YPE Boston is excited to partner with Porter Square Books to host a Be the Change event focused on climate change in Boston. This event will take place at PSB's NEW location at 1815 Mass Ave, Cambridge.
Courtney Humphries, PhD is a writer, journalist, teacher, researcher, and interdisciplinary scholar interested in the how we navigate science, nature, and society in a changing climate and an urbanizing world. She is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Boston College and has a PhD in environmental sciences from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Prior to that, she worked as a freelance writer for the Boston Globe, Technology Review, Nautilus, Architect, and other publications, and she is a former Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. She has given public talks and participated in panel discussions about climate change in Boston, and is completing a book about the city’s efforts to mitigate and prepare for climate change, Climate Change and the Future of Boston, to be published by Anthem Press.
Erin Douglas is a climate reporter for The Boston Globe, where she covers climate adaptation, impacts, resilience, and disaster recovery. Her work in Boston is typically focused on sea level rise and extreme precipitation in the northeast. Erin previously covered environment and energy issues in Texas for five years, where she was an environment and climate reporter for The Texas Tribune, and prior, a reporter for the Houston Chronicle. Her coverage of Texas’ near-statewide power blackouts was recognized with an Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE) award in 2021, and her work exploring the mental health impacts of climate disasters was recognized as part of the Tribune’s Edward R. Murrow award for overall excellence in 2022. Erin studied journalism and economics at Colorado State University. She is a proud — and new — resident of Dorchester, but travels frequently to report from all corners of New England.
As a Senior Climate Resilience Project Manager, Catherine McCandless works in the Office of Climate Resilience (formally Climate Ready Boston) with a focus on coastal resilience. In this role, she oversees the development of neighborhood coastal resilience planning, the implementation of coastal resilience projects, wetlands protection and restoration projects, and the cross-departmental integration of climate resilience into the City's planning, capital projects, and permit review. Before joining the City of Boston, Catherine was an Environmental Planner at VHB, where she worked on sustainability and resiliency planning projects and managed the environmental review processes for private and public development projects in Greater Boston. She began her career at the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation, where she worked on the development of affordable housing, and subsequently served as the Assistant to the Director of Planning at the Boston Planning and Development Agency. Originally from Durham, N.C., Catherine received her Bachelor of Arts in Architecture and Biology from Wellesley College and her Master in Urban Planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Design
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