Panel Discussion: The Human Flood

This will be a panel discussion moderated by Ellyn Weiss (artist) centered around the exhibition "The Human Flood", with two-area experts, Brenda Ekwurzel, Ph.D., Director of Climate Science, Union of Concerned Scientists, and Chitra Kumar, Managing Director of the Climate & Energy Program, Union of Concerned Scientists.

What does it truly mean to leave a life behind upon migration and start a new one elsewhere? The Human Flood, a site-specific collaborative installation conceived and created by Ellyn Weiss and Sondra N. Arkin, attempts to answer this question through its exploration of the ever-growing mass migration of human populations caused by climate change. Years of extreme heat, rising sea levels, wildfires, drought, and water shortages have left the environments in which millions of people lived no longer able to sustain human life.

Speakers:

Brenda Ekwurzel, Ph.D.- Director of Climate Science

Brenda Ekwurzel is Director of Climate Science for the Climate & Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). Her work ensures that all research conducted by UCS’s team of scientists and analysts reflects the most robust and relevant climate science to help shape policy decisions and public discourse.

Brenda is coauthor of the Congressionally-mandated fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4), 29: Reducing Risks Through Emissions Mitigation. She has published many papers, including as lead-author of a publication recognized as the top downloaded climate article in Springer Climate Journals in the year following publication. She co-authored the publication chosen for Reader’s Choice 2021: Number 11 in the top 20 list for Nature/JES.

Brenda is honored to have been selected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2016 for her “distinguished contributions … and making the science of climate change accessible to diverse audiences.”

Chitra Kumar- Managing Director, Climate & Energy Program

Chitra Kumar is the managing director of the Climate & Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. In her role, she provides leadership, strategy, and oversight for the UCS teams working to transform the US energy system into one that is equitable and powered by renewable electricity, and to address climate damages by ensuring polluters pay their fair share of these costs and that people have the tools and resources they need to build healthy, resilient communities.

Prior to joining UCS, Ms. Kumar served as the director of the Office of Policy, Partnerships, and Program Development, in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. In that position, she advised senior Biden administration officials and career EPA leaders on environmental justice and climate policies and programs, including the Justice 40 initiative, and a $3 billion Inflation Reduction Act provision for Environmental and Climate Justice Grants. She also helped shepherd the organization through a historic reorganization, laying out a vision for entirely new lines of work for the agency to integrate environmental justice principles throughout its programs and policies.

Locally, Ms. Kumar is an advocate for just land use and housing policies, member of the Virginia NAACP, and serves on Arlington Leadership Center for Excellence’s faculty.

Previously, Ms. Kumar was a senior fellow with the Aspen Institute’s Community Strategies Group and Thrive Rural, focused on bridging the fields of health, environment, and economic development to improve rural well-being. She also directed the Federal and State Division of EPA’s Office of Community Revitalization, and she served at the White House Council on Environmental Quality as the Deputy Associate Director for Water, where she contributed to high-profile water-related federal policies, including implementation strategies for clean water, water infrastructure finance, green infrastructure, and freshwater climate change resilience.

Ms. Kumar holds a master’s degree in city planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BA in international policy for environment and negotiation from Boston University. She has written op-eds for TheHill.org and been quoted by the Associated Press.

This event will be held in-person at the museum.

Please direct any questions about this event to the museum's main contact for this event, Patricia Edwine-Poku at [email protected].

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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, Washington, United States