Second Nature Anecdotes

After growing up in a small, progressive town, I don’t think I truly understood the global climate crisis until I was released, aka went to college, from what felt like my bubble. I was shocked, and unpleasantly surprised, about how common daily practices for me, such as recycling, using reusable water bottles or shopping local, […]

Hi everyone, I’m Maggie, a current solutions center intern here at Second Nature!  My interest in the environment and climate change really began during my time as an undergraduate at William & Mary. I ended up taking quite a few philosophy courses my freshman year that got me thinking more about environmental issues, which led […]

When I was twelve years old in my seventh grade English class, we were shown An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore’s documentary detailing the environmental issues facing the planet at the turn of the 21st century. That film was the first time in my life that I had ever heard the words “climate change” or “global […]

Growing up, the concept of anything related to environmental science, climate change, and global warming were things I didn’t hear much about at school or on any social media platforms. But all that changed during my senior year of high school when I took an AP Environmental Science class that opened my eyes to how […]

Rule #1 in the social lives of second graders: recess activities are everything. You have the cool kids on the swing set, working to get enough air to land the most epic jump for their audience below. The jocks are usually playing a game of pickup soccer while the gymnasts are either claiming the monkey […]

A conversation with Anya circa January 20, 2022, would leave you with very little idea of what Second Nature does as an organization. When friends or family asked me what my new internship entailed, I would reply with something along the lines of “something to do with sustainability in higher education?” In seeing the job […]

The Net Zero Forum is a unique and actionable event designed to accelerate the development and execution of Net Zero strategies. Buyers from large energy customers – including commercial, industrial, institutional (higher education and healthcare), and government – attend as an important step in the journey to reduce the carbon emissions of their organization and […]

Sunday, June 5th, was World Environment Day.  Monday, June 6th, was National Higher Education Day.  You cannot honor and celebrate one of these days, without also celebrating the other, because in order for us to succeed in having a more sustainable and equitable world, we need a livable environment AND an educated global society.    Led […]

One of the most anticipated COPs – COP26 – has now been over for a few days.  Our three Second Nature team members who attended in-person: Tim, Steve, and Noa are all back state-side, and are no longer jet lagged!  After giving them some time to reflect on their own COP26 experiences, I followed-up with […]

It’s transportation day here at COP26, and I am particularly intrigued by this thematic area. For one, transportation is the leading contributor of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the US, so decarbonizing it is particularly relevant. Second, I’m speaking on a panel on decarbonizing the aviation industry tomorrow, and so I’m hoping to attend as […]