager for the United Nations' Environment Program's (UNEP) global Life Cycle Initiative, directing the Program on Life Cycle Inventory Analysis. He teaches graduate courses on LCA and Industrial Ecology at the Harvard School of Public Health, where he also advises graduate students from HSPH and visiting research fellows from abroad. Greg is Manager of the LCA-Into-LEED process for the US Green Building Council, bringing life cycle methods to support the nation's premier driver of sustainable construction. He consults on LCA and sustainable consumption to the UN, to governments in the US and abroad, and to the private and non-profit sectors. Greg is also founder and executive director of New Earth, a global network and foundation for community-based sustainable development and continuous environmental and social improvement. Norris also founded and directs the Earthster project, an open source information exhange infrastructure to make life cycle opportunities for sustainable development and production globally accessible. Greg is Adjunct Research Professor at the Complex Systems Research Center, University of New Hampshire; he is a Program Associate in the Center for Hazardous Substance Research at Kansas State University; Faculty Associate within the School of Forest Resources at the University of Maine; and an editor of the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment and the Journal of Industrial Ecology. Dr. Barry Rock Barry Rock is a member of the Natural Resources faculty and the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space and teaches in Natural Resources. He is also a member of the Carbon Coalition's Speakers Bureau. His research focuses on the impact of air pollutants on forest species. Dr. Rock has developed a number of pre-college (K-12) science education outreach programs based on his own research activities. Today over 150 schools across New England are involved in Forest Watch. Dr. Annette Schloss Roger Stephenson, APR Roger is Clean Air-Cool Planet's Deputy Director of External Affairs and as part of his work at CA-CP is also the project director for the Carbon Coalition. Roger has over 15 years of experience providing public relations counsel and expertise to corporate management, government agencies and non-profit executives. As Interior representative to the White House Council on Environmental Quality from 1995-1999, he managed overall program and policy development for President Clinton's American Heritage River initiative. Before serving in the Clinton administrations he was National Field Director for the League of Conservation Voters and later executive director of the LCV Education Fund at which time he managed the Florida Global Warming Education Project. Dr. Ruth Varner Dr. Cameron Wake Rev. Dr. Mary Westfall
TAKE THE CHALLENGE. . .  |
environmental organization in Durham, NH where she was responsible for developing, implementing and overseeing a financial development program. Julia also jointly founded and directed Yankee Barnraising, Inc., a grass-roots nonprofit dedicated to helping communities identify and manage their own opportunities for shared responsibility. She has had several years of experience with both small business ownership and nonprofit board work
