'We're not alone'
Stephanie Fischer, a PhD student in Earth system science at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and a PhD minor in the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University, researches how identity and culture can not only help people get involved in climate action but also buffer against harm.
Stephanie Fischer’s path to researching local climate action started on Long Island on the day Hurricane Sandy made landfall – her 16th birthday. She watched her community wait seven months until they were able to begin rebuilding, while better-resourced neighbors recovered quickly.
Now a fourth-year PhD student working with Gabrielle Wong-Parodi in the Behavioral Decisions and the Environment lab, Fischer studies how identity and culture shape climate action in frontline Bay Area communities. At the recent “Preferred Futures: Climate and Environmental Justice Across Borders” conference, she presented dissertation research exploring how programs that strengthen community identity can serve as a buffer against the mental health toll of environmental injustice.
“The daily inequities people are facing are impacting people’s mental well-being,” said Fischer, who focuses on how identity and culture are important for not only helping people get involved in climate action but also buffering against harm.
Fischer attended Stanford as an undergraduate before returning for her PhD and said the chance to bring academic and community perspectives into the same room is what drew her to the conference. “It’s been an interesting journey, learning how to triangulate what’s happening on the ground with what’s being said in academia.”
“Something that’s really helpful is that we’re not alone – there are so many people, not only in the Bay but across the U.S. and internationally, that we’ve been learning from during this conference,” Fischer said. “It’s unfortunate we’re encountering these things, but we can skill share and build connections to address these problems.”
Explore More
-
Tyrone Jue, director of the San Francisco Environment Department, leads the city’s climate efforts. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Bay Area Air District, where he has helped advance nation-leading regional clean air and pollution-reduction policies.
-
A PhD student in environmental social sciences at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, Quito Tsui researches how communities rebuild after conflict, how digital evidence is used in international law, and how the destruction of the environment is documented and witnessed.
-
Khalid Osman, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, assesses public perceptions of water infrastructure, water conservation efforts, and the management of existing infrastructure systems.
