The fight to save the planet begins with the drive to safeguard our towns. Learn how to do that in this discussion with climate change experts Bruni Pizarro and James O’Donnell. Moderated by John Dankosky, this panel will break down big concepts like climate justice and migration patterns into the effects on sea levels and storm water across Connecticut’s cities and towns. Just the kind of environmental insights you need to take smarter local actions.
Ebb and Flow: Water and Migration
Climate & Transportation Summit
Bruni Pizarro
Bruni Pizarro is a Partner at For La Diáspora, a design studio that connects mission-driven brands to the Latine community through design and bold ideas. During the unprecedented Covid-19 era, Bruni served for over 3 years as Executive Director of Junta for Progressive Action, the oldest Latine social services organization in the Greater New Haven area. She is a graduate of the Yale School of the Environment, where she received a Master's in Environmental Science. Her scholarship and advocacy center on climate change-induced disaster, colonialism and the impact of forced migration on displaced Puerto Rican women. Her scholarly work and professional experience explore how American urban inequality and the built environment shape the lived experience of Black & Latine communities. In 2019, Bruni served on the Environment & Climate Change Committee of the Transition Team for New Haven’s Mayor, Justin Elicker. Prior to Yale, she worked on an ethnobotanical study at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) where she researched the cultural knowledge of medicinal plants of Latine and Caribbean communities in New York City. Through her research and advocacy, Bruni hopes to bring forth a racialized and class-based understanding of the downstream effects of disasters on oppressed communities of color. Bruni is a Board member of Save the Sound, an organization committed to environmental advocacy, where she chairs the Environmental Justice sub-committee.
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James O’Donnell
Jim O’Donnell is a Professor of Marine Sciences, and Executive Director of the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation (CIRCA) at the University of Connecticut. He earned a B.Sc. (Hons) in Applied Physics from the University of Strathclyde, in Glasgow, Scotland, and then an M.S. and Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of Delaware. After two years are a Post-Doctoral Researcher in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University, England, he joined the faculty at UConn in 1987. Since then, he has been studying the processes that determine the character of the circulation and transport of materials in the coastal ocean using observations and mathematics. Much of his work has focused on Long Island Sound.
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John Dankosky
John Dankosky is the Director of News and Audio, and a frequent guest host of the popular public radio program Science Friday.
Dankosky came to science journalism through his coverage of climate change and environmental issues with Connecticut Public Radio and the New England News Collaborative.
He's also covered national, state and local news as co-host of the national talk program America Amplified, and founding host of the regional magazine show NEXT, along with statewide programs Where We Live and The Wheelhouse. He was there at the start as a "founding friend" of the Connecticut Mirror, where he hosts live events and podcasts, including Untold with Mercy Quaye.
A regular contributor to NPR, Dankosky has worked with the network to build journalism collaborations, and is now heading up Science Friday's State of Science Reporting Network, bringing together great science reporting from across the country.
Dankosky has produced and edited national award-winning long-form documentaries on mental health and care for the elderly, and has also reported hundreds of short segments for NPR and public radio stations, ranging from gun policy to basketball to virtual reality.
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