NELF Lunch Chats are informal, one-hour discussions pertaining to the NELF scenarios. We were inspired to host the first NELF lunch chat on April 21, 2020 because we had been noticing scenario signals in the news, and because the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is an example of the kind of highly impactful, uncertain change that scenario planning is designed to navigate. This page hosts details on NELF lunch chats and materials from previous discussions.
NELF Lunch Chats were a spontaneous response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic brought (and continues to bring) much suffering to people around the world. For the NELF team, lunch chats were a silver lining of connection in a very dark year. As of 2021, the NELF Lunch Chat series is over due to changes in funding and staff support. We feel gratitude and appreciation for all who participated in the NELF Lunch Chat series - thank you for being in community with us!
A PDF summary of this chat is available to view or download.
The presentation is recorded. Watch the recording here or on YouTube.
Presentation and Speaker Summary:
Drivers and Consequences of Landscape Change for New England Wildlife
Skye Pearman-Gillman recently graduated from the University of Vermont where she earned a PhD in Natural Resources. At the University of Vermont Skye conducted research on the spatial consequences of future climate and land-use change for New England wildlife species. With a continued interest in wildlife conservation, data analytics, and computer modeling, Skye is currently working as a freelance research analyst with the American Wind Wildlife Institute and the University of Vermont.
A PDF summary of this chat, and the presentation slides, are available to view or download.
A PDF summary of this chat, and the presentation slides, are available to view or download.
The presentation is recorded with closed captions. Watch the recording here or on YouTube.
Presentation and Speaker Summary:
July NELF Lunch Chat: Redlining in New England
Lucy Lee is a map expert and member of the NELF team based out of Harvard Forest. In this presentation, inspired by a webinar about relationships between redlining and tree canopy on a national scale, Lucy overlays and interprets redlining maps, aerial imagery, and NELF maps of New England cities to explore the relationships between past policies, current conditions, and future needs. The presentation questions how the Connected Communities scenario must be expanded to explicitly account for harmful legacies of the past.
A PDF summary of this chat is available to view or download.
The presentation and discussion are recorded with closed captions. Watch the recording here or on YouTube.
Presentation and Speaker Summary:
Watershed planning to protect and revitalize riparian corridors along the Lower Connecticut River
Mary Rickel Pelletier is the founding director of Park Watershed, a 501(c)3 urban-suburban environmental stewardship organization. Mary has a Bachelor of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design and a Master of Design from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. Mary is co-leading a NELF Working Group in partnership with Trinity College, CT River Conservancy, and Sustainable CT. Their project explores how urban-suburban riparian corridors offer uniquely vital ecosystem service benefits within high-density urban-suburban communities that deserve increased protections. In her talk, Mary will describe how woodland landscape fragments along inland riparian corridors are arteries of ecosystem connectivity and community resilience and her use of the NELF scenarios to protect and revitalize these essential landscapes.
A PDF summary of this chat is available to view or download.
A PDF summary of this chat is available to view or download.
Other materials pertaining to this lunch chat include a slide deck and the event invitation.