Sense & Sustainability: Recent Episodes
Jisung Park
An interview with Harvard Kennedy School's Rand Wentorth, from real estate finance to public policy
Jason Bordoff, Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University and Director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia, shares his insights into how the climate-energy challenge might affect national security for the United States and the world.
Climate Change, driven by the Little Ice Age, produced a series of environmental catastrophes that together generated the worst famine in Korea’s history from 1670-1671.
Careers in Food Policy with Dr. Catherine Bertini Dr. Catherine Bertini, former Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme, explains how she navigated her personal career path, from participating in formative extracurricular activities, to running for Congress and learning when to say "no" to political appointments. In this conversation with host Jisung Park, Catherine discusses her passion for public service through the lens of exploration.
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About Catherine:
Catherine Bertini’s leadership of the UN World Food Programme transformed WFP into the world’s largest and most responsive humanitarian organization. As WFP’s Executive Director, first proposed by President George H. W. Bush in 1992, and re-endorsed by President Bill Clinton in 1997, Ms. Bertini led the efforts to end famine in North Korea, avert starvation in Afghanistan, ensure food was delivered effectively during crises in Bosnia and Kosovo, prevent mass starvation in the Horn of Africa and focusing on women as the key to ending hunger. Because of her reforms, WFP was held as the model for UN efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability. Ms. Bertini was named the 2003 World Food Prize Laureate for her leadership at WFP in ending famine and decreasing hunger. Later, Ms. Bertini served as the Under Secretary General for Management and as UN Security Coordinator. Secretary General Kofi Annan also appointed her as his Humanitarian Envoy to the Horn of Africa, Gaza and the West Bank.
Today, Ms. Bertini serves as a member of the Board of International Food and Agricultural Development, which advises USAID, having been appointed by President George W. Bush and reappointed by President Barrack Obama. Ms. Bertini also is a senior fellow at the Chicago Council of Global Affairs. She serves as a board member of the Stuart Family Foundation, a juror of the Hilton Foundation Humanitarian Prize, and on the Board of Directors of the Tupperware Brands Corporation.
For two years, she was the Senior Fellow of Agricultural Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Previously, she served as the Assistant Secretary of Food and Consumer services at the U.S. Department of Agriculture where she drove nationwide implementation of electronic benefit transfer programs, created a food package for breastfeeding mothers, and oversaw the design of the Food Guide Pyramid.
Ms. Bertini earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York at Albany and has been accorded with numerous awards, commendations, and honorary degrees. She has taught at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs since 2005 as Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs.
Images: International Human Rights Commission, United Nations World Food Programme, United States House of Representatives, University at Albany, Wikimedia Commons.
Intro/Outro: Basspartout, "New Horizons," AudioJungle.
Ever wonder how donated food gets to famines? Listen as Dr. Catherine Bertini explains the World Food Programme.
Listen as one of the "most influential women in Washington" explains how to get what you want out of your career.
Listen as our host Jisung Park explores the role of the media in combating climate change with former chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin.
Listen as our host Jisung Park talks with Bina Venkataraman about getting into a career in climate policy.
Learn about the basics of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa from Dr. Amol Verma and Dr. Reena Pattani.
Thinking about going into a career in medicine? Dr. El-Sayed has a unique perspective on the field as both an MD and a PhD in epidemiology.
What’s the current state of the US healthcare system? How might it be improved? This policy-oriented podcast segment provides a 20,000 foot overview of the main challenges facing the US healthcare system.
Interested in working in sustainable development? In the second half of their interview, Jisung and John Briscoe discuss careers in the field.
Is there such a thing as a "global water policy"? Or is water primarily a local issue? Jisung Park sits down with noted water expert John Briscoe to discuss these and many other issues.
Why is it that astronauts, upon witnessing the earth from outer space, become systematically inclined to care deeply for the environment and man's place within it? Frank White and Jisung discuss how the Overview Effect can make a world of difference.
What role does education play in determining the relative wealth of nations? An incredibly vital one, according to Professor Eric Hanushek of Stanford University.
Dr. Alex Wang, Sachin Desai, and Jisung Park discuss prospects for balancing environmental protection and economic growth in China.
Dr. Wen and Jisung discuss concrete steps that both patients and doctors can take to bring back the lost art of correct diagnosis.
What is faith-based environmentalism, and how might it transform the sterile political divides of American climate politics?
Is Development Aid effective? Or does it merely line the pockets of corrupt bureaucrats? World Bank Africa's Chief Economist Shanta Devarajan offers his insights.
Paul Herman, Founder and CEO of HIP Investor Inc., on what it means to be an HIP investor — one whose portfolio achieves both human impact and profit.
Knut Haanaes, Global Head of Boston Consulting Group's Sustainability Practice, on the business side of the sustainability coin.
Kristen Sullivan of Deloitte’s Global Sustainability & Climate Change services group talks about “impact investing."
New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner Nick Kristof talks about women's rights, girls' education and sustainable development.
Jeffrey Sachs discusses his new book, The Price of Civilization, and the origins of America's current economic and political woes.
Professor Lazarus of Harvard Law School suggests some structural and cultural reasons that climate policy has proved so politically poisonous in America.
Dr. Meine talks about the life and work of Aldo Leopold, including the influential "Sand County Almanac" and the notion of sustainability as a "land ethic."
Professor Jason Hill talks about why biofuels might actually be bad for the environment, depending on how, and from what, they are made.
Professor Eric Hanushek of Stanford on quality teaching, the effectiveness of incentive-based pay, and how to close the educational achievement gap in the US.
Rohitesh Dhawan, a resource economist at KPMG, on new developments in the international climate policy arena, as well as South Africa's new domestic carbon tax.
Hemant and Jisung talk about what it means to be in the Clean-Tech Venture Capital business and how the sector is evolving in response to legislative uncertainty, as well as the recent financial crisis.
Ngaire Woods talks about the challenges of regulating international finance and proposes some essential regulatory reforms.
Sol Hsiang of Princeton University discusses how the global climate affects the prevalence of violent civil conflicts, as well as economic output and other measures of human productivity
Omprakash founder and director, Willy Oppenheim, on international volunteering and economic development.
Gernot Wagner, Economist at EDF and author of the new book But Will the Planet Notice?, talks about how smart economic policies can do much more than the "green" behavioral modifications so often championed by environmentalists.
Gerardo Avalos, Director of the Center for Sustainable Development Studies in Atenas, Costa Rica talks about some of the effects of globalizaton on Costa Rica’s economy.
Garikai Nyaruwata describes the ways in which private equity may be uniquely suited for addressing some of Africa’s development challenges, as well as some of the barriers to its successful implementation.
Professor Klaus Lackner of the Earth Institute at Columbia University discusses Air Capture Technology and Climate Mitigation.
Professor Bryan Norton of the School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech University speaks about his book – Sustainability: A Philosophy of Adaptive Ecosystem Management – and how pragmatism can inform a more rigorous philosophical framework for thinking about sustainability.
Kyle Cahill of Oxfam America talks about Oxfam's new Poverty Footprinting initiative, and how poverty footprinting might facilitate businesses' engagement with sustainable development, particularly in developing countries.
Michael Davidson of NRDC discusses China's Stance on Climate Change and other environmental issues.
Professor David Keith of the University of Calgary talks about Geoengineering solutions to Climate Change, the economics of climate change catastrophes, and the pervasiveness of climate hyperbole in the current discourse.
Dr. Chris Shaw of Phillips Academy Andover talks about the challenges (and joys) of teaching sustainable development at the high school level and beyond.
Rakim Brooks of DEMOS and Oxford University on Social Justice, Environmentalism, and Animal Rights
Dr. Nick Eyre of the University of Oxford talks about demand-side energy management issues, and Energy Policy in the UK.
David Witzel, Director of the Innovation Exchange at EDF talks about engaging with the corporate sector on issues of environmental sustainablity.
Mallory Dwinal, PhD candidate in the Education Department at the University of Oxford, discusses the economics behind Teach for America, as well as incentive-based teacher pay programs and recent developments in U.S. education policy.
Sean Voigt, analyst at McKinsey and Co, talks about McKinsey's work on building strategies for climate mitigation and adaptation for the government of a major rainforest nation.
Reed Doucette, PhD candidate in Engineering Sciences at the University of Oxford, discusses the current state of the art for electric cars, as well as their economic prospects.
Professor Gerrard is the Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice at the Columbia Law School, where he is also Director of the Center for Climate Change Law.
Lucas is a Master’s candidate in the Economics department at the University of Oxford, where he is a Rhodes Scholar.
Hannah Lee is a PhD student in the environmental engineering department at Harvard University.
David Imbert of OnValues Consulting on What Is Sustainable Investing?
Professor Shahid Naeem is Professor and Chair of the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology (E3B) at Columbia University.
Abdulrahman M El-Sayed is a doctoral student in Public Health in his final year at Oxford University, where he is a Rhodes Scholar (Michigan, 2009).