“What Makes Us Human,” a podcast of Cornell University’s College of Arts & Sciences which explores what it means to be human in the 21st century, has made inequality the centerpiece of its new season. Assistant Professor Linda Shi recorded the season’s first episode, an audio essay focused on her climate change inequality research, through which she has come to some anticipated, as well as some surprising, conclusions.
“It’s the poor who have contributed the least to carbon emissions who will suffer the most from climate change,” Shi said in her podcast. “However, my research shows that efforts to adapt to climate change can also worsen inequality.”
Shi is hopeful, however, that addressing regional economic development will make the climate change response more equitable. Her research focuses on urban environmental governance and advancing planning policies to manage the urban climate transition in ways that improve social equity.