Climate migration conference

On Friday, April 28th in Ithaca, NY, Rust2Green Binghamton team members (Dr. Shorna Allred, Juliet Berling, Amanda Curtis) attended the Exploring Climate Migration to the Rustbelt: A Regional Workshop, hosted by Dr. Linda Shi. Dr. Shi is an Assistant Professor in Cornell’s City and Regional Planning Department. This workshop brought together stakeholders from various backgrounds including city planners, researchers, nonprofit leaders, environmental activists, past county legislatures, and sustainability consultants, throughout the rust belt region of upstate New York. Participants represented communities in Buffalo, Albany, Binghamton, Saratoga, and Ithaca, among others. 

This meeting was one of 4 regional meetings conducted throughout the Northeast to be concluded by a summit, the Local Solutions Conference, in May 2023. Dr. Shi and her research team plan to present the synthesis of the findings from these workshops in memos to legislators and also to publish an article on the work. 

The objective of this workshop was to explore a few key questions:

1. Why is the Rustbelt region of New York State considered a “climate haven”? 
   
   1. Do we (as residents of this region) agree with this idea?
      
2. Is the Rustbelt region prepared for climate migration? What are the biggest challenges to preparing for this population shift? What are the potential opportunities for growth and development in this region as a result of climate migration?
   

Photo Credit: Graphic taken from Dr. Shi’s presentation.

For more information about Dr. Shi and her work, please visit her website.
The Rust 2 Green team would love to hear your thoughts on the topic. Please feel free to contact Amanda Curtis at [email protected].