Exploring Sustainable Development Through Fellowships in Italy – State of the Planet

With rising sea levels, extreme waves and storm surges, Venice is notoriously vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. A Sustainable Serenissima: Water and the Future of Venice program provides undergraduate students the opportunity to explore ways in which contemporary Venice confronts sustainability challenges and develops resilience.

Studying in Venice offers a unique opportunity for students to experience lessons coming alive, says Jenna Lawrence, a lecturer at Columbia Climate School and lead instructor for the Venice class.

“Venetians have been grappling with sustainable development for over a thousand years, actively maintaining their urban lagoon ecosystem to ensure that the wetlands and mudflats continue to soften storms, provide food, keep rising tides at bay and store carbon,” says Lawrence. “In the Sustainable Serenissima program, students explore aspects of Venetian life from multiple social, economic and ecological angles, whether it’s a renaissance fish market, gondola workshop, architectural archive, insistent tide, unfortunate sea-gate megaproject or field of agroecological artichokes.”

To follow are two Q&As with students who recently participated in the Sustainable Serenissima program.

Ashley Young is a rising junior in the Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development (SDEV) at Columbia. Originally from Montana, Young enjoys hiking and hosting dinner parties with friends and family, skateboarding in New York City and going to concerts.

In the Q&A below, Young shares more about her experience as a Columbia student and as a fellow in the Sustainable Serenissima program.

What drew you to the sustainable development major?

My decision to major in sustainable development was driven by my concern for pressing environmental issues today—biodiversity loss, pollution, energy inefficiency and resource depletion. Recognizing the urgent need for solutions to these challenges, I was drawn to sustainable development, an interdisciplinary field with insights from environmental science, economics and political science. To me, sustainability emphasizes the importance of balancing economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection, and is a field contributing to a future where human well-being and environmental health are sustained.

Tell us more about your fellowships.

This summer, I was fortunate enough to be awarded the Denning Global Fellowship by the Columbia Global Collaboratory to fund the Sustainable Serenissima Program conducted by Columbia University and the University of Warwick. I spent two and a half weeks in Venice, taking a course analyzing sustainability challenges within Venice, which helped prepare me for an in-depth research paper I presented at the Columbia Symposium. The trip to Venice involved taking classes about Venetian history, Venice’s position as an origin for banking and its ecological connection with the lagoon. We learned about how overtourism depletes Venice’s culture and local residency, and how cruise ships destroy the lagoon and contribute to bad air quality. We had site visits to understand how adaptive reuse is utilized in Venetian architecture and to an ecological farm that grows crops in a sustainable manner.

I was also awarded the International Affairs Fellowship and the Columbia Undergraduate Research Fellowship, to help research systemic injustices and racial segregation in Rio De Janeiro dating back to the 1800s, with Ana Lee. For this, I use a Portuguese digital archive to thematically code newspapers to identify relationships between race and public health.

What skills are you using from the sustainable development program for your fellowships?

This past semester, I took a qualitative research methods course with Lisa Dale that fulfilled the “skills and actions” requirement for the SDEV major. Through this course, I developed the skills necessary to conduct my own research project and gained experience in thematic coding, data analysis and collection.

How does the work you are doing this summer relate to your studies and what do you plan to do post-graduation?

I am interested in global energy policy and aspire to gain work experience in the energy sector. Last semester, I joined the Women in Energy initiative, part of the Center on Global Energy Policy, and received training to become a moderator for their events.

Morgan Johns is originally from Fredericksburg, Virginia and starting her fifth year at Columbia’s School of General Studies. Her favorite activity is making theater, which includes writing, acting, dancing, singing, playing instruments, choreographing and directing. You may have seen her recently as Jen Studies in the Varsity Show.

Johns discusses her path to studying sustainability and how it led her to Venice in the Q&A below.

What drew you to the sustainable development major?

I was a ballerina before coming back to school. I grew extremely disillusioned by that industry around the same time the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its 2030 warning. I was coincidentally dancing in a city with a very active activism scene. After joining the Sierra Club’s local chapter, I started volunteering for environmental and voting rights organizations in the mornings, before rehearsing and performing in the evenings. I took part in the conclusions of long-term political fights, like the passage of the Equal Rights Amendments and the cancellation of a major pipeline. I was inspired by those processes and my mentors, and decided to leave ballet for Columbia.

Tell us more about your fellowship.

I am currently in Venice through the Finley Fellowship for Venetian Studies, and it has been my greatest opportunity for exploration yet. I’d never left the country before, and as a low-income student, I didn’t really see a way to do so without a fair amount of support. The best part about studying abroad is getting to figure out your version of the place, to follow what you are naturally drawn to and see what that inspires.

Tell us about the Venice course.

I initially joined Columbia’s Summer in Venice program because I just finished my language requirement in Italian, so I figured it would be the best time to study abroad. I registered for two classes: “Art in Venice” and “Conservation of Venice’s Built Heritage.”

When you dissect it, Venice’s existence shouldn’t be possible. It’s a solid city of brick built in the middle of a lagoon, which is what makes it so vulnerable to climate change impacts. The most meaningful part of the program has been getting to know the residents and learning about how they experience these impacts directly. About a week and a half into the program, I met an amazing person who welcomed me into her circle of music friends. Moments like that make the global scale of what we do so personal, especially now that I’ve gotten to gather and make art with these people weekly. I’ll return to campus in the fall with renewed motivation to try making things better for locals.

What skills are you using from the sustainable development program for your fellowship?

Many of my peers in this program are art history students, so my sustainable development work has given me a unique perspective in the classroom. Studying the intersections of science, policy, economics and public health has prepared me to consider complex issues from a variety of tangible angles. I also feel that sustainable development encourages levels of curiosity, problem-solving and compassion that are indispensable when one’s developing a relationship with a new place.

How does the work you are doing in the Venice course relate to your studies, and what do you plan to do post-graduation?

Within my studies, I gravitate towards the personal aspects of sustainable development, like making environmentalism psychologically sustainable. Witnessing firsthand how Venice responds to climate change—the good, the bad and the scandalous—takes me out of my head and challenges what I expect of the world. I don’t know what I’ll do after graduating, but I’d be lying if I said this program hasn’t made me consider grad school abroad daily.