Meet our Climate Policy & Research Intern
Juliana Vidal
Juliana is a critical socio-spatial researcher working at the intersection of environmental, social, and geographic sciences. The daughter of Colombian immigrants, much of her thinking has been shaped by the navigation between worlds & cultures. She has a wide-ranging background that includes working on climate change adaptation with California State Parks, consulting as an environmental social scientist, teaching social data analytics, beekeeping, and serving as a sustainable agriculture volunteer through the Peace Corps in Tanzania. Her training includes an MS in Sociology with a sequence in Applied Community and Economic Development and a dual degree with a BS in Integrative Biology and a BS in Engineering Physics.
I do this work because…"I believe climate change adaptation and policy implementation are not just technical fixes but, rather, avenues to restructure + transform the systems that govern our lives. It is here that challenging conventional power asymmetries is key to centering environmental and climate justice in our collective task of building livable worlds.”
“...or people whose farthest horizon has always been tomorrow...”
“However, experience has taught us that the action in the now is also always necessary. Our children cannot dream unless they live, they cannot live unless they are nourished, and who else will feed them the real food without which their dreams will be no different from ours?”