And just like that my fellowship with the Ocean Protection Council is over! It was a great summer and now I can reflect back on the work I completed.

These past few weeks have been an incredible learning experience! I can’t believe how fast it has gone. I’m currently in full swing writing my white paper on how critical infrastructure in California will be impacted by sea-level rise. This has been so informative in my thinking of how communities will be impacted. Normally, I feel that the conversation revolves around homeowners, but researching critical infrastructure has shown me that it is so much more than that. Roads, wastewater treatment plants, ports, parks, and our water supply are all threatened. These are vital to communities and I’m glad I’ve gotten the opportunity to be a part of scoping and researching a Critical Infrastructure Resiliency Plan that the Ocean Protection Council will lead. 

It’s been three full weeks since I’ve started my internship and it’s flown by. I’m so happy to be a climate change intern with the Ocean Protection Council (OPC). I’m working with the climate change team to scope out and research a critical infrastructure resiliency plan. This work will focus on examining the impacts of sea-level rise on coastal infrastructure and work to identify the solutions needed to adapt. This entails reading many vulnerability assessments which will lead to writing a white paper to inform the request for bid for the plan. This is incredibly relevant to my career goal to work on coastal adaptation and resiliency and it’s been a great way to explore this further.