Today, the Trump Administration decided to withdraw from the Paris Agreement; our earth is in trouble. Without participation by the United States to curb carbon emissions, our planet will continue to warm and experience irreparable harm. Needless to say, we at ASI are massively disappointed in the Trump Administration.
 
At ASI, we are committed to continue the fight against climate change and enable communities to have the best resources to be resilient and adapt. We have personally experienced the adverse impacts of climate change, living through Hurricane Irene, Superstorm Sandy, massive droughts, intense heat waves and major flooding. We know families and individuals around the world who already live with more intense storms, rising seas and frequent king tides, and abnormally long and higher heat waves. Climate change is a global problem with a global solution. However, climate change has very real, local effects here in the United States.
 
America cannot simply OPT OUT of its responsibility to protect the health of our global commons and the rights of people living on this earth to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. The leadership of ASI have traveled extensively around America and the world. We know first-hand what the consequences are for millions: loss of key marine resources such as the loss of ancestral lands in the Gulf of Mexico, loss of habitable space in New York City, loss of culture in the Pacific Islands, and loss of life from extreme weather events.
 
The Trump Administration’s decision to have the United States exit the Paris Agreement is extremely short sighted, obtuse, and places every day Americans in a precarious situation. This decision reduces the United States’ international standing and diplomatic credibility. Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement places us on a path dependent on old ideas that will cause irreparable damage to others and future generations. We at ASI condemn this decision.
 
Nevertheless, we remain optimistic. ASI will continue assisting governments - at all levels- with equitable solutions for long term societal adaptation. Given the current political climate, ASI will have a lot of  work to do, more lives to touch, more need for cooperation - here in the United States and abroad. We know that many other Americans share our sentiment and we take great pride in that the majority of Americans understand the perils of climate change and the need to address it immediately.
 
-With hope,
Andrea, Jacqueline, and Heather 

Hawai’i is an amazing place. Really. I was so honored to be able to present an update on the developing global governance of climate displacement in Honolulu two weeks ago. Our planet it in danger, but we are as well. What makes this issue urgent is that while the UNFCCC has been working on global carbon regulations for 20+ years, we don’t have enough progress to NOT be impacted by large-scale change. These changes are usually discussed in terms of the natural environment, but they will and already are affecting our human ecology and settlements. While I have had the privilege of spending extended amounts of time in vulnerable areas, many of the speakers are natives of such places such as Alaska, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Louisiana. They see the deterioration of their homes and livelihoods as it is happening while the world tip-toes lightly around solutions they need now.

The Symposium highlighted the immediacy of climate displacement as well as our challenges ahead. Rebuilding a city or even a village is a daunting task- especially because of our shared human sense of ‘home’. We are tied to place, as well as each other, and the environments we grow up in have meaning. Please click here to watch the proceedings.  

I cannot say enough about the fantastic panelists and WH Council on Environmental Quality’s staff and organization. Mahalo and thank you to all involved. You have further broadened my horizons and I hope to be able to work with you all toward the just and equitable solutions that are essential for the future.

 Welcome to our new website! ASI has been a long time in the making and the brainchild of Dr. Andrea Simonelli, Dr. Jacqueline Meijer-Irons and Heather Croshaw. We are excited to be able to have a web presence and are ready to begin working on the greatest challenge of our generation- climate change. The heating of our planet due to increased greenhouse gas emissions has already has irreversible effects on our world. 2016 continues to break records, which means there will be more and more long term changes to our sea levels, heat indexes, storm strengths which will inexorably effect our global capacity for food production, places of habitual residences, health, and welfare (among other things). At ASI, we are willing and able to take on these challenges and create progress toward a future in which humanity can and does ready itself for a new way of living. This is not going to be easy, but we understand the complexities ahead and are eager to assist with this transition. With experience in all levels of complex social, legal, and political complexities, ASI is ready to make a difference. Each member of our founding team has been on the ground in some of the most vulnerable geographic areas of current climate distress and will bring that experience to every new project that we take.

We hope you will take some time to get to know us, our work, and our passion for making the world ready for tomorrow.

-Dr. Andrea C. Simonelli