Women in Climate: Stephanie Holthaus

Join Christine Westenhaver as she talks to the co-lead for Women in Climate, Stephanie Holthaus. Women in Climate is a diverse coalition within The Nature Conservancy that brings women together to work towards collaborative and innovative climate solutions. In this podcast, we discussed what Women in Climate does, how the innovation labs work, and how we can help the climate crisis as members of society.  

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Christine Westenhaver   

Hello, everyone and welcome back to the Streaming Science Podcast. Streaming science is a student driven program that works to connect you with scientist and to learn how science impacts all of us in our everyday lives. I'm Christine Westenhaver, an agricultural education and communication senior at the University of Florida and I am your host. You're currently listening to an episode where we will talk with women from the Nature Conservancy, it's women and Climate Coalition about how they are working together to find climate change solutions. The women and Climate Coalition unites women from all backgrounds to solve the climate crisis through innovation labs, facilitated networks and policy workshops. In the following interview, I spoke with Stephanie Holthaus, who is the lead for the women and Climate Coalition. Through this podcast, I hope you gain insight into Stephanie's work, and how the coalition is working to create a more sustainable world.

Christine Westenhaver  

If you want to begin and tell us a little bit about yourself and your position at The Nature Conservancy, specifically with women and climate.

Stephanie Holthaus 

Sure, good morning, I am the climate advisor for the Alaska chapter of the Nature Conservancy for half of my time. And the other half of my time is as the CO lead of women and climate, which is an initiative that's national and hopefully will be global. We bring together women who are working on climate change into a collaborative space. We call them innovation labs. And these women come together from very diverse backgrounds, industry, academia, science, politics, etc. And we bring them all together, and they work on climate change solutions. And so, women and climate has hosted five of these innovation labs since 2018. And we're getting ready to host another in early June. I came to the Nature Conservancy nine years ago, after a long career in the transportation industry. And I am not a climate scientist, or an expert on climate. But I came into this work to try to bring people together to work together both in Alaska and nationally on climate change issues by providing a creative space for them to do that.

Christine Westenhaver

For some of us listening who might not have ever heard of the Nature Conservancy, can you explain what that is and what you guys do there?

Stephanie Holthaus  

Yes, so the Nature Conservancy is a global organization. It is the largest environmental NGO, which means nongovernmental organization. We're a nonprofit that works on environmental issues all around the world. We are operating in more than 70 countries, and we are in every state in the United States. Our aim is to create a world in which nature and people thrive. Our two priorities are climate change and biodiversity, trying to maintain biodiversity in the world and trying to tackle climate change.

Christine Westenhaver  

So, you mentioned you guys have been doing these innovation labs. We've done five since 2018. So, can you tell us a little about the most recent innovation lab that you've done and what someone can expect the environment and process to be like during this time?

Stephanie Holthaus 

Yes. Innovation Labs begin with, we cultivate a participation list that includes diversity, both traditional and non-traditional. So ethnic and geographic diversity, diversity of expertise and background. When we say women, we mean all women. And we try to be extremely inclusive. So, when you come to an innovation lab, we generally have between 30 and 50 women who come together for two and a half days, and the innovation lab itself is designed to help people work together in groups on climate solutions. So, our last innovation lab was for women in the fishing industry. This took place in Seattle in September of 2022. We brought together 30 women who work in the fishing industry across the country that we had women who fish women who work in fishing come Nice and corporations, we had Association folks, scientists that work on fisheries, kind of a broad group of folks from different backgrounds, but all working within the fishing industry. And so, we usually start with a large networking event. So, we bring people in, there's a cocktail hour, and hors d'oeuvres, and then we have dinner where we explain what's going to happen over the next couple of days. And then the next day, they work all day long. And we start with the ideas that they have already told us that they want to explore. So, we interview everyone before the event to understand what people really want to look at in these events. So, we have a series of questions, people self-select into the groups that are going to address those questions. They work on whatever issue it is that they're looking at, in a small group, and then they bring it back to the larger group, the larger group gives input and feedback, and then they go back into the smaller groups and work on them again. So, all of that to say, but at the end of the day, we have several climate solutions that are produced. And we also build in a lot of time for networking, because we've discovered that one of the most beneficial things that come out of the innovation lab is the connection between the women that are there. And I will also say that, in this environment, when you bring on women into an event like this, there's very little time spent, or needed to be spent on building trust, and setting the stage. They're all already experts. And so, and women, when they come together, and an all-woman event, they feel comfortable as are already open, to meeting each other and working together. Women are also very highly collaborative. So, they're ready to go when they come. And these are not conferences, so we're not presenting materials to them, they are already the experts. So, they come ready to work, and we put them to work.

Christine Westenhaver  

That sounds like the process. And the collaboration just brings together so many different opinions and everything. And I think that's what makes you guys so unique and special when it comes to the climate conversation. So very cool.

Stephanie Holthaus 

It's the diversity that makes for creative ideas. Like when you bring those different perspectives and ways of thinking together, that's when things get really creative. I think that is the key to our success.

Christine Westenhaver 

I know you just mentioned like all the skills and like different perspectives that these women bring. But like compared to like our counterparts, how do you think like, women kind of shift the dynamic of the climate conversation?

Stephanie Holthaus  

I think that women's leadership is very different. And that those differences include the one they're very collaborative, as I mentioned already, but they also have very holistic approaches. So, when women are thinking about climate change, they're just thinking about the weather. They're thinking about things like food security, and the safety of their homes and their communities. So, I think those perspectives really provide a different dynamic when it comes to these conversations.

Christine Westenhaver 

What are some of the challenges that you and the women a part of this initiative have been faced with or are maybe even experiencing right now?

Stephanie Holthaus  

Well, in the beginning in 2018, The Nature Conservancy had never convened only women, and had never done an innovation lab either. So, people were asking, like why, why women? Since then, so much has happened in the world to elevate gender inequity that we don't get asked that question anymore. No one asked us why women and the me-too movement happened right then, and a lot of things change. So, we don't get that pushback anymore. But we do still struggle with funding and with kind of elevating this idea internally that the organization is extremely large. And so, it's hard not to get lost in all the various things that the Nature Conservancy does, and the women themselves are still facing Seeing not being invited to the table and not having their voices heard. So, women who are working on climate change are still experiencing the same thing. All women experienced in our culture, which is, you know, just kind of a lack of attention and a lack of being considered credible. So, we're trying to subvert that and ensure that women are leading the climate movement, because this is a moment in time where we cannot afford not to include half of the population over half of the population in the solutions for climate change.

Christine Westenhaver   

So, I know you guys have been working for several years. Now, I don't know if you guys have any, like, accomplishments that you like have been achieved, since women and climate came to be, or you have any goals that might have been met? Can you describe like some of your goals or accomplishments in the past couple of years?

Stephanie Holthaus  

Yes, I think one of the biggest things that we've achieved, that we didn't even know was a goal, when we started, the first cohort of women was 65 women from four different states. And when they were finished with the innovation lab, they wanted to remain connected to each other. So, we set up a network for them, that continues to this day. So, the network now includes anyone who has participated in an innovation lab, and we have nearly 200 women in the network. And the network convenes virtually every other month, to look at new work that our members are doing address challenges and, and just try to keep people connected so that they can be a resource to each other. So that is one of our big successes, and in maintaining the network has been a challenge, but is now one of our main goals, like we want these folks to stay connected to each other, and we want to continue to learn from them. So that's one, we have a goal to be global, our dream would be to be able to bring women from all around the world together to work on climate solutions. And we also would very much like to have enough funding to fund the ideas that come out of these innovation labs. So right now, if the ideas are going to be pursued, after the innovation lab, that's kind of up to the participants, because TNC doesn't have so far, the funding to propel these ideas to fruition. So that's another goal that we have. One other thing that we are trying to do is help change the nature conservancy itself by demonstrating the way that equitable conservation can be done. So, we start with equity, instead of trying to add it later to a program that's already begun. And we've had quite a bit of success with demonstrating that within the organization. And that's very helpful for us.

Christine Westenhaver 

So where did these women come from? You said you one of the goals is to be global. So, like, where are they coming from now?

Stephanie Holthaus 

So far, they have all come from within the US. There may be a couple of outliers with Canada, but for the most part all from the US and from every region of the United States. Because we started out the Nature Conservancy is organized geographically. So, we started out with the states that are nearest to Alaska and our we consider our neighbors so Alaska, Washington, Hawaii, and Oregon. And then we did some work on the East Coast and the Mid-Atlantic region. And then when we shifted the fishing industry, and that was the first industry specific events that we did, and we pulled from all states that have fishing industries across the US. So, kind of all the coastal states were represented there. So, it's pretty much all across the country at this point. Like yeah, like I said, we'd love to be global and we're working towards that.

Christine Westenhaver 

So, what has been your favorite part when it comes to working and leading women in climate?

Stephanie Holthaus 

I think the experience itself of the innovation labs is really high energy and joyful. and interesting. And I think, then, you know, for me, the best part about it has been meeting all of these amazing women who are doing this work in so many different ways. So, for me, it's been an honor and something that I could have never experienced. Without this program, I would have never met all these amazing people, and been able to continue to be engaged with. So, I feel very privileged in that regard.

Christine Westenhaver  

So, I know these women are coming all over the US and many different industries. What kind of like jobs do these women have? Like? Are they scientists, conservationists, just like everyday women or mainly just working on like the climate crisis?

Stephanie Holthaus  

That's a great question. We are focused on women who are leading in the climate change space. But that means so many different things. So yes, we have scientists and academics who have focused on climate change. But we also have industry people who are working on sustainability in their industries or their corporations. And we have political folks who are working on climate legislation or want to see climate legislation passed. We also have artists and musicians, we have people who are under they're trying to understand the communication keys that are related to climate, which is a huge part of kind of shifting the culture towards a more sustainable way of being. So yeah, we have journalists and writers, we have, I think, in the 200 women that are in the network, now, I'd be hard pressed to come up with someone who you know, that we're missing something, I think it's that diverse, we have every kind of work being done in the network.

Christine Westenhaver  

So, what are some of the things that either the listeners or like me, just as a citizen in Florida could do to become more informed about the climate crisis and show our support for the women and Climate Initiative,

Stephanie Holthaus  

The biggest thing that I think anyone can do when it comes to climate change, unless you are a scientist, that's going to be able to figure out how to reverse the trend is to vote, people have to vote, so that our elected officials are working towards a more sustainable future, that is the most critical thing that anyone can do. We also, of course, we all personally, should be doing everything that we can with recycling and moving towards electric vehicles, and all those things that you hear about every day. But the big shifts that we are required, are global, and they are political. And so, I believe that voting is the most critical thing you can do, examine the people that you're voting for, from a very local level, all the way up to the national level, and vote for people who are working towards a sustainable future for all of us. As far as women and climate goes. I think when people are trying to learn about climate change efforts, here and elsewhere, it's really important to look for the women that are working on climate change and the women's efforts that are happening, because our initiative is really designed to ensure that women are leading the climate movement. And that requires that we don't only listen to men or only focus on men's work. So, I would encourage everyone to make that a focus for that for their own learning. And that is the kind of support that will shift the whole dynamic.

Christine Westenhaver 

Well, those were all the questions that I had today. Thank you so much for answering these with such great explanations and just really going into detail on like the amazing work you guys do with women and climate. So, thank you.

Stephanie Holthaus  

Thank you very much for the opportunity.

Christine Westenhaver  

Thank you for listening to the women and climate series on the streaming Science Podcast. I'm your host, Christine Westenhaver. Make sure to check out our website and social media for more.