Aurora Barone Finds Equitable Ways to Reduce Carbon Emissions

Aurora Barone Finds Equitable Ways to Reduce Carbon Emissions

Aurora Barone volunteered for several months in North Cascade National Park in Washington State during a gap year in her undergraduate studies at NYU. It was then that she began to think that one day she would enjoy working in conservation and environmental policy.

However, she did not take a straight path. She focused on completing her degrees in European History and Italian Language and Literature. She then worked for several years as a graduate program administrator in the UK government and New York University. After spending more and more of her free time volunteering for conservation groups in and around New York and New Jersey, she decided to pursue a job with an environmental nonprofit.

In 2016, she started working for the Environmental Protection Fund (EDF) in the Office of the Chief Economist. Here, she is inspired by the work of environmental economists and policy analysts on the team.When she started thinking about going back to school, colleagues, some of whom were alumni of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, suggested she explore Columbia’s master’s programs, including Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy (MPA-ESP).

MPA-ESP graduate Aurora Barone.

The more Barone learned about the program, the more she began to think it was a perfect fit for her and her career goals. Columbia’s reputation led her to believe her education would be rigorous, and the program’s accelerated schedule felt ideal because she didn’t want to be away from the full-time workforce for long periods of time.

Barone began accepting the MPA-ESP program in summer 2018. While it felt like a huge shift in some ways, she was up for the challenge because her undergraduate studies and work experience had given her a well-rounded set of skills and allowed her to think from multiple perspectives.

One of the challenges she took on was taking her first climate science course many years later: Climatology, Parker Williams. It ended up being one of her favorite classes. Williams challenges her and her classmates in a variety of ways to understand basic concepts and communicate them clearly. He also trains them to critically evaluate scientific material and emphasizes how to manipulate data to make a point even if the data doesn’t support it – one of many valuable lessons she learned from Columbia.She also enjoyed the opportunity to interact with scientists at Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatoryduring the fall and spring semesters, she worked as an assistant in the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory.

Barone also took courses in geospatial analysis Greg Yeatman– Much of it translated directly into her work after graduating in 2019 and starting a new role at EDF. During her first few months back at work, she found herself revisiting assignments in Yeatman’s curriculum.

In addition, she highly recommends teaching courses on climate law and policy Michael Gerrard of Sabine Center for Climate Change Law“That course gave me another important perspective that helped me in my work,” Barone said. “I still refer to his textbook.”

Now, as a senior economic and policy analyst at EDF, Barone researches socially equitable solutions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For example, she works to identify strategies for clean energy development, deployment of medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicles, and reducing agricultural emissions. As part of the Food and Agriculture Climate Coalition, a topic she researched in the MPA-ESP project, she helped draft policy recommendations to address food waste. Barone also combines her spatial analysis skills with her understanding of climate change law to support EDF’s legal team’s efforts to demonstrate how specific populations may be affected by regulatory rollbacks.

In the long run, Barone says, her main goal is to keep learning. She thinks she’ll always be in the nonprofit sector because she feels that’s where she could have the biggest impact. “This is where I can grow best. I’m lucky to have the support of a team I care about and do a job I love,” she said.

For others who want to take a similar path, Barone says, “There are so many opportunities in Columbia’s MPA-ESP program. The relationships I’ve developed along the way have made me successful. Working with people who can help you grow and thrive personally or professionally It’s essential to have the best people together. I’ve found a thing or two that Columbia has to offer and put my time into those things instead of distracting myself and trying to do everything.” she added “I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity in Lamont because it’s the coolest place to be able to develop relationships there while also having access to courses across Colombia, which is really invaluable.”