Energy & Climate

Building Bridges: A Community Collaboration for Culture Change (Phase II)

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 00:44:45 +0000

Building Bridges: A Community Collaboration for Culture Change (Phase II) Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 12/20/2018 - 17:44

Throughout fall 2018, Co-Director Sprain and Research Fellow Reinig have worked with City of Boulder staff and a small group of community members to develop a vision for productive civic discourse in Boulder.

Phase II of Building Bridges has seen the community group working with insights and materials generated through the phase I design workshops to refine draft norms and map enduring issues, which, in turn, will shape innovative and ongoing public engagement capacity building efforts across the city.

The Building Bridges project was highlighted in two recent presentations. Reinig and Brenda Ritenour, city of Boulder’s neighborhood liaison, presented a workshop entitled, “Building Bridges: A Community Collaboration for Culture Change” at the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation conference. Lydia and Brenda also presented a session at CU’s fall 2018 Diversity and Inclusion Summit entitled, “Building Bridges: A CU and City of Boulder Collaboration for Civic Communication.” Both presentations highlighted the CDE’s ongoing collaboration with the city of Boulder to shift the culture of public engagement.

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Building Bridges: How do we listen to each other?

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 23:17:31 +0000

Building Bridges: How do we listen to each other? Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 08/10/2018 - 17:17

Growing expressions of distrust of Boulder’s public process led the city of Boulder to appoint a 14-member community working group to identify ways to improve public process. As part of their final recommendations in Summer 2017, the Public Participation Working Group (PPWG) recommended the co-creation of guidelines for civil and constructive conduct in meetings, dialogue, and decision-making processes. As part of Boulder’s efforts to improve public engagement practices and activate these recommendations,, Boulder’s staff first conceived Building Bridges as a large public design workshop held in Fall 2017.

In early 2018, the city invited CDE (then BoulderTalks) to support the iterative co-design of Building Bridges. Combining the principles of deliberation and design, the workshop set out to build the public’s capacity to innovate public process and grapple with their role in changing Boulder’s culture of public engagement.

Facilitated discussions asked community participants to brainstorm norms (i.e., standards for action) to guide Boulder’s public engagement. After sharing in small groups, participants had the opportunity to thematize and prioritize candidate norms through a dot-voting exercise. The next phase of the process allowed community members to deliberate to surface tensions and trade-offs associated with proposed norms. Earlier iteration of the process moved community members towards developing design prototypes, whereas later processes focused on developing a more robust sense of the tensions that would need to be managed and the trade-offs community members would be willing to make to improve public engagement.

Co-director Leah Sprain led the design process collaboration and facilitated events. Research Lydia Fellow Reinig supported design work, including the training of 18 undergraduates, graduate students, and community members to serve as process facilitators and note-takers.

This team was responsible for facilitating two processes in February. Thirty-four faculty, staff, and students participated at the workshop held in conjunction with CU’s Diversity Summit. Twenty-one community members attended a public workshop held at the Boulder Public Library.

To broaden strategic outreach, Building Bridges was held with 16 leaders from across Boulder’s houses of worship at First Congregational Church. An additional seven community members attended a process at New Vista High School.

Amended format discussions were held with Boulder Housing Partners and at Mylk House Salon, with approximately 15 community members in attendance across the two processes.

In July 2018, a revised process was held with members of Boards and Commissions for the city of Boulder.

During Spring 2018, BoulderTalks undergraduate student, Sheridan Gill, served as an intern for the project, supporting facilitation and note-taking at events and assisting Graduate Fellow Reinig with the reporting process outcomes and next steps. Bill Shrum, Department of Communication MA student, also supported this project by creating ‘wayfinding graphics’ that provided a visual representation of the trajectory of the conversations and key themes tracked across processes.

Across these meetings, we heard recurring iterations of several norms to guide Boulder’s public engagement efforts: listening; disagreement; personal accountability, curiosity, power, co-creation, and common ground for action.

Community member also developed norms specific to guiding the ways the city of Boulder convenes public engagement: inclusive of diverse voices; receptive and responsive to community input; accessible through broad outreach; organized; and maps issues to enable creative problem solving.

As an outgrowth of the Building Bridges in-person process, CDE staff collaborated with the city to propose discussion questions for the city’s new online engagement platform, Be Heard Boulder, and facilitate these online discussions. To foster involvement from the business community, CDE also collaborated with city staff to design an online survey to gain feedback on candidate norms.

The culmination of Building Bridges design workshops will inform a group of community volunteers, who will synthesize the input and co-construct ways to activate a new culture of public participation in Boulder. Phase Two is set begin in September 2018.

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Collaborative Research on Energy & Climate

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 06:00:00 +0000

Collaborative Research on Energy & Climate Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 08/10/2018 - 00:00

CDE Co-Director Leah Sprain and Graduate Research Fellow Lydia Reinig have worked on collaborative research at the intersections of democratic engagement and energy system transformation. This research has been fostered through ongoing ethnographic fieldwork of Boulder, Colorado’s efforts to create a municipal electric utility. Boulder’s commitment to aggressive climate action through carbon-emission reductions has motivated the city to create a local energy utility.

Sprain and Reinig focus their research on ways public participation practices can be transformed to support energy system transition In addition to expanding conversation about communication and democratic engagement writ large, this work contribute to the burgeoning interdisciplinary study of energy democracy.

Sprain and Reinig have conduct research of local acts of energy democracy at Boulder City Council meetings; city-sponsored open houses, information sessions, and pop-up events; social movement rallies; and community dialogues about climate action, among other public meeting and community conversations. This work further allows them to cultivate relationships on behalf of the CDE.

Their research program has resulted in multiple conference presentations, including at the National Communication Association annual meeting and the Conference on Communication and the Environment, as well as an accepted book chapter and multiple in process publications.

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Just Transition Collaborative workshop engages community on climate justice

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Jul 2018 06:00:00 +0000

Just Transition Collaborative workshop engages community on climate justice Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 07/21/2018 - 00:00

Graphic recording of Pezzullo’s talk, as well as the group overall, by Emma Ruffin.

Climate Justice Assembly gathered in Longmont, Colorado.

Director Phaedra C. Pezzullo presented at and participated in an all-day workshop with community members, City of Boulder employees and council member, and Boulder County employees about the work of making a Just Transition possible here and beyond.

This workshop was part of Pezzullo’s ongoing work as a founder member and executive committee member of the Just Transition Collaborative at CU Boulder. The Just Transition Collaborative (JTC) engages in community partnerships, projects, and research to advance environmental justice in the transition to a sustainable economy. We support more just energy, climate, environmental and labor practices and policies that foster the inclusion of underrepresented peoples and values.

JTC’s initial focus has been in Boulder, Colorado, and the front range region. In 2016, the JTC successfully incorporated input from diverse constituents to advise the City of Boulder to incorporate social justice objectives in its landmark climate commitment. These included strengthening community leadership and policy inclusion of under-represented constituents, generating socially just economic and employment opportunities, and promoting equity in energy costs and ownership of green technologies.

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An update on “Energy Democracy: Creating a Research Agenda”

Anonymous — Tue, 01 May 2018 06:00:00 +0000

An update on “Energy Democracy: Creating a Research Agenda” Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/01/2018 - 00:00

Energy, specifically electricity, is at the crux of technological innovations and political debates regarding sustainable transitions. As both an emerging social movement and interdisciplinary field of study, energy democracy reflects critical efforts towards creating strategies for adaptive climate governance. As a social movement, energy democracy calls for the democratization of energy infrastructure and prioritizes public participation in energy transitions. Energy democracy as a burgeoning field of study reflects interdisciplinary efforts to trace and re-imagine democratic engagement in energy system transformation.

The Center for Communication and Democratic Engagement (formerly BoulderTalks) co-sponsored, “Energy Democracy: Creating a Research Agenda” at the University of Utah, July 12–13, 2017. The symposium gathered more than twenty scholars and practitioners to shape an engaged research program at the intersections of democratic engagement, energy policy, and robust case studies. Moving beyond an impetus to critique, conversations centered on a composition approach—a metaphor derived from Latour’s notion of things being put together while maintaining heterogeneity. A composition approach allows for forwarding a research agenda that accounts for competing discourses of energy democracy, social movements, new energy coalitions, innovative social practices, and interdisciplinary collaborations.

Presentations of ongoing research emphasized opportunities for energy democracy coalition building. Energy democracy coalitions seek to forward new practices engagement, widen our attention to diverse stakeholders, account for just transitions, and pose new questions for energy democracy movements demanding engagement.

Dr. Leah Sprain co-organized the symposium with Danielle Endres (University of Utah), Tarla Peterson (University of Texas at El Paso), Andrea Feldpausch-Parker (SUNY-Environmental Science and Forestry). This workshop is co-sponsored by the Communication Institute at the University of Utah and the National Communication Association. Co-director Phaedra Pezzullo presented on the CDE’s work with Just Transitions and Boulder’s Climate Action Plan. Graduate Research Fellow Lydia Reinig attended.

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CDE and the Latino Chamber of Commerce

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 22:09:32 +0000

CDE and the Latino Chamber of Commerce Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 11/16/2016 - 15:09

CDE Executive Committee Member Tiara Naputi and the Just Transition Collaborative co-sponsored a workshop on “The New Green Economy” on Oct. 14, 2016 in Longmont, Colorado. Read more about it »

BoulderTalks Executive Committee Member Tiara Naputi and the Just Transition Collaborative co-sponsored a workshop on “The New Green Economy” on Oct. 14, 2016 in Longmont, Colorado.

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Energy Democracy: Creating a Research Agenda

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 17:43:28 +0000

Energy Democracy: Creating a Research Agenda Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/27/2016 - 11:43

Leah Sprain is co-organizing a workshop on energy democracy with Danielle Endres, Tarla Peterson, Andrea Feldspauch-Parker to be held in Salt Lake City on July, 2017. It will bring together a range of scholars, local energy practitioners, and publics to reflect on and initiate a lively conversation about energy democracy and its potential as both a movement and an academic area of study. This workshop is co-sponsored by the CDE, the Communication Institute at the University of Utah and the National Communication Association.

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Just Transition

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 06:00:00 +0000

Just Transition Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/27/2016 - 00:00

"Just transition" is a term developed by labor and climate justice movements to advocate the major transformation we are undergoing from a global fossil fuel carbon-based economy to a renewable energy economy should incorporate ecological and social justice.

In part, this raises questions of democratic life, such as: how do we find opportunities for new jobs and job retraining to strengthen our democratic goals? And which public policies create barriers or possibilities for moving forward? It also raises questions central to communication practices, such as: how can we foster more creative public engagement so that more voices are heard in decision-making about all of these changes?

In spring 2017, CDE (then BoulderTalks) is partnering with the Waterhouse Family Institute at Villanova University to host an undergraduate-focused conference on this topic. Director and Professor Pezzullo will be joining leaders of the Just Transition movement, José T. Bravo (Executive Director of the Just Transition Alliance) and Aaron Mair (the first African American President of the Sierra Club) to help foster dialogue and education about the solutions, barriers and possibilities before us.

Locally, Director and Professor Pezzullo, as well as Executive Committee Member and Professor Sprain, are founding members of the Just Transition Collaborative, faculty and staff at CU Boulder researching and engaging people on and off campus. Currently, we are partnering with the City of Boulder to imagine how the Climate Action Plan might be attuned to the possibilities of and metrics involved in a Just Transition, particularly for underheard community members, such as Latinas/os.

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Global Change and Sustainability Center Seminar

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 06:00:00 +0000

Global Change and Sustainability Center Seminar Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/27/2016 - 00:00

In September, Leah Sprain discussed "Democratic Dilemmas of Energy System Transformation" at the University of Utah. The talk is part of the Global Change and Sustainability Center seminar series and co-sponsored by The Communication Institute.

Dr. Sprain will be examining how energy system transformation poses democratic dilemmas, and demonstrating how careful analysis of actual talk from city council meetings can provide insight for how to manage these dilemmas.

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