The daunting issue of climate change cannot be successfully addressed without a climate justice component. Portland Oregon has found a worthy advocate for such a cause- meet Nuin-Tara Key.

Nuin-Tara’s conservation career had an unusual start after receiving a grant to travel to Belfast, Northern Ireland to study social sustainability in the realm of international peace keeping. The connection between human health and the urban environment inspired her to join the policy arena and she moved on to Portland to where she became involved in community conservation work. She was Equity Atlas Outreach Coordinator at Coalition for a Livable Future, organizing and managing public outreach efforts for the Regional Equity Atlas Project. The Equity Atlas Project successfully influenced policy makers to include equity considerations in one of the largest public natural areas acquisition programs in the United States.

Nuin-Tara’s TogetherGreen Fellowship will help her ensure climate policy initiatives and energy efficiency programs benefit everyone in the Portland Region. She will start by developing a project that increases low-income and minority communities’ involvement in climate change initiatives, and access to energy efficiency programs.

Nuin-Tara’s improvement in communicating technical scientific data and policy information to non-technical audiences will only enhance her advocacy skills and help her grow into a force to be reckoned with in conservation policy.