climate change | Engineering for Human Rights Initiative

The Connecticut Governor’s Council for Climate Change (GC3) invited the Engineering for Human Rights Initiative to provide public comments on a set of draft reports that make recommendations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to climate change impacts in Connecticut. The reports cover seven key areas:

Equity and Environmental Justice,
Public Health and Safety,
Science and Technology,
Infrastructure and Land Use Adaptation,
Progress on Mitigation Strategies,
Financing Adaptation and Resilience, and
Working and Natural Lands.

The GC3 was established in 2015, and it was expanded by Governor Ned Lamont in 2019 (see Executive Order No. 3) with the goals of implementing greenhouse gas emissions reductions strategies, preparing and adapting our state for the impacts of climate change, and ensuring strategies are equitable and protect the most vulnerable communities. The comments can be seen below.

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Published: April 2, 2019 | By: Anna Zarra Aldrich ’20 (CLAS), Office of the Vice President for Research

What do an engineer and a humanitarian have in common?

This question is at the core of the University of Connecticut’s Engineering for Human Rights Initiative.

Engineering is often thought of exclusively as a technological endeavor, but it has many societal implications and applications. Engineering can help bring clean water to people in the remotest corners of the world or protect democratic elections and freedom of speech by securing online platforms, just to name a few examples.

UConn’s Engineering for Human Rights Initiative aims to bridge the gap between STEM students and the good their work can do for people. The program is a collaboration between several organizations within UConn, including the Human Rights Institute and the School of Engineering.

The aim of the initiative is to allow future engineers to think about the ethical implications of their work. “We teach students to manage risk, enhance access to technology, and develop remedies for potential harms generated by their work as engineers,” says Shareen Hertel, associate professor of political science and human rights. Hertel, an expert on labor rights in global supply chains, has helped spearhead the initiative, which draws social scientists like herself into collaborative teaching and research with engineers.

Global issues like climate change have a real human cost, especially in places like poorer island nations that are susceptible to increasingly violent extreme weather events and often lack the resources to rebuild after them. Additionally, changing seasons are making fresh food scarcer for those who rely on farming for their food and/or livelihood.