Environmental Policy Advocate to Enter UC Davis Ph.D. Program
This story originally appeared in the Pacific Standard.
As a teenager, Hannah Safford spent countless hours informing visitors to the San Francisco Zoo about wildlife and nature. It was there, voluntarily caring for the zoo's educational "animal ambassadors," that the now-25-year-old environmental policy adviser realized she would spend her life tackling environmental issues.
"I was struck by how few people had a connection with the natural world," Safford says. "I specifically remember talking to one person who had never seen a snake before! My time at the zoo drew my attention to the often-undervalued role of public engagement and outreach in achieving any policy goal."
More recently, Hannah spent two years as a fellow in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy—a job she began when at just 22 years old—where she took on tasks like organizing the first-ever White House Water Summit, which brought together more than a hundred experts in water policy and innovation. It was there that she learned how government really works.
"Incredible things can be accomplished when you assemble a team of motivated, passionate individuals and give them the freedom and flexibility to pursue ideas for the public good," Safford says. "Recycling bottles and driving less is all well and good, but, at the end of the day, tackling big problems like climate change requires behavioral and technological shifts on a much larger scale. Thoughtful government helps these shifts occur successfully."
After recently advising lawmakers on a statewide community solar plan being discussed in New Jersey, the next thing to be added to Safford's already-impressive résumé is a Ph.D. in environmental engineering at the University of California,Davis with a focus on water resources, which she'll begin in the fall. After that, she plans to take her passion and expertise back to where it all began—her home state of California—in hopes of giving back by "advising the governor's office on environmental issues, particularly water management, use, and re-use."