Karen Wayland Brings Policy Insight to The Nature Conservancy

I interviewed The Nature Conservancy’s new Director of Climate Change Policy, Karen Wayland, about what she thinks the Conservancy brings to the current environment of U.S. and international climate policy.

She also talked about her experience working on Capitol Hill as senior advisor on energy and the environment with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and and as a science fellow for Senator Harry Reid. Wayland said her two former employers shared a deep commitment to reducing impacts from climate change.

Sen. Reid, at great political risk before an election, opposed three coal-fired power plants in Nevada because he didn’t want his grandchildren to feel the effects of carbon pollution. And Rep. Pelosi understood how important it was to bring all stakeholders, including voices from the coal industry, into the conversations about solutions to climate change.

Paul Mackie is an associate director of communications and a blogger at The Nature Conservancy

Video by Sandra Rodriguez/The Nature Conservancy