Plastics, GHGs, and Networking with Veena Singla

Welcome back to Environmental Professionals Radio, Connecting the Environmental Professionals Community Through Conversation, with your hosts Laura Thorne and Nic Frederick!

On today’s episode, we talk with Veena Singla, Senior Scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council about Plastics, GHGs, and Networking.   Read her full bio below.

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Showtimes: 
2:50  Nic & Laura talk about decision fatigue
8:59  Interview with Dr. Veena Singla starts
15:34   Networking
24:29   Plastics
32:10   GHGs
37:45   Field Notes

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This podcast is produced by the National Association of Environmental Professions (NAEP). Check out all the NAEP has to offer at NAEP.org.

Connect with Veena Singla at https://www.linkedin.com/in/veenasingla/

Guest Bio:
Veena Singla is a Senior Scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council and Adjunct Assistant professor at Columbia University. Her work seeks to address health disparities linked to harmful environmental exposures using an interdisciplinary approach incorporating environmental health, exposure science, public health and policy expertise. Her research investigates how toxic pollution from systems of materials use, production and disposal threaten the health of impacted communities.
 
She serves on the US EPA Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee, the National Toxicology Program Board of Scientific Counselors, the Board of Directors for Clean Production Action, and as Associate Director for the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice Program.

Music Credits
Intro: Givin Me Eyes by Grace Mesa
Outro: Never Ending Soul Groove by Mattijs Muller

Transcript

Nic  
Hello and Welcome to Epi, your favorite environmental enthusiast Nick and Laura. On today's episode, Laura and I discuss decision fatigue. We talked to Venus Singla about plastics, GHGs and networking. And finally, remember how we talked about Brad's last episode, and I mentioned that the Japanese spider grant as remember that? Yes, it really is stuff of nightmares and has a really unique way of camouflaging itself, where they will literally tear off sponges and worms off of the ocean substrate, secrete adhesive on them and then stick them onto their bodies. Somehow recover from his trauma and then start growing on them. Oh, I genuinely do not know what to say next. But it was hard being very glad that they're not on land. I don't think we can handle that. So

Laura  
crabs are really special.

Nic  
Yeah, there are something else. It's music.

We are working with Sierra Taliaferro over at the green obsidian to highlight a few of the individuals that she is highlighting for our Black History Month. Today, we're gonna introduce you to Dr. Kenan Adams. He serves as the Forest Supervisor for our UK National Forest in Puerto Rico where he oversees the US Forest Service only tropical forest it spans across 29,000 Acres is worth encompasses engaging the local community protection of tropical flora and fauna. In addition to incorporating scientific research through his publications on a variety of fronts. From remote sensing of natural disaster recovery to watershed models, the wildlife management and restoration that brings awareness of the unique landscape and ecology of the forest. Don't forget to check out Ciara at Green obsidian on Facebook or LinkedIn

Laura  
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Nic  
Nice. Love it. Yeah.

Laura  
And everyone does need to go check that out because it's well yeah, awesome. Segment. I keep having this. Have you guys watch the Good Place interview? Oh, yeah, yeah. I keep having these GD dreams. I can't make a decision. Me and my mom were looking at milkshakes and I couldn't decide what I wanted the night because it was like you could pick any of the toppings stuff. And I couldn't I couldn't decide and I was literally like having a TD dilemma. And then the last like two nights has been I can't remember the exact details but same thing like I could not decide like which direction to go or something like

Nic  
that's really funny. I totally get that. I totally get it. It's like that almost like I have a decision quota. For the day. Where it's like, okay, when I'm at work, I have to make a lot of decisions really quickly, really fast. And then then there's a point where I am done and I cannot make another and like, so I'll be like making dinner and it's like, well, what do I want? And then four hours later it's like I guess I'll just go to the closest one and eat that. Yeah. Yeah, like desperation. You know,

Laura  
that's funny. Yeah, decision fatigue. Absolutely. 100% and I think you're right by the time dinner rolls around last night, my boyfriend is dead, really raring to go for dinner? Where do you want to go? And I was like, I literally don't care. And then we got there that orphans like what are you getting? And I was like, let me just flip a coin. I don't know.

Unknown Speaker  
What's the first entree? I'll do that?

Laura  
I literally the cheapest thing on the menu.

Nic  
Yeah, I mean, you know, that's an easy way to figure it out.

Laura  
Right? So I guess that's what it comes down to is like some sort of system I've been using for dinner like the Sheldon system, or like Mondays burger night, Wednesday night, Thursdays Asian.

Nic  
But like so so people with a DD ADHD you know, why shouldn't I have been I think I've talked about a little bit on the show, but like, decision fatigue is a real thing. It is scary. It's hard. And there's things you can do to like, alleviate some of that and some of it like exactly that. What you just said is a great example of that. It's like I know it sounds silly, but I'm gonna wear XYZ today, because then every day every Monday because it's just what I need to do, right? Or like you set up your clothes so that you have an assistant for the week and you just could pick up a shirt, pick up a shirt. Sure. It's much easier to do that one time and then trying to do it every single day. And yeah, that's a really good idea. I mean, same thing with dinner. I mean, it sounds silly, but it's like a neat order. Otherwise, this chaos is

Laura  
so helpful because then I'm like, What do I need to buy at the grocery store? There's no like deciding, like, Okay, I need everything for burgers. I need everything for pizza, maybe everything for an agency, like that's what I'm making. And then when the day comes and I'm like what are we having for dinner? I just look at the board.

Nic  
Yeah, and it doesn't have to be dinner. It doesn't have to be it could be lots of different things. But like Yeah, even just doing that, for one thing is kind of healthy. And you know, it doesn't mean you can't break the mold sometimes. You know? Yeah, a

Laura  
couple years ago, I got rid of all of my brown coordinated clothes. So I've watched this video about a woman who lived in a tiny house so she was minimalizing and so she just only had stuff that coordinated with black so then because otherwise if you were brown coordinated clothes and black coordinated clothes then you need brown belts and brown shoes earthtone clothing like I only it helps me when I'm shopping. So decisions right? I see a brown shirt sweater they like I'm like, nope. Buying a black one.

Nic  
Right. By weeks Yeah. So that's what I would do is like I'll have like, Okay, this is Black back belt week. And then there's brown belt week. And it's like yeah, it's just like anything in accordance with these suit these shoes and this belt. That's what I have. And yeah, I do the same kind of thing. Really? Yeah.

Laura  
I don't have less clothes. I didn't go to like, minimalist Yeah. Or at least I did, maybe for a minute and then they'll sit back up but everything I do have coordinates with black somehow. Think of one brown shirt that I just loved and I still kept

Nic  
right. It doesn't go with anything you have. Yes. You just look at it. You admire it? Yeah, I got it. Yeah, I've also got like, I really need those in my closet and get out. Take out stuff. I mean, you can have decisions like do I want to keep this thing I've only worn once in four years. It's like but Well, I mean, you know, and that's where our brain goes. It's just it's like it's trying so hard to take the other side of any argument where it's like, okay, I need to get rid of the second one. But remember where you got it though it wasn't that so much fun. And then you enjoy it. Then you're like, See,

Laura  
I don't even my speak comes from the clothing. Don't throw me away. Please wear me again. Like do you remember how much fun we used to have together? Oh yeah, my Oh, I feel sorry for throwing you in the garbage. I don't know. You away or whatever.

Nic  
I was like wow, that is really hurtful for that for

Laura  
Well, I Okay, so decisions. I have a pair of jeans that are so worn thin and got holes everywhere and I was going to add 150 seconds 30 seconds I was gonna throw them in the garbage. And then I was like, no, go throw me in the garbage. And so I put them in a bag bag and you're

Unknown Speaker  
like, No cuz they were like take me a Goodwill or maybe someone will recycle me and I'm like, Wait,

Laura  
you're tatters? But no, I could be something like, you know, your chatters. And so now they're just in limbo.

Nic  
Like I was trying to do the thing where I'm like, well, it's work clothes, right? It's where I could just pretend like it's, it's for like when I work in the yard and stuff right? You know, Mr. Brennan's? Like you have like eight pairs of those. So get rid of some of them. It's bad.

Laura  
Yeah, good times, making decisions.

Nic  
And I think it's a wrap though. It's good to

Laura  
welcome back to EPR. Today we have Venus Singla, senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which made LSE NRDC on our show. Welcome, Dina.

Veena Singla  
Thank you, Laura. It's great to be here.

Laura  
Awesome. Nick sends his regards his traveling today so it will just be me interviewing so hello. Why don't you start us off by telling us a little bit about the mission

Veena Singla  
of NRDC, the Natural Resources Defense Council NRDC. We're an international environmental nonprofit that employs scientists like myself, lawyers and Policy Advocates to advance evidence based policies to protect human health and the environment. And we have a staff of about 700 and offices across the US, as well as in India and in Beijing, China, and our headquarters are in New York City. I'm based in beautiful San Francisco, California.

Laura  
Awesome. I didn't realize it was that large of an organization, were noticed

Veena Singla  
one of the big greens. Cool. And that would be along with Who were some of the other ones, Sierra Club or its justice. Those are some of the big environmental organizations nationally in the US.

Laura  
Fantastic. So tell us about your role there. And how it fits kind of into the bigger picture. Yes. So

Veena Singla  
NRDC, we work on a whole range of environmental issues, from climate change to wildlife, to protecting the environment for people's health. Which is what I focus on. And I work on environmental health. That's how the environment affects people's health, thinking about harmful environmental exposures like air pollution, contaminated drinking water, pesticides, and food, the whole range of harmful things in our environment that we can breathe, eat, drink and absorb that can harm our health, and trying to bring the best science and data to inform policies to help make more protective common sense regulations to improve the environment and help improve people's health, especially for communities who are most impacted by an environmental pollution.

Laura  
Awesome. Thanks for sharing that and when you talk about the areas that are in most of need, is there a process or how do they go about targeting like areas where they do work to you know,

Veena Singla  
yes, so we really think about communities that are burdened by multiple sources of environmental pollution, where there may be a concentration of industrial facilities that release a lot of pollution together, as well as confluence of other polluting sources like highways, or it's that kind of infrastructure. And what we see across the US is a pattern where these multiple sources of pollution are concentrated in communities that are disproportionately people of color or low income or both often, and this is what we call environmental injustice, where some communities are more burdened by these multiple sources of pollution, and it raises health risks for these communities, their families, their children. And this is a major focus of my research. And our advocacy to try to transform our systems and relieve some of these unjust burdens which will benefit communities health and everyone's health. Awesome.

Laura  
That's really great mission. Can you talk a little bit more you mentioned research, and I'm curious about some of the 700 employees around kind of around the world and you work remotely. How much time do you spend just doing research versus on site versus kind of like doing hands on type of work in the community?

Veena Singla  
Yes, I'll say it looks pretty different, since since the pandemic then than it did pre pandemic although we're slowly coming back to traveling more and being able to interact in person with communities and and decision makers. I'd say it's a pretty good mix of those activities, which is something I really like about my job, that it's very dynamic, because I'll spend part of the day very independently on my own reading scientific papers looking at data, doing analysis, maybe writing a fact sheet, that type of work, and another part of my day, meeting with our kind of key stakeholders, whether that's other NGOs, policymakers, decision makers, communities, and policy work is very collaborative. That's something I I like and enjoy about it. No one organization will get a policy passed on its own. So it's by its nature collaborative. And I like that process of really coming together and building consensus around what the science says. How we can translate that into better policies and then working to make that happen. And part of that process is interacting directly with decision makers, you know, with community groups, and being in person does help facilitate that I think we've all learned in the past few years, even being on video being on Zoom. There's still still something missing that you get with that in person interaction, a little bit more of the personal touch, and I'm thinking about it a lot. I was just in New Orleans, Louisiana for an event there and being able to meet directly with the community groups on the ground and hear their stories. They're on the front lines of climate change and impacts from the oil and gas industry there on on the Gulf Coast. You don't really get that if you're not in person. So I appreciate now that we're able to travel a little bit more and be in person and see, there's no substitute for seeing it with your own eyes. I have to say, yeah.

Laura  
Well, thanks. Thanks for sharing that. I think you know, we have a lot of young people who listen to the show and students and so giving them an idea of what day at work looks like. It's really helpful, you know, on a job description, it's really hard to tell what would it was my day gonna look like when I'm actually doing the work, which I wanted to jump into your projects, but before we do, I also want to continue down that path a little bit about, you know, is this You mentioned you really enjoy doing this in the policy work, but is this really what you thought you would be doing kind of when you start in your career path or when you start getting interested and saying, This isn't like I could go to school board and kind of what shaped where you got where you are now?

Veena Singla  
That's a great question, Laura. And I have to say, I didn't not think this is where I would end up if you had asked me this in undergraduate or grad school. I will have no idea that I ended up in a role like this my path to get here. It was kind of a long and winding road. And in hindsight, I was always very impatient, right that I wanted to kind of go figure out more quickly and with more certainty, where my career was going where I should land. And that I know now it was that experience of going through that process, trying those different things. That was really essential to me figuring out what's the right career fit for me. So my background is in chemistry and biology. I did my undergraduate degree in chemistry, and went to graduate school for Cellular and Developmental Biology. I always loved science, the research experiences I had an undergrad and after undergrad I worked at a biotech company for a couple of years to working in the lab doing molecular biology and cell biology research for the company. And I really enjoyed it, and honestly didn't give much more thought to it. Besides, I love science. I like doing research. And if I want to continue down the road of being a scientist, people were telling me well, you need to get a graduate degree. So I went to get my my PhD. And then partway through that program. I just realized I didn't want to be a professor and continue to stay in academia and work in the lab. There was a few pieces missing and that I mentioned before I really enjoy kind of the collaborative process and working with a team and a lot of science. is very individual, independent. You could spend the whole day and not talk to anyone I did sometimes right sit like just working at my lab bench or sitting in the cell culture room. And the times that we did have collaborations with other lab groups or other universities I really enjoyed that process. So it kind of made me realize I wanted more of that kind of day to day interaction and in my job, so that was a missing piece. And also being able to see a more tangible impact from the work that I was doing. Basic Science fundamental science is so important. It's the foundation on which so much of our technology and medicine is built but it can be many, many years from discoveries and basic science to that being translated into something more tangible in the real world. And I think that was something that was also a little bit missing for me that it was important to me to be able to see more immediately how the work that I was doing was showing up in the world and can really putting the science more into action and trying to contribute to changes in these important issues that are that are affecting our lives and our health and that's what led me to start looking more at roles that combined kind of science and communication. And I had always been interested in policy but had never had much experience with it. And my first role that was working in science and policy was a small nonprofit in Berkeley, California called the Green Science Policy Institute. And I found that job on Craigslist. It was it was very serendipitous, and I always I tell people, the general advice is networking is so important and that is true. It's always true. Like that's gonna be very beneficial to your career, and you never know where your next opportunity is going to come from. So keep yourself open to possibility because I saw this job on Craigslist, I did not know anything about this organization or the executive director. I read about the work that they did and it sounded very aligned with my interests and what I wanted to do, but I had no connection to it. I just applied through Craigslist, ended up getting the job and starting that work. I did a lot of on the job learning about policy that wasn't in my training. And I just loved it. It really hid the pieces that had been missing for me being a lab researcher and academic science. And that set me on the path to the work I'm doing now from that small nonprofit. I came to NRDC and have continued to do this work in environmental health.

Laura  
Yeah, that's very cool. A lot of people I do career coaching for environmental career seekers and a lot of people come to me saying here's my skills, which I do, like, well, give me some suggestions. But really, the real life answer is just what you've said. You've got to go out and start exploring and figure out what you like. I might say, I think this is great for you, but you'd actually go do it. You're like, I don't think so. Yes,

Veena Singla  
I think that's exactly right. Because I did a few internships and volunteer opportunities in different areas like science journalism and science, education and a museum to see if that might be a good fit for me. And it wasn't. And I think that information is just as valuable as knowing what you'd like to do to be able to say, well, actually, I thought this would be a really great road for me, and it turns out not so much.

Laura  
Yeah, totally. Speaking of networking, but the importance of it. So now that you kind of have your career and I imagine you're looking to stay there for a while. Just making an assumption. But do you still find that you're making networking a priority and trying to maintain some of those things that I think from my observation from being a member of na P people fall back on networking like real hard when they're looking and then they kind of let it slip a little bit well when they cushy in their jobs?

Veena Singla  
Yes. For me, networking and building relationships remains important, both and thinking about my continued professional development, you know, career opportunities and growth and for mentorship too, because even if you're in a role in job that you feel very happy with and aren't necessarily looking. There's always challenges. There's always difficulties that arise and it's really helpful to have books you can go to, especially sometimes outside your own organization and company that can help you the help be that thought partner help provide that mentorship that may have more experience in a certain area or navigating certain kinds of difficulties. I've found that to be a important resource in my career to have these mentors that I can have a phone call with or if you're lucky to be in the same location, meet up for coffee or lunch and just talk things out and have a kind of outside perspective and opinion and help just guide and coach you through whatever challenges arise in the course of your work because those will always come up.

Laura  
Yeah, couldn't agree more. You never know when you'll be the host of a podcast I need to invite guests every single week. You're like, Ah, I think people networks. I've been pinging you later to see who else you know, just letting you know.

Veena Singla  
You're putting it into practice right away.

Laura  
Okay, let's jump back to your project. So I know you're working on some pretty cool ones. And you know what's one that you're just most excited about right now or that's just taking up most of your time?

Veena Singla  
There is a big issue I'm working on that's going to be familiar to a lot of your listeners, I think Laura and that's the problem of plastics and the plastic waste, plastic pollution and the whole plastic lifecycle from production to us to disposal. We have too much plastic. I think that's not going to be news to anyone. And how can we address this systemic problem and really think about solutions that are going to help us fix the issues from across the whole lifecycle because the waste plastic waste at the end of life is very visible to us. And there's many more impacts from plastic and plastic pollution than just the waste at the production stage. Plastics are made from fossil fuels and it's a very energy intensive and polluting process and the plastic components there are these tiny little pellets called nurdles and that's the kind of initial stage for plastic products. Those plastic noodles are also very polluting they're found littered across the oceans beaches the globe you find them everywhere. And the communities that are near that those plastic production facilities bear the brunt of a lot of that pollution and toxic emissions that that impacts their health. I'm really thinking about how we can have transformative solutions that are going to address the issues across the plastic lifecycle. And one that is very simple and concept yet quite challenging to put into practice is make less plastic. If you want if you have a waste problem, don't make the waste and that solves the problem. That's the top of the materials management hierarchy, right prevention. So there's a lot of single use plastics that are just unnecessary. They get used for a few minutes. Maybe 30 seconds and then just thrown away. So trying to target these unnecessary and problematic single use plastics that do make up a large portion of our plastic production and waste. That's one and then where we need materials to fulfill these important functions and roles in our life. How can we go to reuse and refill systems I think I got a lot of your listeners are going to be familiar with carry your own water bottle, so you don't have to buy these single use plastic water bottles and putting in the infrastructure across our cities across the places where we travel work, you know, live and learn that where we can fill up our water bottles, where we can easily use reusable utensils and food service where there's a really great effort to bring dishwashers back to schools. I'm old enough to remember in my elementary school when there was physical trays where we got our food and returned and then got washed in the school cafeteria. A lot of that infrastructure was taken out or not put in.

Laura  
I don't know kids. They don't know anything about this.

Veena Singla  
No, no. Most schools do not have dishwashers they were either to remove taken out or not put in when schools were built and it's all throw away food service. Were so teaching kids to just throw stuff away. Right. Exactly, exactly. So sometimes we had it right the first time. I'd say there's a great example to go back to the that kind of reuse system in schools and other institutions. It's a huge use of single use plastics, from the plates to the cutlery to the cups all across that whole system. So the reuse and refills are a really important solution and then also improving our materials management the recycling problem, where a lot of the plastic materials we make simply are not practically recyclable, and we need to cut down on the variety and complexity of the plastic material making and focus on the ones that we know we can recycle. And that will help with the management and up life very significantly as well. So we're thinking about policies to advance these kinds of solutions at the local state and federal level in the US at the federal level. There's the break free from plastics Pollution Act, which helps to support a number of the solutions that I've mentioned. And internationally. It's really exciting. There's a in progress
____________
Veena Singla  
For a number of the solutions that I've mentioned, and internationally, it's really exciting. There's a in progress negotiations are underway for a global plastics treaty with the UN with the United Nations. So that started last year and they have a very ambitious goal to have the treaty complete in just a couple of years. So we've been participating in those negotiations. In providing information about what we see as the best solutions.

Laura  
That's a huge undertaking, but I'm glad that you know that you are doing that. So in looking at how the projects are gone through the Natural Resource Defense Council, are you looking mostly at the policy side or to do actual in the community work, educating schools and really getting to like the end user as well? Or is it mostly like high level and then that trickles down to other groups who are actually boots on the ground doing stuff?

Veena Singla  
I'd say it's more the former we are. So we call ourselves grasstops. Right that we work at this kind of mid level between community based groups and like the policymakers so we serve as kind of that bridge. I think it's really important that we're working in close collaboration with our partners on the ground to ensure that our policy advocacy reflects the solutions that are going to work for communities and also to bring communities directly to the table in these discussions in these negotiations, because they've been marginalized and excluded historically and currently for far too long in these decisions that impact them and their communities. So we try to both improve these public participation processes that we're engaged with and develop these more holistic, comprehensive solutions that are going to deliver benefits for impacted communities.

Laura  
Awesome. You're also working on some GHG projects. And before we get too deep into it, as I said, some of our listeners may not be very advanced in their careers and not really know what GHG even is, or what are some of the specific ones that you'd be would identify as a GHG. So could you kind of do a high level? This is what greenhouse gases are, and here's a few that we look at and then maybe dive into more of the specifics of your project.

Veena Singla  
Sure. Yes. So GHG stands for greenhouse gas and these are the missions we're concerned about that drive climate change. There's a variety people might be familiar with like carbon dioxide, and methane, which is also known as natural gas or fossil gas. There's also other greenhouse gases that people might not be as familiar with, that are this whole class of chemicals called fluorinated chemicals or HFCs hydrofluorocarbons also sometimes called Forever chemicals or P FOSS per and polyfluorinated alkyl substances there's a whole variety of chemicals in those groups that are super potent global warming gases were compared to carbon dioxide, they might have 10 times 100 times 1000 times the global warming potential. So they're kind of known as the Super GHGs are super climate pollutants. So we're concerned about that whole range of of GHGs and trying to reduce those emissions and then ensure that we're building our way to a cleaner as much of a climate stable and safe future as as we can. And one aspect that I focus on is our buildings, our homes, our built environment, and globally, buildings account for about 30 to 40% of our total GHG emissions. So they're a significant source. And if and depending on where you are, it can be even more significant. So New York City for example, buildings account for 70% of that city's GHG emissions is a huge chunk and it makes sense. So you think about New York City, it's very dense. There's lots of people there, lots of buildings, and we burn a lot of fossil fuels in our buildings people don't. This is not the first thing that comes to mind. When you think about sources of GHG emissions, we're we're burning fossil fuels, but to heat our water, to heat our homes to dry our clothes to cook. These are all ways that we're burning fossil fuels in our homes and to to reduce this significant source of GHG emissions. We need to move away from burning fossil fuels in our buildings and electrify these appliances. And the great news is, we have the technology that we need to do that now. There's appliances called heat pumps that can heat our water can heat our spaces. They're much more efficient than the combustion versions. And for the heating purpose. There's another huge added benefit is that heat pumps provide both heating and cooling. So for folks that maybe didn't have an air conditioner before or maybe had a very inefficient one or like a window unit. If you put in a heat pump now you have very efficient heating and cooling. And both of these are going to be increasingly important for people as unfortunately we've seen more and more extreme weather events, extreme heat and extreme cold. That's really intensified by climate change. So moving towards these electrified appliances, electrifying our buildings, is going to be a great way to address building GHG emissions, and at the same time, provide benefits to people in their homes. I already mentioned adding the cooling and also it makes the air healthier because you're not releasing those combustion related pollutants, you know, to the outdoor air or inside when you cook with gas and we focus on the affordable housing sector to ensure that the benefits of our investments, our programs, our policies are going to reach that sector and ensure that people who live in affordable housing people who own affordable housing or provide affordable housing will have the support they need to be a part of this transition, take advantage of it and make their buildings you know, more efficient, climate friendly and healthier.

Laura  
Awesome. Yeah, keep hearing more and more about heat pumps. And so that's interesting to hear. That that's coming around. And I think, you know, there's some things like AI and different stuff that are creeping into our lives and that he pumps are one of them too. But let's switch into our field notes segment. So this is the part of the show where we talk about memorable moments doing work in the field and that may be actually boots on the ground in the forest or wetland or it might be in an office, but we encourage our listeners to share their stories using the hashtag field notes so we can read them on future episodes once we start collecting those. So being in your several years of work and experience in different things like give us a story about a time where something was certainly memorable or interesting. While you've been out on the field.

Veena Singla  
This I love this. I love this segment. What What a fun idea. Something that's very memorable to me. It's not necessarily positive, but I certainly remember it is well so I mentioned a lot of my work intersects with the fossil fuel and chemical industry. Like the work on plastics. Plastics are made from fossil fuels, fossil fuel companies make plastics is some of the biggest plastic makers are like Exxon shell BP. These are names familiar probably to many listeners and the chemical industry is very closely connected. So these are the same companies that are petrochemical and plastics manufacturers. These companies don't agree with the the solutions we're proposing because it will directly affect their profits. I think that's there's that's a very clear way to say it because we're suggesting cutting our production of plastics for example. So one scientific conference, I was speaking at I was presenting at there was a chemical industry representative who was not in favor of what I was presenting and kept coming up in the q&a session. So just ask kind of repeated aggressive questions. And the the whole room was getting pretty uncomfortable. It was uncomfortable for me. It was not scientific conversation. It felt very aggressive and inappropriate, honestly. And every time he did he he would call me Miss Singla Miss Singla it was it felt disrespectful especially in a scientific setting when I have a PhD and let me tell you I labored seven hard years blood sweat and tears to get that degree. So I got very frustrated with this. And finally at one point, I said excuse me, you can call me Dr. Singla. And that really shut him up. Honestly, it was it was pretty funny. A lot of people remember that I've had people comment to me years later that there's I remember that session. So I always joke I don't ask anyone to call me, doctor. I don't use that honorific, I say except to the chemical industry. Right.

Laura  
Oh, that's a great story. I love I love this segment too. Because, you know, this is something that connects us as environmental professionals. We all have to interact with the public usually in some way. And if it's not the public, it's wildlife like we have Yes, experiences that can put us in very uncomfortable situations. And I love sharing that because we've all had them and they don't need to be like something you're embarrassed though or whatever. You know, they can be funny, even if it's like, oh, that was uncomfortable. Like, you know, a couple years later, it can be funny or whatever. Yes, no,

Veena Singla  
I do look back at it. And last for sure.

Laura  
So thanks for sharing that. We're getting close to the end of our time. So I just want to touch on one more thing is you are also doing an adjunct professing at Columbia University. So What program do you teach?

Veena Singla  
Oh, yes. Thank you so much for this question. This is something else I'm just so excited about. This program at Columbia is called the agents of change and environmental justice and it was founded by Dr. Ami Zota, who's a professor there at the Mailman School of Public Health. And I'm part of the leadership team for the program and what it is it's a about a year long fellowship program, where we're, the fellows are folks who are who have been historically underrepresented in science in the environmental health sciences. And the goal of the fellowship is to really elevate these voices, provide training and professional development opportunities, and have these fellows really be thought leaders in this space. So what part of my role is to help provide some of the science and policy training and experience and we've been working with the fellows this year to do a community science collaboration, which is very cool. The fellows are working in small groups directly with external organizations to provide scientific and technical support for the group's priorities. So it's a opportunity and experience for the fellows to see what it's like to really have your science serve the community's needs and help to make, again put that science into action to make the change that's directly going to benefit communities.

Laura  
That sounds really cool. And for people again, who are listening who may be thinking like, I'd like to be an adjunct professor, like did you apply for that job and someone approached you or do you see the program someone you're like, I want to be involved?

Veena Singla  
Yes. So this goes back to a theme we touched on earlier networking, and

Laura  
I didn't want to sue, but I thought that would be your answer.

Veena Singla  
Yes, absolutely. This opportunity came to me. As I mentioned, Professor Zota. She and I had collaborated on scientific projects for a number of years and we continued to stay in touch. I would reach out to her when I was starting new projects or kind of maybe shifting a focus of my work just to check in. So to learn what she was doing, she could see what I was doing. See if there's opportunities to collaborate or work together or leverage each other's work. That's, I love it when that happens when I'm working on something and I talk to someone and say, Oh, actually, like I just I just did something really relevant, really related to that and it's wonderful that make those connections so, you know, just continue to nurture that relationship. And, you know, as I mentioned, she founded this agents of change program, had been running for a couple years. And then she really had a desire and the fellows had expressed a desire as well, to understand more like how their science can be more impactful to making policy change. And that's when she spoke to me about coming in and joining the leadership team and bringing this element more to the program. And you know, I'll just mention to NRDC science office is helping to support this collaboration. So I really appreciate that NRDC is investing in this.

Laura  
Yeah, that's great. Sounds like really great fit for you and a really good alignment there. We have run out of time, this went by really fast. But before I let you go, is there anything else that you might want to talk about that I didn't? Touch on?

Veena Singla  
I think the last thing I'll say is that oftentimes, the issues that we work on climate change or plastics pollution, can seem quite overwhelming. And it's hard sometimes not to have like climate grief or feel powerless in the face of these really big systemic problems. And that is people working together and just having a passion for, for making change. And not giving up is what actually works. We've seen it work. We've seen such big progress, even you know, the US has a really long way to go. But we just had the most historic and investments and climate policy that we've ever seen in the in the US. So it's really important to kind of take a draw on your colleagues, your network, that support and remember that even though these things are overwhelming, that it's the work that we're all doing together that's going to solve these problems. Awesome. Appreciate that.

Laura  
So much. Perfect ending messages. And finally, where can people get in touch with you? They'd like to chat more?

Veena Singla  
Yes. People should feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn. If you search my name and NRDC, it should come right up. So please feel free to connect with me and message me there. Awesome.

Laura  
Thank you so much been up and we really appreciate you being here.

Veena Singla  
Thank you, Laura.

Unknown Speaker  
That's our show. Thank you Veena for joining us today. Please be sure to check us out each and every Friday. Don't forget to subscribe rate and review. See everybody I

Transcribed by https://otter.ai