Middlebury Institute of International Studies presents a free lecture by Clesi Bennett, Coastal Planner at the San Francisco Conservation and Development Commission, entitled Integrating Environmental Justice into Coastal Zone Management of the San Francisco Bay on Tuesday, October 2, 6pm-7:30pm in the McGowan Building, Room 102, on the campus of MIIS.

Last summer, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) voted unanimously to initiate the process of amending its regulatory framework, the San Francisco Bay Plan, to include policies on environmental justice and social equity. Join speaker Clesi Bennett, Coastal Planner at BCDC (and graduate of the MIIS International Environmental Policy program) as she briefly covers the basics: BCDC’s history and functions, the San Francisco Bay Plan, and an overview of environmental justice and social equity in natural resource management in California. We'll then dive into what incorporating environmental justice and social equity could look like for coastal zone management of the San Francisco Bay.

Clesi Bennett works on policy and long-range planning initiatives and is currently working on formulating an amendment to BCDC’s San Francisco Bay Plan to integrate environmental justice and social equity into BCDC’s regulatory and planning work. Prior to BCDC, Clesi worked at The Nature Conservancy’s California Coastal Resilience Project on science and economics communications, the Center for the Blue Economy on ocean and coastal climate change vulnerability research, and the California State Coastal Conservancy on sea-level rise adaptation research. Additionally, Clesi has done food justice organizing with Real Food Challenge, worked on sustainability issues in institutions of higher education, farmed and taught sustainable agriculture principles and practices, and cooked in professional kitchens. Clesi has an M.A. in International Environmental Policy with a concentration in Ocean and Coastal Resource Management from MIIS.